Kitty Ussher

Infobox MP


honorific-prefix =
name = Kitty Ussher
honorific-suffix = MP
office = Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
for Pension Reforms
term_start = 5 October 2008
term_end =
predecessor = Mike O'Brien
successor =
primeminister = Gordon Brown
office2 = Economic Secretary to the Treasury
term_start2 = 29 June 2007
term_end2 = 5 October 2008
predecessor2 = Ed Balls
successor2 = Ian Pearson
primeminister2 = Gordon Brown
constituency_MP3 = Burnley
parliament3 =
majority3 = 5,778 (14.8%)
predecessor3 = Peter Pike
successor3 = Incumbent
term_start3 = 5 May 2005
term_end3 =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1971|03|18|df=yes
birth_place = Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Peter Colley
party = Labour
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford, Birkbeck, University of London
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Katherine Anne "Kitty" Ussher (born 18 March 1971 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She has been the member of Parliament for Burnley since the 2005 general election and is a member of the Labour Party. She succeeded Peter Pike who had represented Burnley for 22 years. Ussher is currently a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pension Reforms at the Department for Work and Pensions as of Gordon Brown's latest reshuffle.

Early life

She was educated at the independent St Paul's Girls' School, and Balliol College, Oxford, where she read PPE, and Birkbeck College, London, where she took a MSc in Economics. Prior to her election she worked as chief economist for Britain in Europe and as an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Centre for European Reform. In addition she has worked as secretary to Paul Boateng and as researcher to MPs Martin O’Neill, Kim Howells and Adam Ingram. In 2001 she was appointed as special adviser to Patricia Hewitt in the Department of Trade and Industry. She served as a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth for Vassall ward from 1998 to 2002.

Parliamentary career

She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Hodge MBE the Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry until 29 June 2007. In Gordon Brown's first reshuffle she was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, succeeding Ed Balls. From 2005 - 2006 she was a member of the Public Accounts Committee. On 5 October 2008 she moved to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Pension Reforms at the Department for Work and Pensions replacing Mike O'Brien.

Personal life

She married Peter Colley in September 1999 in Hammersmith; they have one daughter ( [http://archive.burnleycitizen.co.uk/2005/6/8/432872.html born] June 7 2005) and a son ( [http://archive.burnleycitizen.co.uk/2008/1/4/1059804.html born] January 3 2008).

Ussher is niece of Peter Bottomley, MP, and (many generations back) of Archbishop James Ussher. Burnley elected her cousin Gerald Archibald Arbuthnot as MP in 1910.

Kitty states that her hobbies are walking the moors of Burnley and supporting Burnley Football Club. She is a season ticket holder and attends most home matches.

External links

* [http://www.kittyussher.com Official website]
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-8675,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Kitty Ussher MP]
* [http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/ministerial_profiles/minprofile_ussher.cfm HM Treasury page]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kitty_ussher/burnley TheyWorkForYou.com - Kitty Ussher MP]
* [http://www.kittybrewster.com/members/j.htm Family tree]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/106.stm BBC Politics page]