Beverley Hughes

Infobox Minister
honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
name = Beverley Hughes
honorific-suffix =MP


imagesize =200px
caption =
office = Minister of State at the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Minister for the North West
term_start = 28 June 2007
term_end =
primeminister = Gordon Brown
predecessor = Jim Knight
successor = Incumbent
constituency_MP2 = Stretford and Urmston
parliament2 =
majority2 = 19,417 (51.0%)
predecessor2 = Constituency Created
successor2 = Incumbent
term_start2 = 1 May 1997
term_end2 =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1950|3|30|mf=y
birth_place =Ellesmere Port
death_date =
death_place =
nationality =British
party =Labour
spouse = Thomas McDonald
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =University of Manchester, University of Liverpool
occupation =
profession =Academic
religion =


website = [http://www.bevhughes.co.uk/index.htm bevhughes.co.uk]
footnotes =

Beverley June Hughes (born 30 March 1950) is a British politician, and member of Parliament for Stretford and Urmston (in Greater Manchester). She is a member of the governing Labour Party and a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom since 2004. Since 17 June 2005 she has been Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families) at the Department for Education and Skills. On 29 June 2007 she was also made the Minister for the North West and moved to the newly created Department for Children, Schools and Families to continue in her previous role.

Early life and education

Beverley Hughes was born in Ellesmere Port in 1950 and was educated at Ellesmere Port Girls' Grammar School (now called The Whitby High School) on "Sycamore Drive" in Whitby, Ellesmere Port. She moved to Flixton in 1976, and has lived there ever since.

Ms Hughes studied for a BSc in Social Science at the University of Manchester, graduating in 1971. After graduation she continued her studies at the University of Manchester, carrying out postgraduate research into the care of people with schizophrenia, for which she was awarded a Master of Science degree in 1978. She also gained a Diploma in Applied Social Studies in 1974 from the University of Liverpool.

She worked as a probation officer in Merseyside from 1971-6.

From 1976 - 1997 Ms Hughes worked first as a research associate, then lecturer (from 1981) and then a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Policy at the University of Manchester, a department that she became the head of in 1994.

Political career

Beverley Hughes' political career began with her election to Trafford Borough Council in 1986. She quickly established herself as a competent politician and was appointed leader of the council's Labour Group in 1992. She became Trafford Borough Council Leader in 1995 until her election to the UK Parliament in the United Kingdom general election, 1997.

From June 1997 to July 1998 she was a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, until she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Hilary Armstrong, Minister for Local Government and Housing. In July 1999 she was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

In 2001 she was appointed the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Probation in the Home Office.

In 2002 Ms Hughes was appointed Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism, but was forced to resign after it emerged that Romanian and Bulgarian nationals were being given British visas even though their applications were supported by false documents. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = BBC News
work = Beverley Hughes
publisher = BBC
date = 2002-10-16
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2173858.stm
format = HTTP
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-02]

She was re-appointed into government after the 2005 general election as the Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families in the Department for Education and Skills. Following Gordon Brown being appointed as Prime Minister, Beverley Hughes has been promoted to Cabinet Minister rather than Government Minister. Beverley Hughes is the Regional Minister for the North West.

Ms Hughes was the target of much ridicule in July 2001 after she'd toured the media denouncing an edition of the Channel 4 television show Brass Eye as being unbelievably sick, and then subsequently admitting that she'd never seen it.

Personal life

She married Thomas McDonald in 1973 in west Cheshire and has three grown up children - one son and two daughters.

Visa scam and resignation

On 1st April 2004, Beverley Hughes was forced to resign her position of Minister of State for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe - she had earlier told the House of Commons that if she had been aware of such facts she would have done something about it. Ms Hughes had dismissed calls to quit, saying she had not known of the claims.

Upon resignation No 10 have allegedly been quoted as saying that she had been warned about the problem up to a year previously. Ms Hughes said she had not set out to "intentionally mislead anyone", but she could not "in conscience continue to serve as immigration minister". [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = BBC News
work = Hughes resigns over visa scam row
publisher = BBC
date = 2004-04-01
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3589131.stm
format = HTTP
doi =
accessdate = 2007-04-02]

The prime minister replaced Ms Hughes with Work and Pensions Minister Des Browne.

References

External links

* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-2575,00.html Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle - Beverley Hughes]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/?pid=10296 TheyWorkForYou.com - Beverley Hughes]
* [http://www.bevhughes.co.uk/index.htm Hughes' website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/551.stm BBC Politics website]
* [http://www.gonw.gov.uk/gonw/OurRegion/584397/?a=42496 GONW Website - Regional Minister Page]

News items

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3591647.stm Letters she sent to David Blunkett from 2004]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3580877.stm Resignation in April 2004]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3589261.stm Timeline of resignation from June 2004]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3087939.stm Ask Beverley Hughes about Immigration in July 2003]