Charlotte Atkins
Charlotte Atkins | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands | |
| Assumed office 1 May 1997 | |
| Preceded by | David Knox |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 September 1950 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics |
Charlotte Jean Scott Atkins (born 24 September 1950) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Staffordshire Moorlands.
The daughter of Ron Atkins, the former left wing Labour MP for Preston North, Atkins was educated at the Colchester County High School, and is a graduate of the London School of Economics. She joined the Labour Party in 1965. She worked as a community relations officer with the Luton Community Research Council. She worked in the Trade Union Movement, for four years she was a researcher with the UCATT union she worked as a press officer for UNISON and COHSE before becoming a Member of Parliament in 1997. In 1982 she was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and was the Deputy Leader of the Labour Group from 1983-1986.
In 1990 she unsuccessfully contested the Eastbourne by-election caused by the murder of the Conservative MP Ian Gow by the Provisional IRA. She entered the House of Commons at the 1997 general election in the Labour landslide as the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands, a seat held previously by David Knox, and which had been Conservative for 27 years.
After the 2001 general election she was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She was promoted to Tony Blair's government as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport in 2004, but was dropped following the 2005 general election.
At the 2005 general election on 5 May 2005, she was re-elected for a third term as MP, with a majority of 2,438. In July 2005 she became a member of the Parliamentary Health Select Committee and is the Vice-Chair of the All-Party Hill Farmers Group.
She is a volunteer at the British Fluoridisation Society. She is married to Gus Brain and has one daughter, Emma. She wrote a book in 1981 with Chris Mullin called How to Select or Reselect Your MP.
Publications
- How to Select or Reselect Your Member of Parliament by Chris Mullin and Charlotte Atkins, 1981, Institute of Workers' Control ISBN 0-901740-74-8