Sharon Hodgson

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Sharon Hodgson
honorific-suffix =

---

constituency_MP = Gateshead East and Washington West
parliament =
majority = 13,407 (38.7%)
predecessor = Joyce Quin
successor = Incumbent
term_start = 5 May 2005
term_end =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1966|04|1|df=yes
birth_place = Gateshead, Tyneside
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse = Alan Hodgson
party = Labour
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Sharon Hodgson (born Sharon Cohen April 1, 1966) is a British politician and is the Labour Member of Parliament for Gateshead East and Washington West.

Early life

Sharon Hodgson was born in Gateshead, Tyneside and was educated locally at the Greenwell Junior High School (became Lyndhurst County Secondary School in 1981 and closed in 1998) on "Beacon Lough Road" and Heathfield Senior High School (where Paul Gascoigne was in the year below - the school is now closed) on "Durham Road" (A167) in the town, where she got eight O levels. Her parents divorced when she was eight, and she moved with her mother to the former St Cuthbert's Village next to the Tyne. She started in the sixth form but left after a few weeks. Her mother had pressurised her into finding work as opposed to studying for A levels, so worked as an accounts clerk in Team Valley, earning £60 a week of which she gave £30 to her mother. She also later attended the Newcastle College and the Trades Union Congress Academy in London. She worked for Northern Rock in Gosforth then as a payroll and accounting clerk in various local companies, then became a full-time mother for a few years in the mid-1990s, then joining Labour Party until she became an Organiser in 1999. In 2000, she became the local Party organiser for two years in the Mitcham and Morden constituency, helping the sitting Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh to be re-elected at the 2001 General Election.

She was elected for two years as the women's officer within the Tyne Bridge Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in 1998.

Parliamentary career

In 2002 she was elected as the secretary of the Mitcham and Morden CLP in the London Borough of Merton until her election to the House of Commons at the 2005 General Election for Gateshead East and Washington West following the retirement of the sitting Labour MP Joyce Quin. Sharon Hodgson held the seat with a majority of 13,407, and made her maiden speech on May 25, 2005. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm050525/debtext/50525-32.htm#50525-32_spnew0]

Following boundary changes the seat of Gateshead East and Washington West has been abolished and replaced by a new seat, Gateshead and Washington and Sunderland West at the next Parliamentary election. David Clelland the current MP for Tyne Bridge was chosen in December 2006 by Labour Party members to fight the new seat of Gateshead at the next general election.

Following her defeat in Gateshead, Sharon Hodgson announced her intention to contest and was selected as the candidate for the new Washington and Sunderland West in September 2007 which will be fought for the first time at the next UK general election.

As the Labour Party has decided that the selection will be by All Women Shortlist, it is anticipated that Washington and Sunderland West maybe the only seat in the Tyne and Wear sub-region represented by a female Member of Parliament.

In parliament she has served as a member of both the deregulation and European scrutiny select committees since 2005, and from 2006 she has served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of State for defence Bob Ainsworth.

Personal life

She married Alan Hodgson in June 1990 in Gateshead and has a son (born January 1994) and a daughter (born November 1995).

External links

* [http://www.sharonhodgson.org Sharon Hodgson MP] Official website of Sharon Hodgson MP
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-8730,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Sharon Hodgson MP]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/sharon_hodgson/gateshead_east_and_washington_west TheyWorkForYou.com - Sharon Hodgson MP]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/262.stm BBC Politics]

News items

* [http://archive.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/2004/7/5/46760.html Selected for seat in July 2004]