55 Facts About Margaret Hodge

Dame Margaret Eve Hodge, Lady Hodge, is a British politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994.

Margaret Hodge has held a number of ministerial roles and served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 2010 to 2015.

Margaret Hodge was a councillor on Islington Council from 1973 to 1994, was chair of the Housing Committee, and then Council Leader from 1982 to 1992.

Margaret Hodge later apologised for failing to ensure that allegations of serious child abuse in council-run homes were sufficiently investigated and for libelling a complainant.

Margaret Hodge was appointed Junior Minister for Disabled People in 1998 and promoted to Minister for Universities in 2001, subsequently becoming the first Children's Minister in 2003, joining the Privy Council.

Margaret Hodge served as Minister of State for Culture and Tourism from 2007 to 2008 and 2009 until Labour was defeated at the 2010 general election.

Margaret Hodge has remained in the House of Commons as a backbencher since then.

Margaret Hodge has announced that she will not seek re-election in the next general election.

Margaret Hodge was born on 8 September 1944 in Cairo, Egypt, to Jewish refugee parents Hans Oppenheimer, and his wife Lisbeth.

Margaret Hodge is a major shareholder, listing her holdings in the Parliamentary Register of Members' Interests.

When Margaret Hodge was ten, in 1954, her mother died of stomach cancer.

Margaret Hodge attended Bromley High School, followed by Oxford High School as a boarder.

Margaret Hodge went on to study at the London School of Economics, graduating with a third-class degree in Economics, majoring in Government, in 1966.

From 1966 to 1971, Margaret Hodge worked in market research at Unilever, and in PR at Weber Shandwick.

Margaret Hodge was first elected as a Councillor for the London Borough of Islington at a by-election in 1973, representing the Barnsbury ward.

Margaret Hodge became chair of the Housing Committee in 1975.

In 1984 Margaret Hodge was a public leader of Islington participating in the rate-capping rebellion to the Conservative government's imposition of spending restrictions on councils, setting no council rate.

In 1994 Margaret Hodge was disqualified as a councillor after not attending council meetings for over six months; Margaret Hodge stated she had not been active out of respect for the new council leadership.

Margaret Hodge has apologised several times since the emergence of the scandal in the 1980s that directly linked her council tenure with what she admitted in 2014 was "shameful naivety" in ignoring the complaints of paedophile victims.

Margaret Hodge identified Hodge's complacency as ultimately responsible for the abuse that he alleged he had suffered.

Margaret Hodge has served as the Labour MP for Barking since the by-election on 9 June 1994 following the death of Jo Richardson.

Margaret Hodge was appointed Junior Minister for Disabled People in 1998 and was promoted Minister for Universities at the new Department for Education and Skills in 2001, in which capacity she piloted the controversial Higher Education Act 2004, remaining in post until 2003, when she became the inaugural Children's Minister.

Margaret Hodge was sworn into the Privy Council on 22 June 2003.

In 2003, Margaret Hodge was appointed to the newly created high-profile role of Children's minister, which included responsibility for Special Education, Early Years Education and Childcare, the Young People's Unit, teenage pregnancy, the Family Policy Unit, and general responsibility for child welfare.

In 2005, Margaret Hodge was moved to become Minister of State for Work.

On 27 June 2007, Margaret Hodge was reappointed Minister of State in the Department for Culture by new Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Margaret Hodge was reappointed Minister of State responsible for Culture and Tourism on 22 September 2009.

Margaret Hodge once called for British-born families to have priority on council house waiting lists over immigrants.

Margaret Hodge said the Labour Party must promote "very, very strongly the benefits of the new, rich multi-racial society which is part of this part of London for me".

In spite of the union's position, Margaret Hodge was the Labour candidate and was returned as the Member of Parliament, doubling her majority, whilst Griffin finished in third place behind the Conservatives.

On 10 June 2010 Margaret Hodge was elected by MPs to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee in the fifth round of voting using the single transferable vote system.

Margaret Hodge said she had played no part in administering or establishing the scheme.

Margaret Hodge was succeeded as Chair in June 2015 by Meg Hillier.

Margaret Hodge has since written a book about her time as chair of the Public Accounts Committee entitled Called to Account.

Margaret Hodge recommended that 'It would be better for the taxpayer to accept the financial loss of cancelling the project than to risk the potential uncertain additional costs to the public purse if the project proceeds.

In December 2017, the Parliamentary Standards Committee found that Margaret Hodge had breached the MPs' code of conduct.

At a keynote speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research on 26 November 2004, Margaret Hodge defended the concept of greater state regulation of individuals' choices, asserting only that "some may call it the nanny state but I call it a force for good".

On 17 November 2006, it was reported by the Islington Tribune that Margaret Hodge described the Iraq War as a "big mistake in foreign affairs".

In June 2016, together with Ann Coffey, Margaret Hodge called for a motion of no confidence in party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In March 2019, Margaret Hodge made a secret recording of a meeting she had with Corbyn.

Corbyn later wrote to Margaret Hodge to convey his disappointment at what he considered "to be a total breach of trust and privacy".

In June 2019, Margaret Hodge condemned the reinstatement to Labour of Chris Williamson who was investigated for comments he made on antisemitism in the Labour Party.

In July 2019, Margaret Hodge called for a new and entirely independent system to handle antisemitism disciplinary proceedings in the Labour party as, she said, political interference has corrupted the current system.

Margaret Hodge stated that matters had only become worse since she confronted Corbyn a year before.

In July 2019, Margaret Hodge shared with the media a clandestine photo of Corbyn meeting Charedi activist Shraga Stern.

In 2004, Fathers 4 Justice campaigner Jonathan Stanesby handcuffed Margaret Hodge, stating he was arresting her for child abuse.

Fathers 4 Justice targeted Margaret Hodge perceiving her as the "bogeywoman of family law, who doesn't even believe in equal parenting".

In June 2019, the TSSA conference passed a motion criticising Margaret Hodge for "endorsing tactical voting, including voting for candidates other than Labour" in the 2019 European Parliament election, pointing out that this was a breach of party rules and should result in automatic removal of membership.

Margaret Hodge said she wished to stand and was automatically included in an all woman shortlist.

Since November 2018, Margaret Hodge has been Chair of Council at Royal Holloway, University of London, following the Privy Council consenting to the position being remunerated.

Margaret Hodge describes herself as a secular Jew, but that her religious background is "what defines me".

Margaret Hodge married Andrew Watson in 1968; the couple had one son and a daughter, Lizzi Watson, a BBC journalist who was appointed deputy editor of the 6 pm and 10 pm BBC News in February 2018.

Margaret Hodge was a solicitor who was appointed as a High Court Judge in 2004.

Margaret Hodge issued a statement that she had always fully declared the shareholding, never had a management role in the company, and had received assurances that the company always paid the appropriate tax.

Margaret Hodge was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1978, and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Dissolution Honours List of 27 August 2015.