29 Facts About Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone was a director of the Ryness chain of lighting and electrical shops.

Lynne Featherstone was born and brought up in North London, and educated at Highgate Primary School, the independent South Hampstead High School and gained a Diploma in Communication and Design at Oxford Polytechnic.

In 1998, Lynne Featherstone was elected a Councillor for the London Borough of Haringey representing Muswell Hill Ward.

From 2000 until 2005, Lynne Featherstone was a Member of the London Assembly; during this time, she was Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee.

Lynne Featherstone was a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority for all five years she was on the London Assembly.

Lynne Featherstone was promoted by some as a potential Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London in the 2008 election.

Lynne Featherstone first contested the Hornsey and Wood Green seat at the 1997 general election where she finished in third place some 25,998 votes behind the winner Barbara Roche.

Lynne Featherstone again fought Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2001 general election, moving into second place and reducing Roche's majority to 10,614.

In one of the largest swings at the 2005 general election, Lynne Featherstone defeated Roche with a majority of 2,395 votes.

Lynne Featherstone made her maiden speech in Parliament on 24 May 2005.

Lynne Featherstone was appointed as a LibDem junior Home Affairs spokesperson by Charles Kennedy in 2005, and to the environment audit select committee.

Lynne Featherstone was co-chair of Chris Huhne's unsuccessful campaign to be leader of the Liberal Democrats following the resignation of Kennedy in January 2006.

On 5 February 2013, Lynne Featherstone voted in favour in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom, the bill which she spearheaded as Minister of State at the Home Office and was passed through the Commons despite Conservative backbench MP resistance.

In November 2008, at Prime Minister's Questions, Lynne Featherstone asked the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to order an enquiry into the Connelly case.

Lynne Featherstone criticised the Minister's response, stating "they need to do more to discover the unearthly monster who sends them out" and that "their cavalier attitude will not do".

Lynne Featherstone came to the attention of the national media in 2008 when she was criticised by Conservative Member of the London Assembly Brian Coleman for calling 999 when her boiler began making noises and sparking.

Lynne Featherstone has expressed intentions to ban topless models from appearing on The Sun newspaper's Page 3, stating "I would love to take on Page 3".

On being alerted to the over-ordering, Lynne Featherstone returned all of the items involved.

In May 2009, Lynne Featherstone was listed among the "saints" by The Daily Telegraph in the expenses scandal.

In December 2010, Lynne Featherstone introduced a move that would allow positive discrimination which is primarily aimed at addressing female under-representation in the workforce.

Lynne Featherstone, denied the plans were about "political correctness, or red tape, or quotas" and would "help make the workplace fairer".

In September 2011, Lynne Featherstone caused controversy by claiming men make "terrible decisions" when they are in charge.

Lynne Featherstone wrote a book, Equal Ever After, describing the details of work to establish legal same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom and her role in the process.

In 2006, Lynne Featherstone was shortlisted in the "Rising Stars" category of the Channel 4 political awards, but did not win.

Lynne Featherstone was nominated for the Stonewall Politician of the Year Award in both 2009 and 2012 for her work to support equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

Lynne Featherstone was awarded Stonewall Politician of the Year, Attitude Magazine Politician of the Year and PinkNews Ally of the Year for her initiative on same-sex marriage and work on LGBT rights.

Lynne Featherstone ranked 26 out of 50 on the Top 50 Lib Dems of 2020 list.

Lynne Featherstone is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

Lynne Featherstone's nephew had haemophilia and was victim of the Tainted blood scandal.