Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone
Spokesman for Youth and Equality Issues
Incumbent
Assumed office  2 July 2007
Leader	Nick Clegg
Preceded by	Susan Kramer
Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green
Incumbent
Assumed office  5 May 2005
Preceded by	Barbara Roche
Majority	2,395 (45.3%)
Member of the London Assembly for the Liberal Democrats (London-wide)
In office 4 May 2000 – 6 June 2005
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Geoff Pope
Born	20 December 1951 (1951-12-20) (age 58) Highgate, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Alma mater	Oxford Brookes University
Profession	Politician
Religion	Judaism[1]

Lynne Choona Featherstone (born Lynne Choona Ryness) 20 December 1951), is a British politician, and the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green. She is currently a member of the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet, as spokesperson for Youth and Equality issues, and chair of the Liberal Democrats technology board.^[2]

Early life

She was born and brought up in North London and educated at the Highgate Primary School, the independent South Hampstead High School on Maresfield Gardens and gained a Diploma in Communication and Design at Oxford Polytechnic. She has lived in the Hornsey and Wood Green constituency for over thirty years. Her family's wealth is generated from a family business started by her parents - the Ryness chain of hardware and electrical shops in London. She lives in Highgate on the western side of the constituency. She is from a Jewish background.

Councillor of London Borough of Haringey 1998-2006

She was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Haringey in 1998 for Muswell Hill ward. She and her two colleagues (June Andersen and Julia Glenn) were the first three Liberal Democrat councillors to be elected in the borough. She was leader of Liberal Democrat Group (and thereby Leader of the Opposition) on the council 1998-2002.

She stood down from Haringey Council at the May 2006 elections. She played a substantial role in the May 2006 election campaign in Haringey where Labour's majority was cut from 25 to 3, with 30 Labour councillors elected to 27 Liberal Democrats.

Member of the London Assembly 2000-2005

From 2000 until 2005, when she stood down, Featherstone was a member of the London Assembly. She was replaced as a member of the London Assembly by Geoff Pope. In 2005, a speech she made pointing out that local councillors receive an allowance which they could use to free up time to do council work by hiring domestic cleaners and babysitters was used against her by opponents.^[3] A transcript of this speech was reported in the Evening Standard newspaper.^[4]

Featherstone was promoted by some as a potential Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the 2008 election. In response to a poll on the Liberal Democrat Voice website,^[5] she ruled herself out, stating that, of the other people in the poll, she would back Brian Paddick.^[6]

Member of Parliament

Lynne Featherstone first contested the Hornsey and Wood Green seat at the 1997 General Election where she finished in third place some 25,998 votes behind the winner Barbara Roche. She again fought Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2001 General Election, moving into second place and reducing Roche's majority to 10,614. In one of the largest swings at the 2005 General Election, Featherstone ousted Roche with a majority of 2,395 votes.

She made her maiden speech in Parliament on 24 May 2005.^[7] She was appointed as a junior home affairs spokesperson by Charles Kennedy in 2005, and to the environment audit select committee. She was co-chair of Chris Huhne's unsuccessful campaign to be leader of the Liberal Democrats following the resignation of Kennedy in January 2006. In March, following the election of Menzies Campbell as party leader, she was promoted to number two in the Liberal Democrat home affairs team and made London spokesperson. In December 2006, she succeeded Susan Kramer as the Liberal Democrat Shadow International Development Secretary, and two months later was succeeded by Tom Brake as London spokesperson.

In 2007, following the resignation of Menzies Campbell, she again chaired Chris Huhne's leadership election campaign. On 20 December 2007 the new Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who defeated Chris Huhne, made her Youth and Equalities spokesperson.

Aftermath of death of Baby P

Following Baby P's death, Haringey Council initiated an internal audit Serious Case Review (SCR)^[8]. Although the actual report was completed months earlier, the Executive Summary of the report was released immediately after the resulting court case had completed. The full details of the report have been kept confidential. Lynne Featherstone MP has been particularly critical of Haringey Council, writing "I personally met with George Meehan and Ita O'Donovan — Haringey Council's leader and chief executive — to raise with them three different cases, where the pattern was in each case Haringey seeming to want to blame anyone who complained rather than to look at the complaint seriously. I was promised action — but despite repeated subsequent requests for news on progress — I was just stonewalled."^[9]

In November 2008, at Prime Minister's Questions, Featherstone asked the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into the Baby P case^[10]. She was leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition on Haringey Council at the time of the murder of Victoria Climbié.

Media attention

In April 2006 one of Featherstone's researchers received a hoax email warning about an apparent date rape drug called Progesterex.^[11] Featherstone submitted a question to a government minister inquiring "what assessment he has made of the use of progesterex in cases of date rape". Paul Goggins replied in the House of Commons that Progesterex does not exist. "It has been the subject of a hoax e-mail".^[12][13] The hoax first originated in 1999.^[14] Featherstone criticised the minister's response, stating "they need to do more to discover the unearthly monster who sends them out" and that "their cavalier attitude will not do".^[15] Critics, such as fellow Liberal Democrat James Graham castigated Featherstone's conduct in "criticising the Home Office for not having a response to made up drugs and made up crimes", further stating "trivialising rape in this way without bothering to do basic research first doesn’t help anybody."^[16]

In April 2007, Featherstone was forced to return large quantities of stationery after her office ordered £22,000 worth in the previous month in an attempt to beat new rules on stationery allowances. Featherstone blamed a staff member for the incident, stating she "knew nothing". In a leaked email, Parliamentary official Cliff Harris reportedly stated "it's quite alarming when you see that Lynne Featherstone spent over £22,000 in one month, the equivalent to three years of the new capped rate" ^[17]. Featherstone subsequently said she would be putting in place better office procedures.^[18]

She came to the attention of the national media in 2008 when she was criticized by Conservative Member of the London Assembly Brian Coleman for calling 999 (the UK's emergency number) when her boiler began making noises and sparking. Coleman referred to her as a "dizzy airhead", Featherstone responded by calling his comments "sexist" and "political" in nature.^[19][20] A London Fire Brigade spokeswoman told the BBC: "If it's obvious that there has been an ongoing problem with the boiler, then you can call a plumber. But if your boiler suddenly starts making strange noises in the middle of the night, call the fire brigade."

In May 2009, she was listed by The Telegraph as one of the "Saints" in the expenses scandal.^[21]

Voting record

Featherstone's voting trends include support for a smoking ban, an investigation into the Iraq War, and laws to stop climate change, while being against the introduction of ID cards, Labour's counter-terrorism laws and replacing the Trident missile.^[22]

Polls and awards

In 2006, she was shortlisted in the "Rising Stars" category of the Channel 4 political awards, but did not win. She has also been nominated for the prestigious Dods "Woman Of The Year" award.

At the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton in 2006, she was named by The Sun as one of five "Lib Dem lovelies",^[23] and in a 2007 Sky News poll she was named seventh most fanciable MP in the UK.^[24] In Feb 2009 she improved on this position by making it to number two.

Personal life

She married Stephen Featherstone in Haringey in 1982, but divorced in 1996. They have two daughters (born February 1984 and July 1989).^[25]

References

External links

• Official site
• Lynne Featherstone MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Lynne Featherstone MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Lynne Featherstone MP
• The Public Whip - Lynne Featherstone MP voting record
• Yoosk.com Lynne Featherstone profile page
• MayorWatch Interview with Lynne Featherstone
• Article by Lynne Featherstone for Liberal Review
• Open Rights Group - Lynne Featherstone MP
• BBC Meet the MP 2005
• BBC Politics page
• Open Directory Project - Lynne Featherstone directory category

Video clips

• Featherstone's video diaries from the 2007 Liberal Democrats conference: Sun · Mon · Tues · Wed · Thurs

News items

• Being a working mother in March 2007
• Pub hours in September 2005