Catherine West
Hornsey and Wood Green (2015–2024)
7 May 2015
6 May 2010 – 10 October 2013
for Tollington
2 May 2002 – 22 May 2014
(1966-09-14) 14 September 1966 (age 57)
Mansfield, Victoria, Australia
- Australia
- United Kingdom
SOAS, University of London (MA)
Catherine Elizabeth West (born 14 September 1966) is an Australian-born British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, previously Hornsey and Wood Green, since 2015. A member of the Labour Party, she has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Indo-Pacific since 2024.
Early life and career
Catherine Elizabeth West was born on 14 September 1966 in Mansfield, Australia.[1] She was one of four children to Janet (née Conti) and Roderick West.[2] Her parents were both teachers, and her father was Headmaster of Trinity Grammar School in Sydney for 21 years. She is the great-great-niece of actress Italia Conti.
She grew up in Sydney and was privately educated at Meriden School and Ravenswood School for Girls.[3] West studied modern languages and social work at the University of Sydney, where she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Social Work degree.[4][5] While studying there, she met her future husband Colin Sutherland. They lived together in Darwin, Northern Territory, where she worked as a social worker in a refuge for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
She moved to the United Kingdom in 1998 when her husband gained a job at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.[4] She then earnt a master's degree in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.[6]
West joined the Labour Party in 1998 and became a caseworker for Tottenham MP David Lammy two years later.[4]
From 2 May 2002 to 22 May 2014, West was a member of the Islington London Borough Council representing the Tollington Ward. She was the leader of the council's Labour Party group from 2004 to 10 October 2013 and Council Leader from 6 May 2010 to 10 October 2013. She resigned as councillor to contest the 2015 general election.
Parliamentary career
West was elected to Parliament as MP for Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2015 general election with 50.9% of the vote and a majority of 11,058.[7][8][9]
Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party, whose campaign she supported, West was promoted to the Official Opposition frontbench as a Shadow Foreign Office Minister.[10]
During the 2016 Brexit referendum, West was involved with Britain Stronger in Europe, campaigning for the UK to remain within the European Union, arguing that "Britain would be stronger, more prosperous, more secure and more peaceful" if they were to remain within the EU. West's constituency of Hornsey and Wood Green secured the highest remain vote of any constituency, with 81.5% voting to remain.[11] Following the EU referendum, West confirmed she would vote against invoking Article 50 should a vote come before parliament.[12]
In January 2017, West voted against triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the process to withdraw from the European Union, along with 46 other Labour Party MPs.[13]
At the snap 2017 general election, West was re-elected as MP for Hornsey and Wood Green with an increased vote share of 65.4% and an increased majority of 30,738.[14][15][16]
West was sacked from the Labour frontbench in June 2017 after she voted in favour of an amendment to the Queen's Speech which called on the UK to remain in the European Single Market, in defiance of the Labour whip.[17]
At the 2019 general election, West was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 57.5% and a decreased majority of 19,242.[18][19][20]
West returned to the Labour frontbench in 2020 as shadow Sport minister,[21] prior to her promotion to the shadow Foreign Office team under new Labour Leader Sir Keir Stamer.[22] West is currently Labour's shadow Minister for Asia & the Pacific.[23]
Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, West's constituency of Hornsey and Wood Green was abolished, and replaced with Hornsey and Friern Barnet. In June 2024, West was selected as the Labour candidate for Hornsey and Friern Barnet at the 2024 general election.[24]
Labour government 2024
On 11 July 2024, she was appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.[25][26] Executive Councillor of Hong Kong Ronny Tong criticised her for having a clear political stance, suggesting it would be better for her to resign from her position at Hong Kong Watch. Both Beijing and the Hong Kong government have repeatedly described Hong Kong Watch as an anti-China organisation.[27] The organisation claims to have received a letter from the National Security Department of HongKong Police Force indicating it was suspected of violating the 2020 Hong Kong national security law.[28]
Personal life
West is a Quaker.[29] She is married to Colin Sutherland, co-director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Malaria Centre.[4][30] They met while studying at the University of Sydney. They have a daughter and a son.[31]
She is a dual British and Australian national.[32]
References
- ^ "Election results". camdennewjournal.com. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
- ^ "Obituary: Headmaster who inspired thousands of pupils and teachers". February 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
- ^ "How an Australian expat may help topple a British Prime Minister". 24 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d Lamden, Tim (13 March 2015). "Labour's Catherine West: 'I know how to beat Liberal Democrats'". Ham & High.
- ^ "Catherine West MP". LSTM. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ 19 May 2017 (19 May 2017). "Can you guess which single party four SOAS grads are representing in the election?". SOAS. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Hornsey & Wood Green Parliamentary constituency". BBC. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Haringey votes – Haringey Elections website". voting.haringey.gov.uk.
- ^ "Catherine West MP". parliament.uk. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- ^ Hanretty, Chris (29 June 2016). "The EU referendum: how did Westminster constituencies vote?". Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- ^ West, Catherine (27 June 2016). "75% of my constituents voted to remain in the EU. I stand w/ them on this issue & I will vote against Brexit #EUrefpic.twitter.com/TX0lUC5Csb". Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- ^ Sparrow, Andrew (1 February 2017). "MPs vote to give May power to trigger article 50 – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
- ^ "Hornsey & Wood Green parliamentary constituency". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation.
- ^ "General Election 2017 in Haringey – Results". London Borough of Haringey. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
- ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
- ^ Asthana, Anushka (29 June 2017). "Jeremy Corbyn sacks three frontbenchers after single market vote". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
- ^ Etheridge, Zina (15 November 2019). "Statement of persons nominated and notice of poll. Election of a Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green" (PDF). Haringey London Borough Council.
- ^ "Hornsey & Wood Green parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- ^ "I am delighted to be appointed as shadow Sports Minister, following in the footsteps of the excellent @DrRosena. I am determined to use my time taking on some of the big issues in sport, particularly following the racist abuse Haringey Borough FC experienced last year". Twitter.com. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ "So pleased that @CatherineWest1 @FabianLeedsNE @SKinnock @SDoughtyMP @WayneDavid_MP have joined the @UKLabour FCO team. Every single one brings huge expertise and passion. Proud to be working with them all". Twitter.com. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ "Delighted to be asked to stay in the shadow FCO team under @DavidLammy. @SKinnock will be a tough act to follow in shadowing Asia & the Pacific, and @lisanandy will be missed as shadow FS, but I'm looking forward to the new challenge and setting Labour up for Government". Twitter.com. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ "Statement of persons nominated and notice of poll – Hornsey and Friern Barnet Constituency". Haringey Council. 7 June 2024.
- ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Indo-Pacific) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ "英國關注港人組織HK WATCH贊助人衛倩婷".
- ^ "英外交部新次官 為香港監察贊助人". 明報教育網 (in zn-tw). Retrieved 11 July 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ "First Quaker MPs elected in a decade". Quakers in Britain. Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ^ "Colin Sutherland". London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
- ^ "Special Report: Catherine West MP reflects on her first six months in Parliament". Ham & High. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
- ^ Bourke, Latika (13 May 2018). "'Utterly absurd': British MPs question Australia's ban on dual citizens". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
External links
- Official website
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green 2015–2024 | Constituency abolished |
New constituency | Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Friern Barnet 2024–present | Incumbent |
- v
- t
- e
- Labour Party
- Parliamentary Labour Party
- List of Labour Party MPs
- Luke Akehurst
- Lewis Atkinson
- Jonathan Brash
- Alan Campbell
- Mark Ferguson
- Emma Foody
- Mary Foy
- Mary Glindon
- Sharon Hodgson
- Ian Lavery
- Emma Lewell-Buck
- Andy McDonald
- Chris McDonald
- Lola McEvoy
- Catherine McKinnell
- Grahame Morris
- Joe Morris
- Luke Myer
- Chi Onwurah
- Kate Osborne
- Bridget Phillipson
- Sam Rushworth
- David Smith
- Alan Strickland
- Anna Turley
- Liz Twist
- Debbie Abrahams
- Mike Amesbury
- David Baines
- Paula Barker
- Lorraine Beavers
- Elsie Blundell
- Phil Brickell
- Markus Campbell-Savours
- Dan Carden
- Lizzi Collinge
- Andrew Cooper
- Ashley Dalton
- Samantha Dixon
- Peter Dowd
- Angela Eagle
- Maria Eagle
- Maya Ellis
- Kirith Entwistle
- Bill Esterson
- Paul Foster
- James Frith
- Andrew Gwynne
- Sarah Hall
- Mark Hendrick
- Jonathan Hinder
- Patrick Hurley
- Kim Johnson
- Mike Kane
- Afzal Khan
- Josh MacAlister
- Andy MacNae
- Justin Madders
- Alison McGovern
- Jim McMahon
- Anneliese Midgley
- Julie Minns
- Navendu Mishra
- Connor Naismith
- Lisa Nandy
- Charlotte Nichols
- Matthew Patrick
- Jo Platt
- Lucy Powell
- Yasmin Qureshi
- Connor Rand
- Angela Rayner
- Jonathan Reynolds
- Marie Rimmer
- Tim Roca
- Sarah Russell
- Oliver Ryan
- Michelle Scrogham
- Josh Simons
- Cat Smith
- Jeff Smith
- Sarah Smith
- Graham Stringer
- Derek Twigg
- Christian Wakeford
- Paul Waugh
- Chris Webb
- Andrew Western
- Michael Wheeler
- Hilary Benn
- Clive Betts
- Olivia Blake
- Jade Botterill
- Sarah Champion
- Luke Charters
- Yvette Cooper
- Judith Cummins
- Nic Dakin
- Paul Davies
- Kate Dearden
- Anna Dixon
- Josh Fenton-Glynn
- Gill Furniss
- Louise Haigh
- Fabian Hamilton
- Emma Hardy
- John Healey
- Alison Hume
- Sally Jameson
- Dan Jarvis
- Diana Johnson
- Kim Leadbeater
- Simon Lightwood
- Rachael Maskell
- Keir Mather
- Ed Miliband
- Abtisam Mohamed
- Melanie Onn
- Stephanie Peacock
- Lee Pitcher
- Rachel Reeves
- Jake Richards
- Mark Sewards
- Naz Shah
- Alex Sobel
- Marie Tidball
- Jon Trickett
- Karl Turner
- Harpreet Uppal
- Katie White
- Catherine Atkinson
- Lee Barron
- Juliet Campbell
- Jonathan Davies
- Hamish Falconer
- Linsey Farnsworth
- Natalie Fleet
- Lilian Greenwood
- Amanda Hack
- Louise Jones
- Liz Kendall
- Gen Kitchen
- James Naish
- Samantha Niblett
- Alex Norris
- Michael Payne
- Jon Pearce
- Toby Perkins
- Mike Reader
- Lucy Rigby
- Jeevun Sandher
- Baggy Shanker
- Adam Thompson
- Michelle Welsh
- John Whitby
- Jo White
- Nadia Whittome
- Rosie Wrighting
- Steve Yemm
- Tahir Ali
- Alex Ballinger
- Antonia Bance
- Chris Bloore
- Sureena Brackenridge
- Julia Buckley
- Liam Byrne
- Alistair Carns
- Jacob Collier
- Tom Collins
- Sarah Coombes
- Mary Creagh
- Shaun Davies
- Cat Eccles
- Sarah Edwards
- Allison Gardner
- Preet Kaur Gill
- Jodie Gosling
- Paulette Hamilton
- Leigh Ingham
- Adam Jogee
- Gurinder Josan
- Warinder Juss
- Sonia Kumar
- Shabana Mahmood
- Pat McFadden
- Josh Newbury
- Taiwo Owatemi
- Jess Phillips
- Dave Robertson
- John Slinger
- Gareth Snell
- Rachel Taylor
- Laurence Turner
- Valerie Vaz
- Matt Western
- David Williams
- Jack Abbott
- Bayo Alaba
- Jess Asato
- Kevin Bonavia
- David Burton-Sampson
- Sam Carling
- Pam Cox
- Jen Craft
- Josh Dean
- Ben Goldsborough
- Chris Hinchliff
- Rachel Hopkins
- Terry Jermy
- Andrew Lewin
- Clive Lewis
- Alice Macdonald
- Alex Mayer
- Sarah Owen
- Andrew Pakes
- Peter Prinsley
- Jenny Riddell-Carpenter
- Alistair Strathern
- David Taylor
- Matt Turmaine
- Chris Vince
- Mohammad Yasin
- Daniel Zeichner
- Diane Abbott
- Rushanara Ali
- Rosena Allin-Khan
- Fleur Anderson
- James Asser
- Jas Athwal
- Calvin Bailey
- Danny Beales
- Rachel Blake
- Dawn Butler
- Ruth Cadbury
- Nesil Caliskan
- Bambos Charalambous
- Feryal Clark
- Ben Coleman
- Liam Conlon
- Deirdre Costigan
- Neil Coyle
- Stella Creasy
- Janet Daby
- Marsha de Cordova
- Clive Efford
- Florence Eshalomi
- Miatta Fahnbulleh
- Vicky Foxcroft
- Daniel Francis
- Barry Gardiner
- Georgia Gould
- Helen Hayes
- Meg Hillier
- Rupa Huq
- Natasha Irons
- Sarah Jones
- Uma Kumaran
- David Lammy
- Seema Malhotra
- Siobhain McDonagh
- Margaret Mullane
- James Murray
- Abena Oppong-Asare
- Kate Osamor
- Matthew Pennycook
- David Pinto-Duschinsky
- Joe Powell
- Steve Reed
- Ellie Reeves
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy
- Sarah Sackman
- Tulip Siddiq
- Andy Slaughter
- Keir Starmer
- Wes Streeting
- Gareth Thomas
- Emily Thornberry
- Stephen Timms
- Dan Tomlinson
- Catherine West
- Callum Anderson
- Olivia Bailey
- Alex Baker
- Polly Billington
- Beccy Cooper
- Chris Curtis
- Emily Darlington
- Tan Dhesi
- Jim Dickson
- Anneliese Dodds
- Helena Dollimore
- Rosie Duffield
- Lauren Edwards
- Sojan Joseph
- Satvir Kaur
- Naushabah Khan
- Peter Kyle
- Laura Kyrke-Smith
- Peter Lamb
- Amanda Martin
- Kevin McKenna
- Stephen Morgan
- Luke Murphy
- Tris Osborne
- Darren Paffey
- Richard Quigley
- Emma Reynolds
- Matt Rodda
- Tom Rutland
- Lauren Sullivan
- Peter Swallow
- Mike Tapp
- Tony Vaughan
- Chris Ward
- Sean Woodcock
- Yuan Yang
- Dan Aldridge
- Heidi Alexander
- Sadik Al-Hassan
- Matt Bishop
- Neil Duncan-Jordan
- Damien Egan
- Anna Gelderd
- Lloyd Hatton
- Tom Hayes
- Claire Hazelgrove
- Darren Jones
- Jayne Kirkham
- Noah Law
- Kerry McCarthy
- Alex McIntyre
- Perran Moon
- Dan Norris
- Simon Opher
- Luke Pollard
- Steve Race
- Karin Smyth
- Will Stone
- Fred Thomas
- Jessica Toale
- Tonia Antoniazzi
- Alex Barros-Curtis
- Torsten Bell
- Chris Bryant
- Alex Davies-Jones
- Stephen Doughty
- Chris Elmore
- Chris Evans
- Catherine Fookes
- Gill German
- Becky Gittins
- Nia Griffith
- Carolyn Harris
- Claire Hughes
- Gerald Jones
- Ruth Jones
- Stephen Kinnock
- Anna McMorrin
- Jessica Morden
- Kanishka Narayan
- Andrew Ranger
- Nick Smith
- Jo Stevens
- Mark Tami
- Nick Thomas-Symonds
- Henry Tufnell
- Steve Witherden
- Zubir Ahmed
- Douglas Alexander
- Scott Arthur
- Richard Baker
- Johanna Baxter
- Maureen Burke
- Irene Campbell
- Torcuil Crichton
- Graeme Downie
- Patricia Ferguson
- Alan Gemmell
- Tracy Gilbert
- John Grady
- Lillian Jones
- Chris Kane
- Brian Leishman
- Douglas McAllister
- Martin McCluskey
- Blair McDougall
- Gordon McKee
- Frank McNally
- Kirsty McNeill
- Chris Murray
- Ian Murray
- Katrina Murray
- Pamela Nash
- Gregor Poynton
- Joani Reid
- Martin Rhodes
- Michael Shanks
- Euan Stainbank
- Kenneth Stevenson
- Elaine Stewart
- Kirsteen Sullivan
- Alison Taylor
- Imogen Walker
- Melanie Ward