Karen Buck

Dame Karen Patricia Buck (born 30 August 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Westminster North, and previously Regent's Park and Kensington North, from 1997 to 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> She also served on Westminster City Council from 1990 to 1997. Template:As of, she chairs the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC).

Early life

Born in Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1958, Buck was educated at the Chelmsford County High School for Girls and the London School of Economics, from where she was awarded a BSc and an MSc in Economics, and an MA in Social Policy and Administration.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> Buck was briefly a Young Liberal.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref>

Career

Buck joined the Labour Party in 1978. The following year, she became a research and development worker with Outset, a charity working with disabled people, before joining Hackney London Borough Council in 1983, initially working for them as a senior disability officer, and from 1986 as a public health officer.<ref name=":2" />

Buck first ran for election in the 1982 Barnet London Borough Council election, aged 23, as one of the three unsuccessful Labour candidates in the borough's Mill Hill ward (based around the area of that name).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1986 she stood in Westminster City Council's Cavendish ward, an area straddling Marylebone and the West End of London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Despite the large increase in the Labour vote, all three seats were narrowly retained by the Conservatives, in a tightly contested election which saw Labour come close to winning the council.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She began working for the Labour Party in 1987 as a health directorate researcher, becoming a campaign strategy coordinator in 1992, a role she held until 1996.<ref name=":2" /> From 1988 to 1990, she was chair of Westminster North Constituency Labour Party (CLP).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

She was elected to Westminster City Council in 1990, representing Queen's Park ward (situated around the area of that name) in a safe seat for her party. Buck remained on the council until shortly after her election to parliament in 1997, when she stood down.<ref name="boothroyd" /> Whilst a councillor, she was involved in exposing the fraudulent behaviour of council leader Shirley Porter and the homes for votes scandal.<ref name="politics">Template:Cite web</ref>

Parliamentary career

Buck was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist, in a seat which was based largely on the former Westminster North constituency, held narrowly at the 1992 general election by the former Conservative minister John Wheeler. He retired, and Buck was elected at the 1997 general election as the Labour MP for Regent's Park and Kensington North with a majority of 14,657 (31%), on a night which saw a historic Labour landslide win.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> She made her maiden speech on 17 June 1997, and would serve continuously as an MP for 27 years, in constituencies which included the ward she represented as a councillor.<ref name="parliamentsite">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2005 profile, Buck was described as "A bright and humorous centre-left feminist" who "has the perfect New Labour pedigree."<ref name=":4" /> From 1998 to 2005, she chaired the London Group of Labour MPs.<ref name=":2" />

Following her election to Parliament, she joined the Social Security Select committee, remaining on it until the 2001 general election.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Despite a small decline in the Labour vote, she comfortably held the seat, with a majority of over 10,000 votes (and a 27.7% lead over her nearest rival).<ref name=":5" />

Buck subsequently joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which she was a member of until 2005.<ref name=":2" /> In 2001, her appointment as an Assistant Government Whip was announced without her knowledge and consent; she declined to take up the post.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite news</ref> However, she did become a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in the wake of the 2005 general election, as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.<ref name=":0" /> Despite a 6.3% swing to the Conservatives, and her vote share falling to 44.7%, she retained her seat with a majority of 6,131 (15.1%).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Buck sat on the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2006 to 2010.<ref name=":2" />

At the 2010 general election, she was elected as the MP for the newly recreated marginal seat of Westminster North, with a majority of 2,126 (5.4%) over Joanne Cash, the Conservative candidate, in a high-profile race.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following Labour's election defeat, Buck nominated Ed Miliband to succeed Gordon Brown, who had replaced Blair as Labour leader and prime minister. Miliband subsequently won the party's 2010 leadership contest.<ref name="2010contest">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During his tenure as Labour leader, Buck served as Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform from 2010 to 2011 and Further Education from 2011 to 2013. She was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Miliband, alongside Wayne David, in 2013, and continued in the position until 2015.<ref name=":2" />

At the 2015 election, she was re-elected with a slightly decreased majority of 1,977 (5.0%), while Labour remained in opposition. Miliband resigned as leader, and Buck nominated Yvette Cooper in the resulting leadership election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cooper came third, with Jeremy Corbyn becoming party leader; Buck did not serve in any posts during his leadership tenure. In July 2015, she was appointed to the Work and Pensions Committee, remaining on it until 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> From 2015 to 2017, she was also a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Panel of Chairs.<ref name=":2" />

In the 2016 Labour leadership election, when Corbyn was unsuccessfully challenged by Owen Smith, Buck nominated Smith.<ref name="2016leadership">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> At the 2017 general election, Buck increased her majority by 14.7%, to 11,512 (26.6%), representing a 10.8% swing to Labour in the constituency.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Buck campaigned for 'Remain' in the 2016 European Union membership referendum, and voted against the triggering of Article 50 in Parliament. In a message posted on her website in November 2018, she wrote, "Most of my constituents know that I have always believed that Brexit would be a disaster and that no possible deal could replicate the advantages of our remaining in the EU." She continued, "And while I respect the deeply held views of many people who voted to leave, the fact remains that the 'Leave' campaign was based on a raft of promises which could never realistically be delivered, and a false prospectus was put before the British people."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In December 2018, Buck's Private Member's Bill received Royal Assent as the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act, coming into force on 20 March 2019. If a landlord failed to let and maintain a property that was fit for human habitation, the Bill would give tenants the right to take action in the courts. The Bill received cross-party support.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> She was re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a small swing away from Labour, again with a substantial majority of 10,759 (25.07%), suggesting that Westminster North had become a safe seat. Nationally, Labour were defeated for the fourth time in a row, and a leadership election was held in 2020 to replace Corbyn. Buck nominated Keir Starmer, who won, and consequently became party leader.<ref name="archivelink">Template:Cite web</ref> She was appointed Shadow Minister for Social Security in July 2020,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> serving in the role until she stepped down in September 2023.

In January 2024, Buck announced that she would be standing down at the next general election; it was subsequently called in May, and held in July that year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2024 Birthday Honours, which were announced in June.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Political views

Buck expressed concerns in 2018 that homeless Londoners were forced to move out of the city, stating: "Losing your home is a deeply traumatic event and then being offered accommodation miles away from your community, your work, your children's school and your care responsibilities compounds all that trauma. People are struggling against the most appalling odds to hold their own lives together and above all to hold their kids' lives together."<ref name="guardian29/10/2018">Number of homeless households moved out of London soars Template:Webarchive The Guardian</ref>

She voted in favour of the hunting ban and gay marriage, whilst in 2007, she voted against replacing Trident.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Buck was previously a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Whilst an MP, she was a member of Greenpeace and Amnesty International.<ref name=":4" />

Buck was formerly a member of two white-collar public service trade unions, the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) and the National and Local Government Officers' Association (NALGO). Before it merged with Amicus, she was a member of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU).<ref name=":4" />

Post-Parliament

In January 2025, Buck was appointed by the Mayor of London to chair the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC). Commenting on the appointment, she said, "This is such an exciting development with so much potential. I am hugely looking forward to working with the Board and team at OPDC as it moves into the next phase of delivering the homes and jobs London needs."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Buck is a Roman Catholic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2000, she married Barrie Taylor, with whom she had a son.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In December 2006, it was reported that she was withdrawing her 12-year old son from Paddington Academy, one of the government's "flagship" city academies, claiming that the teaching facilities and accommodation were "appalling".<ref name=":6" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Buck and Taylor served alongside each other on Westminster City Council, with both representing Queen's Park from 1994 to 1997.<ref name="boothroyd">Template:Cite web</ref> Taylor died in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In popular culture

In the 1999 novel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the protagonist, Bridget Jones, is asked by her friend Tom which candidate she will be voting for on the day of the 1997 general election. Jones looks for a red (Labour) sign on a lamppost and responds, "Buck!" In the novel, Jones is a resident of Notting Hill, an area which was part of Buck's original constituency, Regent's Park and Kensington North. However, Jones is unable to vote, since she is not registered, and she subsequently worries about the effect this could have on the election result: "What if Buck loses by one vote then entire election lost by one seat? Will be my fault, my fault."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

External links

• Template:UK MP links
• Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Karen Buck MP
• CNN.com video segment on Buck's 2010 reelection campaign
• Template:C-SPAN

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