Profession Teacher Political party Labour | Nationality Scottish Role British Politician Name Bridget Prentice | |
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Education University of Glasgow, University of London, London South Bank University | ||
Bridget Prentice MP on Enterprise Award nominee Sandra Brown
Bridget Theresa Prentice (née Corr; born 28 December 1952) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham East from 1992 to 2010. She was married to fellow Labour MP Gordon Prentice from 20 December 1975, until their divorce in 2000.
Contents
- Bridget Prentice MP on Enterprise Award nominee Sandra Brown
- Letter to bridget prentice 30th january 2008
- Background
- Member of Parliament
- References
Letter to bridget prentice 30th january 2008
Background
Prentice was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 28 December 1952. She attended Our Lady and St Francis School, the University of Glasgow (MA English Literature and Modern History 1973), University of London (PGCE 1974) and South Bank Polytechnic (LLB 1992).
After beginning her working life as the Rector's Assistant at Glasgow University (1972–73), she became a History and English teacher at the Roman Catholic London Oratory School in Fulham (1974–86) and later Head of Careers (1984–6), before switching to John Archer School in Wandsworth as Head of Careers between 1986 and 1988.
Member of Parliament
Bridget Prentice was an unsuccessfully Parliamentary candidate in the 1987 General Election, when she stood for Croydon Central. She contested Lewisham East at the 1992 General Election, a Conservative seat with a majority of 4,846 in the 1987 General Election, taking it for Labour with a majority of 1,095, and increased the majority to 12,127 in the 1997 General Election. In general elections, since she has held the seat with reduced majorities of 9,003 in June 2001, and 6,751 in May 2005.
Appointed a Labour Whip in 1995 by Tony Blair, on Labour entering government in May 1997, she continued in the role into government, before becoming PPS to the Minister for Trade (1998–1999), and then PPS to the Lord Chancellor (1999–2001), leaving government in 2001 to become a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee (2001–2003).
She rejoined the government in 2003, on appointment to the Government Whips Office again. She later became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, continuing in the role in the department's successor, the Ministry of Justice. Within the department, she was responsible for reform of electoral administration, legal services, legal services complaints, legal services commissioner and ombudsman, asylum and immigration, devolution and regional policy.
In December 2008, she was reprimanded by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon, for misusing her communications allowance. She agreed to pay back the money, which had been spent on sending party political literature to voters who were outside her constituency, but who would join it at the next election as the result of boundary changes. In April 2009, Prentice announced her decision to stand down from Parliament at the next election.
She has close ties to Bonus Pastor Secondary School in Lewisham, accepting one pupil every year for work experience, which includes work within the constituency and the Houses of Parliament. Although a Roman Catholic, Bridget Prentice has been a Governor at Trinity Church of England All Through School since 2010. In September 2013, she was elected Chair of the Governing Body.