46 Facts About Patricia Hewitt

Patricia Hope Hewitt was born on 2 December 1948 and is an Australian-born British government adviser and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007.

In March 2010, Patricia Hewitt was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the question of political lobbying irregularities, alleged by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme.

In November 2022, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that Patricia Hewitt would serve in an advisory role to the government.

Patricia Hewitt then studied for degrees in English Literature at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she graduated BA.

Patricia Hewitt became a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and was awarded an honorary Oxford MA.

In 1970, Patricia Hewitt married David Julian Gibson-Watt, second son of David Gibson Watt, Conservative MP for Hereford, and Diana Hambro.

Patricia Hewitt is a former school governor at the Kentish Town Primary School.

Patricia Hewitt joined the Labour Party in the 1970, and was initially a follower of Tony Benn; she publicly condemned those left-wing MPs who abstained in the deputy leadership election of 1981, giving Denis Healey a narrow victory.

Patricia Hewitt was selected as the Labour candidate in Leicester East constituency at the 1983 general election following the defection of the sitting Labour MP Tom Bradley to the Social Democratic Party.

Bradley stood for the SDP at the election, but it was the Conservative candidate Peter Bruinvels who defeated Patricia Hewitt, who came second, by just 933 votes.

Patricia Hewitt was elected to the House of Commons as the first female MP for Leicester West at the 1997 general election following the retirement of the Labour MP Greville Janner.

Patricia Hewitt was elected with a majority of 12,864 and remained the constituency MP until stepping down in 2010.

Patricia Hewitt made her maiden speech on 3 July 1997.

Patricia Hewitt's constituency of Leicester West is a safe Labour seat, with a majority of 9,070 votes in the 2005 general election.

Patricia Hewitt was promoted in 1999 to become a Minister of State for Small Business and E-Commerce at the Department of Trade and Industry, and created the Social Enterprise Unit for similar new companies.

Patricia Hewitt was then responsible for appointing its first chairman, Lord Currie.

Patricia Hewitt joined the Blair Cabinet for the first time following the 2001 general election as the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women and Equality.

Patricia Hewitt spent four years in this post and was seen as a fairly effective Trade and Industry Secretary despite controversial policies affecting her own constituency.

Patricia Hewitt was then moved sideways to Health Secretary in May 2005.

Patricia Hewitt became a member of the Privy Council in 2001 and was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from June 2001 until May 2005.

Patricia Hewitt defended outsourcing public sector support jobs to countries such as India in May 2004, arguing that outsourcing supported poorer communities in India and opposing protectionist proposals.

The appointment was not overturned however and Patricia Hewitt herself did not apologise and claimed not to have realised she was in breach of the law.

Patricia Hewitt was criticised for a 2003 report by the Women and Equality unit which was run by Patricia Hewitt, in which it was stated that there was a "real problem" with mothers who stayed at home to bring up their children.

Patricia Hewitt was appointed Secretary of State for Health following the 2005 general election.

Patricia Hewitt was tipped for Work and Pensions department before this.

Patricia Hewitt's department claimed that GPs had unfairly taken money out of their practices, when the new contract was actually intended to increase investment in practices, although statements from Lord Warner in 2004 appear to contradict this claim.

On 23 May 2007, Patricia Hewitt survived a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons led by the Conservatives, winning by 63 votes.

On 3 April 2007, Patricia Hewitt apologised on BBC Radio 4's Today programme saying that the application scheme had caused terrible anxiety for junior doctors.

Patricia Hewitt made another apology on 1 May 2007 in the House of Commons after the suspension of the MTAS website due to security breaches which she called "utterly deplorable".

Front line health workers lobbied against Patricia Hewitt, sending her petitions opposing cuts to the NHS and privatisation plans which the Department of Health wished to follow up.

Patricia Hewitt voted with the rebels to defeat the Cabinet's partial ban, which was replaced by the outright ban which she had always wanted.

Patricia Hewitt called for a tax increase on alcopops, although none ultimately took place.

Patricia Hewitt was known as a reliable Blairite within the cabinet and voted loyally with the government in Parliament.

Patricia Hewitt ruled herself out of the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party, declaring her support for Harriet Harman, who was the successful candidate.

On 27 June 2007, with the appointment of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, Patricia Hewitt announced her retirement from frontline politics, citing 'personal reasons'.

On resigning from the cabinet, Patricia Hewitt was asked by the Prime Minister to head an EU manifesto group, developing European policy for the next general election manifesto.

In January 2008, Patricia Hewitt was appointed special consultant to the world's largest chemists, Alliance Boots.

Patricia Hewitt joined the BT Group board as a non-executive director on 24 March 2008.

In July 2009, Patricia Hewitt joined the UK India Business Council as its chair and was reappointed to the role in 2014.

In July 2017, Patricia Hewitt was appointed the chair of the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan Oversight Board for Norfolk and Waveney.

In June 2009 Patricia Hewitt announced that she would be stepping down from the House of Commons.

Patricia Hewitt said she was leaving the Commons for personal reasons as she wanted to spend more time with her family.

In March 2010, Patricia Hewitt was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over the question of political lobbying irregularities, alleged by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme.

At the 2010 general election Patricia Hewitt was succeeded as MP for Leicester West by Liz Kendall, who had been her Special Adviser during her time in Cabinet.

Since September 2020, Patricia Hewitt has been an adviser to the British Board of Trade.

In November 2022, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that Patricia Hewitt would serve in an advisory role to the government on NHS administration.