Margaret Beckett
Dame Margaret Mary Beckett, DBE MP (born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. She was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith 1992 to 1994, and briefly served as Leader of the Labour Party following Smith's sudden death. She later served in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Tony Blair in a number of roles, most notably becoming Britain's first ever female Foreign Secretary in 2006.
Political Career
Mrs Beckett was first elected to Parliament in 1974 and held junior positions in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. She lost her seat in 1979 but returned to the House of Commons in 1983 and became a senior member of the Labour Party. She was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1992 and was briefly its leader in 1994 following the premature death of John Smith, the first woman to occupy either role. After Labour's victory in the 1997 general election, Mrs Beckett became a member of Tony Blair's Cabinet. Initially the President of the Board of Trade, she was later the Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. In 2006, Mrs Beckett was appointed British Foreign Secretary, making her the first woman to hold the position, and, after Margaret Thatcher, the second woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State. Margaret Beckett is currently a member of the Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
Education
Margaret Beckett was educated at the Notre Dame High School for Girls in Norwich, then at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, where she qualified as a metallurgist. She was an active member of the Students' Union and served on its Council as Associate Member rep.
