Patsy Calton

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Patsy Calton
honorific-suffix =
party = Liberal Democrat


constituency_MP = constituency of Cheadle
term_start = 7 June2001
term_end = 29 May 2005
parliament =
majority =
predecessor = Stephen Day
successor = Mark Hunter
birth_date = Birth date|1948|9|19|df=y
birth_place = Somerset
death_date = Death date|2005|5|29|df=y
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Clive Calton
relations =
children = 2 daughters, 1 son
residence =
alma_mater = UMIST
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Patsy Calton (19 September 1948 – 29 May 2005) (born Patricia Yeldon) was a British politician, and was a Liberal Democrat politician, and Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Cheadle in Greater Manchester.

She was first elected at the 2001 general election, with a 33 vote majority over the sitting Conservative MP Stephen Day. She held her seat in the 2005 general election with a majority of 4,020 votes over Stephen Day, despite being too ill with cancer to campaign personally. She died less than four weeks later, although she was sworn in as an MP five days before her death. She also stood at the 1992 general election and the 1997 general election. She had previously been a deputy leader of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council.

Calton was born into a Royal Air Force family and as a result moved around frequently as a child. She began her schooling in Egypt while her father was posted there but most of her school days were spent at Wymondham College in Norfolk.

After her degree in biochemistry at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), she took a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Manchester.

Either side of a career break while bringing up her family, she taught Chemistry in comprehensive schools in Greater Manchester and Cheshire. In June 2001 she left teaching for Parliament, her last school being Poynton High School, where she was head of Chemistry and head of Legh House.

In Parliament, she was a Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on Northern Ireland and on health, and was also chair of the all-party group on breast cancer.

She was married to her husband Clive in 1969. They had three children, Libby, Andrew and Catherine and one grandchild. The family lived in Bramhall for most of their married life and all the children were educated at local schools — Pownall Green Primary and Bramhall High School — and then at Stockport's sixth form colleges.

Calton was first diagnosed with breast cancer following the 1997 election campaign. She recovered after she had undergone a double mastectomy the same year. She ran the London Marathon four times to raise money for Macmillan Nurses. In February 2005 the cancer recurred, this time in the spine. She died on 29 May 2005. [cite web | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4592009.stm | title=Lib Dem MP dies of cancer aged 56 | accessdate=2008-03-19]

After her death, Breakthrough Breast Cancer established the Breakthrough Patsy Calton Award in her honour to recognise exceptional achievement by parliamentarians in campaigning for improvements in breast cancer research, services and/or the patient experience. [cite web | url= http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/what_we_do/campaigning/parliamentary_work/breakthrough.html | title=Breakthrough Patsy Calton award | accessdate=2008-03-19]

References

External links

* [http://www.epolitix.com/EN/MPWebsites/Patsy+Calton/ ePolitix.com - Patsy Calton MP]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-803,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Mrs Patsy Calton MP]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/patsy_calton/cheadle TheyWorkForYou.com - Patsy Calton MP]
* [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Patsy_Calton&mpc=Cheadle The Public Whip - Patsy Calton MP] voting record
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/98.stm BBC News - Patsy Calton] profile 10 February, 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4592009.stm BBC News] [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/libdems/story/0,9061,1495498,00.html Guardian Unlimited] [http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/160/160546_mp_patsy_dies_from_cancer.html Manchester Evening News] [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/30/ncalt30.xml Telegraph] [http://www.libdems.org.uk/news/story.html?id=8705&navPage=news.html Libdems.org] coverage of her death
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,1495727,00.html Guardian Unlimited] Obituary: "Courageous Lib Dem MP known for her health campaigns"
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/story.jsp?story=642839 Independent] Obituary: "Energetic Liberal Democrat MP for Cheadle"