Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 5 May 2006 – 27 June 2007
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Preceded by
Jack Straw
Succeeded by
David Miliband
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office 8 June 2001 – 5 May 2006
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Preceded by
Nick Brown[a] John Prescott[b]
Succeeded by
David Miliband
Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
In office 8 June 2001 – 27 March 2002
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Preceded by
Nick Brown
Succeeded by
Herself[c]
Leader of the House of Commons Lord President of the Council
In office 27 July 1998 – 8 June 2001
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Preceded by
Ann Taylor
Succeeded by
Robin Cook
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry President of the Board of Trade
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Preceded by
Ian Lang
Succeeded by
Peter Mandelson
Leader of the Opposition
In office 12 May 1994 – 21 July 1994
Monarch
Elizabeth II
Prime Minister
John Major
Preceded by
John Smith
Succeeded by
Tony Blair
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party
In office 18 July 1992 – 21 July 1994
Leader
John Smith
Preceded by
Roy Hattersley
Succeeded by
John Prescott
Junior ministerial offices
Minister of State for Housing and Planning
In office 3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister
Gordon Brown
Preceded by
Caroline Flint
Succeeded by
John Healey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 12 March 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister
Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by
Joan Lestor
Succeeded by
Rhodes Boyson
Shadow cabinet portfolios
1995–1997
Trade and Industry
1994–1995
Health
1992–1994
Commons Leader
1989–1992
Chief Treasury Secretary
Member of Parliament for Derby South
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 June 1983
Preceded by
Walter Johnson
Majority
6,019 (14.2%)
Member of Parliament for Lincoln
In office 10 October 1974 – 7 April 1979
Preceded by
Dick Taverne
Succeeded by
Kenneth Carlisle
Personal details
Born
Margaret Mary Jackson
(1943-01-15) 15 January 1943 (age 81) Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England
Political party
Labour
Spouse
Lionel Beckett
(m. 1979; died 2021)
Alma mater
Manchester College of Science and Technology (BSc)
Signature
Website
Official website
Margaret Beckett's voice
Beckett makes a statement on climate change on behalf of the European Commission and Council Recorded 16 November 2005
Dame Margaret Mary BeckettGBE (née Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South since 1983. A member of the Labour Party, she became Britain's first female Foreign Secretary in 2006 and served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Tony Blair throughout his tenure. Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1994, Beckett briefly served as Leader of the Opposition and Acting Leader of the Labour Party following John Smith's death in 1994.
Beckett was first elected to Parliament at the October 1974 general election for Lincoln and held junior positions in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. She lost her seat at the 1979 election, but returned to the House of Commons in 1983, this time representing Derby South. She was appointed to Neil Kinnock's Shadow Cabinet shortly afterward; she was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1992, becoming the first woman to hold that role. When John Smith died in 1994, Beckett became the first woman to lead the Labour Party, although Tony Blair won the election to replace Smith shortly afterward and assumed the substantive leadership.
After Labour returned to power in 1997, Beckett became a member of Tony Blair's Cabinet initially as President of the Board of Trade. She later served as Leader of the House of Commons and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, before becoming Foreign Secretary in 2006, the first woman to hold that position, and—after Margaret Thatcher—the second woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State. Following Blair's resignation as Prime Minister in 2007, Beckett was not initially given a position by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown; after she had spent a period on the backbenches, Brown appointed her to his cabinet as Minister of State for Housing and Planning in 2008, before she left the government for the last time in 2009.
Beckett holds the record for the female MP with the longest service overall (Harriet Harman has longer continuous service) and, is the only sitting MP who served in the Labour governments of the 1970s. On 26 March 2022 Beckett announced that she would stand down at the next general election.[1]
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^"Margaret Beckett: First female foreign secretary to retire as MP". BBC News. 26 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
Dame Margaret Mary Beckett GBE (née Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby South...
for leader was held simultaneously with a deputy leadership vote. MargaretBeckett had been the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, and following Smith's...
leadership election, following Hattersley's retirement, but lost to MargaretBeckett. Prescott held various posts in Labour's Shadow Cabinet, but his career...
in 1994, following the sudden death of incumbent leader John Smith. MargaretBeckett was the serving Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, having been elected...
Member of Parliament for Stockport MargaretBeckett (born 1943), British Member of Parliament for Derby South Margaret Chase Smith (1897–1995), was the...
MargaretBeckett led the United Kingdom Shadow Cabinet when she was Leader of the Labour Party on a pro tempore Leader of the Opposition basis between...
suddenly in 1994 of a heart attack. Blair defeated John Prescott and MargaretBeckett in the subsequent leadership election and became Leader of the Opposition...
Marshall saw Labour struggle to appoint a candidate, eventually settling for Margaret Curran, a sitting MSP in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP, Conservatives...
right to trial by jury in certain cases. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared "I would trust Jack Straw's judgement. He is...
Tony Blair made a major cabinet reshuffle in which Miliband replaced MargaretBeckett as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Miliband...
Beckett is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: Adam Beckett (1950–79), American animator, special effects artist and teacher,...
resigned. On 19 January 1999, the Leader of the House of Commons, MargaretBeckett, introduced the House of Lords Bill into the House of Commons. The...
produce successful governments. He was later sacked by the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. 22 July 1989: This was the last edition of Question Time under...
for Defence (1997–1999) Secretary of State for Trade and Industry MargaretBeckett, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1997–1998) Peter Mandelson...
state for Commonwealth affairs into a single department of state. MargaretBeckett, appointed in 2006 by Tony Blair, was the first woman to have held...
Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by Jack Cunningham Succeeded by MargaretBeckett Member of Parliament for Newcastle upon Tyne East Newcastle upon Tyne...
a number of MPs leaving the Campaign Group including Clare Short, MargaretBeckett, Jo Richardson and Joan Ruddock. Labour's electoral college was weighted...
Lord Privy Seal Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, Lord Privy Seal (1998–2001) Leader of the House of Commons MargaretBeckett, Leader of the House...
economic reform. After the Budget, Kendall commissioned the former minister Margaret Hodge, to undertake a review into the £100bn tax reliefs that firms are...
serving MP and the oldest Labour MP in the current parliament; only MargaretBeckett has longer total service. Sheerman has announced he will not seek re-election...
party's constitution, albeit on a temporary basis, as was the case with MargaretBeckett in 1994. Following Brown's resignation, she quickly announced that...
Lord Privy Seal Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, Lord Privy Seal (1998–2001) Leader of the House of Commons MargaretBeckett, Leader of the House...
repeated in another PPB slot. The election, held on 11 June 1987, returned Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives for the third time, although Labour gained 20...
would hold the other four. Labour was under the interim leadership of MargaretBeckett following the sudden death of leader John Smith the previous month...