22 Facts About Natascha Engel

Natascha Engel was born on 9 April 1967 and is a British former politician.

Natascha Engel served as Labour Party Member of Parliament for North East Derbyshire from 2005 until her defeat at the 2017 general election.

Natascha Engel established and was the inaugural chair of the Backbench Business Committee for which she was awarded Parliamentarian of the Year in 2013 by the Political Studies Association and the Spectator's Backbencher of the Year in 2015.

Natascha Engel is CEO of cross-party policy and research institute, Palace Yard.

Natascha Engel was born in Berlin, Germany, to a German father and an English mother.

Natascha Engel later trained as a linguist in German and Portuguese at King's College London and at the University of Westminster where she obtained a Master's degree in Technical and Specialised Translation.

Natascha Engel was among the first to join the Organising Academy of the Trade Union Congress, serving with the Graphical, Paper and Media Union.

Natascha Engel joined the Labour Party staff as a Trade Union Liaison Officer in 1997 organising marginal seats campaigning and co-ordinating trade union policy with the Labour Party.

Natascha Engel served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Peter Hain when he was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Natascha Engel performed the same role for Liam Byrne in 2008 when he was at the Cabinet Office, and then for John Denham when he was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2009.

On 15 June 2010, the House of Commons voted to create a Backbench Business Committee, and one week later, Natascha Engel defeated Sir Alan Haselhurst 202 to 173 in a secret ballot of MPs to become its first chair.

Natascha Engel's role was to allocate roughly one day a week parliamentary debating time between competing backbenchers by a process described by Quentin Letts as akin to Dragons' Den.

Natascha Engel expressed pride in the committee, which is "a powerful check on the executive".

Natascha Engel was re-elected, unopposed, to the chair of the committee May 2012.

Alongside her fellow Deputies, Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Dame Eleanor Laing, Natascha Engel never said how she voted in the 2016 EU referendum knowing that she would later have to chair debates on the subject.

Natascha Engel was on the Board of Trustees of the UK Youth Parliament and has worked to encourage young people to participate in democracy.

Natascha Engel became chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs in 2008.

At the ePolitix Charity Champion awards in November 2007, Natascha Engel was named "Children and Youth Champion" for her work.

Natascha Engel had been expected to lose but she retained her seat.

At the 2017 general election, Natascha Engel lost to Conservative Lee Rowley by 2,861 despite increasing her share of the vote and total number votes on the previous election.

From 2019 to 2022, Natascha Engel was partner at policy and opinion research agency, Public First where she established the energy and infrastructure practice.

From September 2022, Natascha Engel co-founded Palace Yard with former Public First associate, Tom Waterhouse, where she is CEO.