Kate Green

Green was born in Edinburgh, to Jessie Craig (née Bruce) and Maurice Green, who was Jewish.[3] She attended Currie High School and the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree.[1][4]

After university, Green began a career at Barclays Bank, working for the organisation from 1982 to 1997. From 1997 to 1999 she worked as a Whitehall and Industry Group secondee to the Home Office.

Green was employed as Director of the National Council for One Parent Families between 2000 and 2004, then taking up the post of Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) until 2009. Alongside this, Green was a member, then chair, of the London Child Poverty Commission from 2006 to 2009.

Green also served as a magistrate in the City of London between 1993 and 2009.[1][4]

Green joined the Labour Party in 1990 and stood unsuccessfully in the 1997 General Election as the candidate for the Greater London constituency of Cities of London and Westminster. She contested the 2000 London Assembly election in the West Central constituency, again not being elected.[4]

In 2009, Green was selected as the candidate for Stretford and Urmston through an all-women shortlist following Beverley Hughes's announcement that she would not be seeking re-election.[5] She was elected as Member of Parliament on 6 May 2010, securing 48.6% of the vote and increasing the majority Hughes gained in the 2005 general election.

Since entering Parliament, Green has been elected as a Vice-Chair of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum and served as the chairman of the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party.[6][7]

In November 2011, Green was criticised for failing to declare an interest when tabling an amendment to a bill. Green had neglected to mention her membership of the GMB trade union when attempting to amend the Legal Aid Bill.[8] In a statement in Parliament Green apologised, saying: "I was advised on those amendments by the GMB trade union. My entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests makes clear my membership of and relationship with that union, but I regret that I did not draw attention to that last week in the Chamber because the amendments did not relate specifically to the union, but to the rights of individual employees." The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, accepted Green's apology, describing it as "most courteous" and insisting that the matter had been resolved.[9]

In February 2012, Green complained about a beer sold in the House of Commons Stranger's Bar, called Top Totty. The advertising plate on the pump handle featured an image of a bikini-clad bunny girl, which Green said "demeaned women". Leader of the House Sir George Young upheld her complaint and had the beer removed.[10] The beer, brewed in Stafford by Slater's, had been recommended to the House in 2007 by Labour MP for Stafford David Kidney after a visit to Slater's Brewery.[10][11]

Green was re-elected in the 2015 general election on an increased voter turnout, managing to increase both the Labour Party's share and majority.

Green became chair of Owen Smith's leadership campaign challenging Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 leadership election.[12] Green wrote in the New Statesman in September 2016: "Even when Jeremy gets that there's a problem, his solutions too often reinforce rather than address the root causes of gender inequality".[13]

Kate Green is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[14]

Green held her seat at the 2017 and 2019 general elections.[15]

Green married Richard Duncan Mabb in 1985; the couple divorced in 2006.[4][25] Her recreations include theatre, books, food and swimming.[25]

She is a member of the GMB and Unite trade unions, the Fawcett Society, the Fabian Society (which she chaired from 2016 to 2018), and CPAG.[26][4]

She is a past trustee of the Friends Provident Foundation, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Family and Parenting Institute, Avenues Youth Project, and End Child Poverty.[27]

Green was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for "services to welfare work" as part of the 2005 New Year Honours, where her work in the CPAG and membership of the National Employment Panel was recognised.[28][29]

• Green, Kate; Bergmann, Barbara; Himmelweit, Susan F.; Albelda, Randy P.; Women's Committee of One Hundred; Koren, Charlotte (July 2004). "Lone mothers: What is to be done?". Feminist Economics. 10 (2): 237–264. doi:10.1080/1354570042000217793. S2CID 154744396.

• Personal website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Profile on LabourList
• Stretford and Urmston election results 2010 – Guardian.co.uk
• Kate Green Speaks to Catch21