Stephanie Peacock

Stephanie Louise Peacock[1] is a British Labour Party politician and former trade union official. She became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley East at the 2017 general election.[2] She retained her seat in the 2019 general election, with a smaller majority than in 2017.[3]

For the American swimmer, see Stephanie Peacock (swimmer).

Stephanie Peacock

MP
Peacock in 2019
Shadow Minister for Flooding, Coastal Communities and Water
Assumed office
9 April 2020
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byRuth Jones
Member of Parliament
for Barnsley East
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byMichael Dugher
Majority3,217 (8.4%)
Personal details
BornBirmingham, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
Alma mater
OccupationGMB union employee and teacher
ProfessionPolitician
Websitewww.stephaniepeacock.org.uk

Early life and education

Peacock was born in Birmingham. She obtained a degree in History from Queen Mary University of London, and a master's degree from the Institute of Education, University College London.[4]

Early career

After graduating Peacock worked as a teacher, before going on to work on adult education in Yorkshire for the shop workers’ union USDAW.[5]

Between 2007 and 2011, she served as the Youth Representative on the Labour Party National Executive Committee.[4] In 2007 she introduced Gordon Brown at the launch of his unopposed campaign to become Labour Leader.[6][7]

Between 2013 and 2017, she worked as a Political Officer for the GMB trade union.[8][9]

Parliamentary career

At the 2015 general election, Peacock unsuccessfully stood as the Labour Party candidate in the marginal seat of Halesowen and Rowley Regis in the West Midlands, where she was defeated by the Conservative incumbent James Morris.

A few weeks before the 2017 general election, she was selected by the National Executive Committee to stand for parliament in the safe Labour seat of Barnsley East when the previous incumbent Michael Dugher retired.[10] She was subsequently elected at the 2017 general election.

Her maiden speech occurred during a Grenfell Tower debate during which she mentioned the local issue of Orgreave.[11]

In Parliament, Peacock has served on the International Trade Committee and the Science and Technology Committee (Commons). From January 2018 until March 2019 she served as an Opposition Whip.[12] She resigned on 14 March 2019 after defying the whip to vote against an amendment calling for a second Brexit referendum.[13]

Peacock has had two key campaigns thus far, changing the maximum sentences for death by dangerous driving from fourteen years to life and reforming the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme to get more money for retired miners.[14]

In January 2020 Peacock joined Labour's Shadow Cabinet Office team as the Shadow Minister responsible for the Veterans’ Office and Procurement.[15] Following the election of Keir Starmer as the Leader of the Labour Party (UK), she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Fisheries, Water and Flooding as part of Labour's Shadow Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs team.[16]

Peacock endorsed Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.[17]

Personal life

Peacock lives in Darfield near Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

In 2013 it was reported that Peacock was in a relationship with Tom Watson MP, then Deputy Chair of the National Executive Committee.[18]

In November 2018, Peacock, alongside fellow Women's Parliamentary Football teammates, Alison McGovern, Tracey Crouch, Louise Haigh and Hannah Bardell, was rebuked by the then Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, for having a kickabout in the House of Commons after Parliamentary business. Bercow said that the "historic chamber should not be used for this type of activity".[19] The team had been due to play their first match, but the game was cancelled because they had to be in parliament for a vote.

References
  1. "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11778.
  2. "Election 2017: Barnsley East". BBC News. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  3. Hughes, Ian (13 December 2019). "The Barnsley East General Election 2019 results in full". leedslive. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. "About Stephanie". Personal website. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  5. "USDAW – Lifelong Learning Campaign". www.usdaw.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. White, Michael (11 May 2007). "First impressions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  7. Hoggart, Simon (18 May 2007). "Simon Hoggart's sketch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  8. Bean, Emma (26 April 2017). "Councillor and GMB officer chosen for two Labour strongholds in Yorkshire". LabourList. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  9. Langston, Kate (27 April 2017). "Labour select candidate for Barnsley East General Election seat". The Star. Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  10. Bush, Stephen (26 April 2017). "How Labour's power-brokers will divide up the party's safe seats". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  11. "Maiden Speech". Stephanie Peacock for Barnsley East. 19 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  12. "Stephanie Peacock MP". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  13. Rawlinson, Kevin (14 March 2019). "Brexit: MPs vote by 413 to 202 to extend article 50 until 30 June – Politics live". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  14. "Family's struggle to get harsher sentences closer – Barnsley News from the Barnsley Chronicle". Barnsley Chronicle. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  15. "Front bench role for Barnsley MP – Barnsley News from the Barnsley Chronicle". Barnsley Chronicle. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  16. Rodgers, Sienna (9 April 2020). "Shadow ministers appointed as Starmer completes frontbench". LabourList. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  17. Stephanie Peacock [@Steph_Peacock] (4 January 2020). "I'm proud to be supporting @lisanandy to be the next leader of the Labour Party. Lisa gets it – where we've gone wrong, what we need to do to put that right, and the importance of Labour reconnecting with working people in towns like ours here in Barnsley" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. Live, Birmingham (26 August 2012). "MP Tom Watson finds new love after marriage comes to an end". birminghammail. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
  19. Nicholls, Sallyann (21 November 2018). "Female MPs shown red card after playing football in UK parliament". euronews. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Michael Dugher		 Member of Parliament
for Barnsley East
2017–present		 Incumbent
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