14 Facts About Candy Atherton

Candice Kathleen Atherton was a British Labour politician and journalist.

Candy Atherton was born in Surrey, the daughter of Denis Candy Atherton, a Daily Mirror journalist, and Pamela, a businesswoman.

Candy Atherton stood for Labour at Chesham and Amersham in the 1992 general election.

Candy Atherton then worked for the Labour Party and Unison, before being selected to fight the three-way marginal seat of Falmouth and Camborne in Cornwall, after the local Labour Party had imposed the first all-women shortlist in the country.

Candy Atherton's victory made her Cornwall's first Labour MP since 1970 and first female MP since the 1920s.

Candy Atherton doubled her majority in the 2001 election, having successfully campaigned for Objective One status for Cornwall, for the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, and for a university in Cornwall.

At the 2005 general election, Candy Atherton lost her seat to Liberal Democrat Julia Goldsworthy by a majority of 1,886.

Candy Atherton was the most recent Labour MP to represent one of the six constituencies of Cornwall until 2024, when four Labour MPs won in the county.

From 2005 to 2008, Candy Atherton was a board member of the Housing Corporation and she chaired the Rural Housing Advisory Panel, which advises the British government on rural housing issues.

Candy Atherton was the vice chair of the Truro and Falmouth Constituency Labour Party and was member of the Labour Party's South West Regional Board.

Candy Atherton married a Cornishman, Broderick Ross, in 2002, and lived with him in Falmouth, Cornwall.

Candy Atherton was elected to Cornwall Council in the 2013 local elections, where she represented the Falmouth Smithick division until her death.

Candy Atherton opposed the expansion of Falmouth University in 2016.

Candy Atherton died suddenly overnight in Luton, Bedfordshire, on 30 October 2017 at the age of 62.