41 Facts About Kate Hoey

1.

Kate Hoey remained a member of the Labour Party for several decades while she was Member of Parliament for Vauxhall from 1989 to 2019, but resigned from the party in 2020.

2.

Kate Hoey has attracted a high level of attention throughout her career, but particularly in the 2010s, holding many socially conservative views that brought her into conflict with fellow members of Labour.

3.

Kate Hoey was born in Mallusk, County Antrim, and studied at Belfast Royal Academy and the Ulster College of Physical Education.

4.

Kate Hoey has a degree in Economics earned at London Guildhall University, and was a Vice-President of the National Union of Students.

5.

Kate Hoey was the 1966 Northern Ireland high jump champion and has worked for football clubs including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, Chelsea and Brentford as an educational advisor.

6.

Kate Hoey ran for a seat on the National Union of Students as a candidate for a left-wing grouping called the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Student Unions.

7.

Martha Osamor had the most nominations, with Kate Hoey only having one, but the National Executive Committee declined to shortlist Osamor and imposed a shortlist on the constituency party.

8.

Kate Hoey was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1998 to 1999, and Minister for Sport in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport from 1999 to 2001.

9.

The announcement was controversial both because Kate Hoey had once said of London's Olympic bid "we don't deserve it and Paris does" and because it could have been perceived as endorsing an election candidate from a rival party.

10.

Kate Hoey nominated John McDonnell for the Labour leadership election of 2010, but on his withdrawal, she switched her nomination to Diane Abbott.

11.

In 2016, Kate Hoey was one of few Labour MPs who did not vote no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the party.

12.

On 8 July 2019, Kate Hoey announced that she would retire from the House of Commons, and would not seek re-election as a Labour candidate at the next general election.

13.

In December 2019 Kate Hoey announced she was no longer a member of the Labour Party.

14.

In July 2020, Kate Hoey was nominated for a life peerage in the House of Lords in the 2019 Dissolution Honours and was created Baroness Kate Hoey, of Lylehill and Rathlin in the County of Antrim, on 14 September 2020.

15.

Kate Hoey is a Eurosceptic and has often rebelled against her party.

16.

Kate Hoey was a prominent critic of the ban on handguns and, in an interview in Sporting Gun magazine, voiced her support for fox hunting.

17.

Kate Hoey has voted against Labour government policy on the war in Iraq, foundation hospitals, Trident, university tuition and top-up fees, ID cards and extended detention without trial.

18.

Kate Hoey was a leading Labour rebel supporting a referendum on the EU Lisbon Treaty.

19.

In 2010, Kate Hoey was described as "the least gay-friendly of all Labour MPs" by the chief executive of Stonewall.

20.

In 2017, Kate Hoey sparked criticism from LGBT advocates after it emerged she had liked a swastika-emblazoned Pride flag on Twitter.

21.

Kate Hoey stated that the tweet was "liked in error" and later apologised.

22.

In March 2019, Kate Hoey abstained on a vote to allow LGBT+ inclusive education in schools.

23.

Kate Hoey advocated the United Kingdom leaving the European Union during the campaign for the EU membership referendum held on 23 June 2016.

24.

Kate Hoey pointed to Labour's earlier Euroscepticism "from Attlee to Foot" in The Independent and changes in European bodies since Jacques Delors' advocacy of a "social Europe" to refute the claim that Eurosceptism was a movement of the right.

25.

Originally active in Labour Leave as a co-chair, Kate Hoey resigned in February 2016 following internal disagreements.

26.

Kate Hoey attracted criticism again from within the Labour Party and from Irish political figures in February 2018 after she said the Good Friday Agreement was "not sustainable in the long term".

27.

On 17 July 2018, Kate Hoey was one of five Labour MPs who defied the Labour whip in order to vote with the government on a Brexit amendment, which, if passed, would have required the UK to remain a member of a customs union with the EU in the event of no other arrangements on free trade and no arrangements for no hard border in Ireland.

28.

In March 2019, whilst taking part in a televised discussion about Brexit on the Andrew Neil show, Kate Hoey was asked to "name any reputable independent study that show us better off if we leave".

29.

Kate Hoey admitted she could not produce any study that showed leaving the European Union would leave the UK in a better off position.

30.

In November 2019, Kate Hoey said she would be voting for the Democratic Unionist Party in the December general election in Northern Ireland.

31.

Kate Hoey endorsed the Conservative Party and Boris Johnson, stating that Labour "would not keep faith with the British people".

32.

In June 2021, Kate Hoey claimed that the Republic of Ireland "will probably decide to leave" in the short term following the UK's departure from the EU.

33.

In January 2022, Kate Hoey faced widespread criticism after writing "there are very justified concerns that many professional vocations [in Northern Ireland] have become dominated by those of a nationalist persuasion, and this positioning of activists is then used to exert influence on those in power" in the foreword for a loyalist pamphlet.

34.

Sinn Fein vice-president and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill labelled the piece "outrageous" and called on Kate Hoey to withdraw the remarks, saying they were a throwback to a "bygone era".

35.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson endorsed the report and Kate Hoey's foreword, describing it as a "welcome contribution".

36.

The unionist-leaning News Letter claimed to have unearthed data "which appear[ed] to support" Kate Hoey's comments, noting that according to the 2011 census, there were 2,474 legal professionals with a Catholic background practicing in Northern Ireland, compared with 1,665 from a Protestant background.

37.

Kate Hoey is known for her objection to the Labour Government's ban of fox hunting: a rare position among Labour MPs.

38.

Kate Hoey said the appointment was a "great honour and a great challenge".

39.

Kate Hoey has been a trustee of the Outward Bound charity since October 2002.

40.

Kate Hoey wants all cyclists to pay tax and be registered so they have a registration number:.

41.

Additionally, Kate Hoey was a member of several select committees during her time as a Member of Parliament, including: the European Scrutiny Committee, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the Public Administration Committee, the Social Security Committee and the Science and Technology Committee.