Kate Hoey

Hoey was born in Mallusk, County Antrim,[2] and studied at Belfast Royal Academy and the Ulster College of Physical Education.[3] She has a degree in Economics earned at London Guildhall University, and was a Vice-President of the National Union of Students.[4]

Hoey has a longstanding interest in sport. She was the 1966 Northern Ireland high jump champion[5] and has worked for football clubs including: Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, Chelsea and Brentford, as an educational advisor. Before entering Parliament, she was educational adviser to Arsenal FC from 1985 to 1989.

A founder member of the London Northern Ireland Supporters' Club, Hoey took part in a St Patrick's Day parade in London in 2007 with Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez.[6]

Hoey was one of the early members of the Newtownabbey Labour Party during the mid-1970s which left its parent organisation, the Northern Ireland Labour Party, in 1974. Prior to being a member of the British Labour Party, Hoey was a member of the International Marxist Group, whose policies included support for a united Ireland.[7] As a member of Labour she unsuccessfully contested Dulwich at the 1983 and 1987 general elections, being defeated by the Conservative Gerald Bowden, on the second occasion by only 180 votes. In 1989, she was elected at the Vauxhall by-election precipitated by the resignation of Stuart Holland. Black candidate Martha Osamor had the most nominations, with Hoey only having one,[8] but the National Executive Committee declined to shortlist Osamor and imposed a shortlist on the constituency party. When the local party refused to choose from the shortlist, Hoey was imposed by the NEC as the Labour candidate.[9]

Hoey was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1998 to 1999, and Minister for Sport in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport from 1999 to 2001.

Hoey is a Eurosceptic and has often rebelled against her party.[10] She was a prominent critic of the ban on handguns[11] and, in an interview in Sporting Gun magazine, voiced her support for fox hunting.[11] She has voted against Labour government policy on the war in Iraq, foundation hospitals, university tuition and top-up fees, ID cards and extended detention without trial. She was a leading Labour rebel supporting a referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty.[12] Hoey favours stricter controls on immigration, tougher welfare reform, withdrawal from the European Union, English Votes for English Laws, grammar schools, marriage tax allowances, free schools and academies. She is a critic of the BBC and also spoke in support of the election of unionist MPs in Northern Ireland.

As the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Zimbabwe, Hoey was a vocal critic of the government of Robert Mugabe. In 2005, she called on Tony Blair to put diplomatic pressure on South Africa to condemn Zimbabwean government demolitions of townships, after an unsanctioned visit to the country.[13] The Zimbabwean government threatened to jail her if she repeated her "sneak" visit.[14]

On 29 April 2008, it was announced that Hoey would form part of the team of Conservative Boris Johnson, should he become Mayor, as an unpaid non-executive director advising on sport and the 2012 Olympics.[15] The announcement was controversial both because Hoey had once said of London's Olympic bid "we don't deserve it and Paris does"[16] and because it could have been perceived as endorsing an election candidate from a rival party.[17]

Hoey nominated John McDonnell for the Labour leadership election of 2010, but on his withdrawal, she switched her nomination to Diane Abbott. However, she voted for Andy Burnham, giving Ed Miliband her second preference. In 2015, Hoey supported Andy Burnham and Caroline Flint for the leadership and deputy leadership, saying that she could not see Liz Kendall as a Prime Minister.

Hoey in 2010, at the launch of the Blue Badge 2012 Guided Tours for the 2012 Summer Olympics

Hoey is known for her objection to the Labour Government's ban of fox hunting: a rare position among Labour MPs.[42] On 22 July 2005, she was named the new chairman of the Countryside Alliance (a British group known for its pro-hunting stance).[43] She said the appointment was a "great honour and a great challenge". The Alliance's headquarters are in Hoey's Vauxhall constituency.[44] This appointment was controversial in the Labour Party as the Countryside Alliance was seen to be behind a campaign to unseat Labour MPs at the 2005 election. Hoey stepped down in 2015 saying "I am sad to be resigning after more than nine years as chairman of the Countryside Alliance. The organisation has achieved much in that time, but I will always be most proud that having joined when hunting faced such uncertainty, I leave with new generations queuing up to join the hunting field."[45]

Hoey is patron of Roots & Shoots, a vocational training centre for young people in Lambeth.[46]

Hoey has been a trustee of the Outward Bound charity since October 2002.[47]

A vice-president of the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, Hoey is a supporter of the women's national team and the work of the charity.

In December 2018 she became patron of the Professional Paralegal Register.[48]

In October 2013, Hoey was fined £240 for driving through a red light having previously criticised cyclists as "Lycra louts that run red lights".[49][50] Hoey wants all cyclists to pay tax[49] and be registered so they have a registration number:

What I do genuinely think, and the cycling lobby should argue for it too, is that everyone who rides a bicycle, particularly as a form of transport to work, should be registered, so their bike has a registration number. At the moment if someone does knock down an old lady and rides off no one can trace that person.[49]

• Opposition spokesperson, citizen's charter and women (1992–1993)
• PPS to Frank Field, Department of Social Security (1997–1998)
• Junior minister, Home Office (1998–1999)
• Junior minister (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport), Department of Culture, Media and Sport (1999–2001)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kate Hoey.

• Kate Hoey MP official constituency website
• Lambeth Labour Party
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• London Northern Ireland Supporters Club
• Sunday Times Magazine profile, 8 August 1993
• Hoey becomes Countryside Alliance Chairman, 22 July 2005
• Appearances on C-SPAN