Maria Eagle

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox officeholder Maria Eagle (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Garston, previously Garston and Halewood, since 1997. She served as a junior minister in the governments of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer.

The twin sister of Angela Eagle, also a Labour MP, Eagle was born in the East Riding of Yorkshire to a working-class family and raised in Merseyside. She studied Philosophy, politics and economics at Pembroke College, Oxford and Law at the College of Law, London. After graduating with her law degree, she worked as an articled clerk and solicitor in both London and Liverpool. After unsuccessfully contesting Crosby in 1992, she was elected as MP for Liverpool Garston at the 1997 general election.

Under Tony Blair, Eagle was a junior minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education and Skills and Northern Ireland Office. She was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice and Government Equalities Office under Gordon Brown. Following the 2010 general election, Eagle became Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales. She served in the Shadow cabinet as Shadow Transport Secretary, Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Shadow Defence Secretary and finally Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. She resigned from the Corbyn shadow cabinet in June 2016. She returned to the frontbench as Shadow Minister for Procurement in 2023.

Early life and career

Maria Eagle was born on 17 February 1961 in Bridlington,<ref name="Own bio">Template:Cite web</ref> the daughter of Shirley (Template:Nee Kirk), a factory worker, and André Eagle, a print worker.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She was educated at St Peter's Church of England School in Formby, Merseyside and Formby High School before attending Pembroke College, Oxford, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, politics and economics in 1983.<ref name="Dods">Template:Cite book</ref>

Eagle worked in the voluntary sector from 1983 to 1990, and then went to the College of Law, London, where she took her law finals in 1990, before she joined Brian Thompson & Partners in Liverpool as an articled clerk in 1990. In 1992 she became a solicitor with Goldsmith Williams in Liverpool, and later a Solicitor at Stephen Irving & Co also in Liverpool, where she remained until her election to Westminster.<ref name="Dods" />

After joining the Labour Party, Eagle was elected the secretary of the Crosby Constituency Labour Party (CLP) for two years in 1983,<ref name="ParlProf">Biography – Maria Eagle UK Parliament</ref> and was also elected as the campaigns organiser with that CLP for three years in 1993.<ref name="ParlProf" />

Parliamentary career

At the 1992 general election, Eagle stood as the Labour Party candidate in Crosby, coming second with 25.7% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP Malcolm Thornton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="electoralcalculus1992">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Backbencher

Prior to the 1997 general election, Eagle was selected through an all-women shortlist to stand as the Labour candidate in Liverpool Garston.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="independent.co.uk">Template:Cite news</ref> Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Liverpool Garston with 61.3% of the vote and a majority of 18,417.<ref name="electoralcalculus1997">Template:Cite web</ref> She made her maiden speech on 17 June 1997.<ref>Hansard Debates for 17 June 1997 Template:Webarchive UK Parliament</ref>

She became a member of the Public Accounts Committee and in 1999 she was appointed the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, John Hutton. Her proposed ban on mink fur farming was defeated as a Private member's bill but subsequently picked up by the government and enacted as the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000.<ref name="BBC profile">Template:Cite news</ref>

Eagle was re-elected as MP for Liverpool Garston at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 61.4% and a decreased majority of 12,494.<ref name="electoralcalculus2001">Template:Cite web</ref>

Government minister

Official portrait, 2007

Eagle was promoted to the Tony Blair government following the 2001 general election as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.

At the 2005 general election, Eagle was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 54% and a decreased majority of 7,193.<ref name="electoralcalculus2005">Template:Cite web</ref> Following the election, she was the Minister for Children at the Department for Education and Skills, until the May 2006 reshuffle moved her to Northern Ireland, where she was minister for Employment and Learning.

Eagle was moved to the Ministry of Justice when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007. In September 2008, she was nominated for Stonewall Politician of the Year for her work to support equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> As part of the government reshuffle in October 2008, she assumed additional responsibility for Equalities. In the June 2009 reshuffle, she was promoted to Minister of State.<ref name="ParlProf" />

Expenses controversy

On 17 May 2009, during the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, The Daily Telegraph revealed that Eagle had claimed £3,500 for the refurbishment of the bathroom of her Liverpool home, then switched her second home designation to a different property four months later. Eagle voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs' expenses information secret.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In opposition

Official portrait, 2017

Prior to the 2010 general election, Eagle's constituency of Liverpool Garston was abolished, and replaced with Garston and Halewood. At the 2010 general election, Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Garston and Halewood with 59.5% of the vote and a majority of 16,877.<ref name="electoralcalculus2010">Template:Cite web</ref>

Following the election, she served in interim Labour leader Harriet Harman's frontbench as Shadow Solicitor General for England and Wales and Shadow Minister for Justice.<ref name="ParlProf" /><ref>Template:Usurped ePolitix.com, 28 May 2010</ref><ref>Opposition Front Bench Template:Webarchive Labour Party</ref> In October 2010 Eagle was elected to the Shadow cabinet of new Labour Party leader Ed Miliband as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet election.<ref>Cooper tops shadow cabinet vote Template:Webarchive BBC News, 7 October 2010</ref>

In February 2013, she voted in favour in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

At the 2015 general election, Eagle was re-elected as MP for Garston and Halewood with an increased vote share of 69.1% and an increased majority of 27,146.<ref name="electoralcalculus">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="2015 result">Template:Cite news</ref>

Eagle was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in September 2015 by newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She said she was surprised by her appointment as she had disagreed with Corbyn's advocacy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and supported the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.<ref name="NSTrident">Template:Cite news</ref> Tasked with leading Labour's defence review, she said she would not rule out the possibility of it recommending unilateral disarmament.<ref name="NSTrident" /> However, she described Corbyn commenting he would not countenance using a nuclear deterrent as "unhelpful" to the policy process.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In January 2016, Eagle was moved to the position of Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She resigned from the shadow cabinet on 27 June 2016 in the mass resignation of the Shadow Cabinet following the Brexit referendum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

At the snap 2017 general election, Eagle was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 77.7% and an increased majority of 32,149.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 72.3% and a decreased majority of 31,624.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She is a supporter of Labour Friends of Israel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

On 15 February 2023, she was appointed as a member of the Privy Council.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Procurement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Return to government

Due to the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, Eagle's constituency of Garston and Halewood was abolished, and replaced with Liverpool Garston. At the 2024 general election, Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Liverpool Garston with 58.4% of the vote and a majority of 20,104.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2024/uk/constituencies/E14001337 Liverpool Garston</ref> She was appointed as Minister of State for Defence Procurement and Industry on 8 July.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In November 2024, Eagle voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Eagle left the government in the 2025 British cabinet reshuffle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Following her initial election, Eagle joined her twin sister Angela in Parliament.Template:Efn Maria describes herself as "the straight one", while Angela is a lesbian.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Publications

• High Time or High Tide for Labour Women? by Maria Eagle and Joni Lovenduski, 1998, Fabian Society Books, Template:ISBN, Template:OCLC

External links

• Maria Eagle MP official websiteTemplate:UK MP links

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