Yvette Cooper
Encyclopedia
Yvette Cooper is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 since 2010, having previously been MP for Pontefract and Castleford
Pontefract and Castleford (UK Parliament constituency)
Pontefract and Castleford was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 2010 general election. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 since 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

. She served in the Cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....

 between 2008 and 2010. She is the Shadow Home Secretary
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary is the person within the shadow cabinet who 'shadows' the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government policy on home affairs including policing, national security, immigration, the criminal justice system, the prison service, and...

. Cooper is married to Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

, and they were the first married couple to serve together in the British cabinet.

Background

Born in Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

, her father is Tony Cooper, former General Secretary of the Union Prospect
Prospect (trade union)
Prospect is a United Kingdom trade union which represents engineers, managers, scientists and other specialists in both the public and private sectors. It was formed on 1 November 2001 by the merger of the trade unions the Institution of Professionals Managers and Specialists and the Engineers and...

, a member of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom formed by the Energy Act 2004. It came into existence in late 2004, and took on its main functions on 1 April 2005...

 and a former Chairman of the British Nuclear Industry Forum. He was appointed to the government's Energy Advisory Panel by the Conservatives and has been described by the Nuclear Industry Association as an "articulate, persuasive and well-informed advocate of nuclear power".

She was educated at the comprehensive Eggar's School on London Road in Holybourne
Holybourne
Holybourne is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 1.3 miles northeast of Alton, just off the A31 road.The nearest railway station is 1.3 miles southwest of the village, at Alton....

 near Alton
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...

 and Alton College
Alton College
Alton College is a sixth form college located in Alton, Hampshire, England. As well as being a sixth form, the college provides an adult education service to the local population as well as catering for students with disabilities from nearby Treloar College...

. She studied at Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

 where she was awarded first class honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. It was there she met her future colleagues, including James Purnell
James Purnell
James Mark Dakin Purnell is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 2001 to 2010. He is currently the Head of the Open Left project at the left leaning think tank Demos...

 and Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...

. She gained a Kennedy Scholarship in 1991 to Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and finished her studies with an MSc
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...

 in Economics at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

.

Personal life and family

She married Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

 on 10 January 1998 in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...

. Her husband is the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional...

 and was a former leadership candidate. They have two daughters and one son. Cooper and Balls were the first married couple to serve together in the British cabinet.

Early career

She began her career as an economics researcher to the shadow
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...

 Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

 John Smith
John Smith (UK politician)
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...

 MP in 1990 before becoming a domestic policy specialist, working in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

, for the United States Democratic Party presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 candidate Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 in 1992. Later in the year she became a policy advisor to the new Shadow Chief Secretary to The Treasury (Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...

 MP) who was deputy to the new Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 MP and in 1994 found herself working as a research associate for the Centre for Economic Performance. In 1995 she became the economic correspondent
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 with The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

until her election to Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

.

Member of Parliament

She was selected at a very late stage in April 1997 to contest the safe Labour seat of Pontefract and Castleford at the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...

 on the retirement of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 Geoff Lofthouse. She held the seat very comfortably with a majority of 25,725 and she has held the seat easily since. She spoke of her constituency's struggle with unemployment
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...

 in her maiden speech on 2 July 1997. Yvette Cooper rose rapidly in parliament, after two years on the Education and Employment Select Committee.

In government

In 1999, she became a member of the Labour government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

, and in 2003 moved to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. After the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

, she was promoted within the same department to Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

, which has subsequently become the Department of Communities and Local Government.

Cooper was promoted to Housing Minister on 28 June 2007 when Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 became Prime Minister. Cooper did not have cabinet rank but attended cabinet meetings, having to introduce the HIPS
Home information pack
Under Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004 a Home Information Pack , sometimes called a Seller's Pack, was to be provided before a property in England and Wales could be put on the open market for sale with vacant possession. There is separate legislation for Scotland that requires anyone selling a...

 scheme into the public eye following her promotion. According to Conservative columnist Matthew Parris
Matthew Parris
Matthew Francis Parris is a UK-based journalist and former Conservative politician.-Early life and family:...

, Cooper conceived HIPS but avoided direct criticism for its problems thanks to her connection with Brown.

The Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 government under Brown had identified affordable housing as one of its core objectives. In July 2007, Cooper told Parliament: "Unless we act now, by 2026 first time buyers will find average house prices are ten times their salary. That could lead to real social inequality and injustice. Every part of the country needs more affordable homes — in the North and the South, in urban and rural communities".

In the reshuffle following Peter Hain
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the Welsh constituency of Neath since 1991, and has served in the Cabinets of both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, firstly as Leader of the House of Commons under Blair and both Secretary of State for...

's resignation as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...

 on 24 January 2008, Cooper became the first woman to be promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is the third most senior ministerial position in HM Treasury, after the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer . In recent years, the office holder has usually been given a junior position in the British Cabinet...

. As husband Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

 was already a cabinet minister, her promotion to the cabinet meant that they were the first married couple to serve as cabinet ministers simultaneously. After a number of ministerial resignations, including James Purnell
James Purnell
James Mark Dakin Purnell is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 2001 to 2010. He is currently the Head of the Open Left project at the left leaning think tank Demos...

, Cooper was moved within the cabinet by Gordon Brown on 5 June 2009 to become Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...

 as part of his reshuffle.

Allegations over allowances

In May 2009, it was revealed that together with her husband they 'flipped' the designation of their second home three times in a 24-month period, despite being warned several times by expenses officials that their claims were duplicated or inaccurate.
Yvette Cooper and her husband, Labour minister Ed Balls, bought a four-bedroom house in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

, north London, and registered this as their second home (rather than their home in Castleford, West Yorkshire) this qualified them for up to £44,000 a year to subsidise a reported £438,000 mortgage under the Commons Additional Costs Allowance, of which they claimed £24,400. An investigation in MP's expenses by Sir Thomas Legg found that Cooper and her husband had both received overpayments of £1,363 in relation to their mortgage. He ordered them to repay the monies.

2010 Labour leadership election

Cooper and her husband Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

 were both mentioned in the press as a potential leadership candidates
Labour Party (UK) leadership election, 2010
The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by a general election which resulted in a hung parliament. On 10 May, Gordon Brown resigned as Leader of the Labour Party. The following day, he stepped down as Prime Minister....

 when Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 stepped down as Labour leader. Before Balls announced his candidacy, he offered to stand aside if Cooper wanted to stand, but because of her young children Cooper decided it was not the right time for her.
She came top in the 2010 ballot
Labour Party (UK) Shadow Cabinet election, 2010
The Commons members of the Parliamentary Labour Party elected 19 members of the Shadow Cabinet from among their number in 2010. This follows the Labour Party's defeat in the 2010 general election, after which the party formed the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom.A separate election for...

 for places in the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...

 and there was speculation that Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...

 would appoint her Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional...

, however she was later appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In British politics, the shadow foreign secretary is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office; such things are relations with other nations, if elected, the designated person may be slated to become the new Foreign...

 instead.

Shadow Foreign Secretary

Cooper became Shadow Foreign Secretary
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In British politics, the shadow foreign secretary is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office; such things are relations with other nations, if elected, the designated person may be slated to become the new Foreign...

 after Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...

 became Leader of the Labour Party.

Shadow Home Secretary

When Alan Johnson
Alan Johnson
Alan Arthur Johnson is a British Labour Party politician who served as Home Secretary from June 2009 to May 2010. Before that, he filled a wide variety of cabinet positions in both the Blair and Brown governments, including Health Secretary and Education Secretary. Until 20 January 2011 he was...

 resigned as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer on 20 January 2011, Cooper became Shadow Home Secretary
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary is the person within the shadow cabinet who 'shadows' the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government policy on home affairs including policing, national security, immigration, the criminal justice system, the prison service, and...

 in the subsequent reshuffle of the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...

. Her husband, Ed Balls
Ed Balls
Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

, became Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Parliamentary system is the member of the Shadow Cabinet who is responsible for shadowing the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The title is in the gift of the Leader of the Opposition but is informal. The Shadow Chancellor has no constitutional...

.

External links


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