1. Valerie Carol Marian Vaz was born on 7 December 1954 and is a British Labour politician and former solicitor who has been the Member of Parliament for Walsall and Bloxwich, previously Walsall South, since 2010.
14 Facts About Valerie Vaz
1. 2.
Valerie Vaz served as Shadow Leader of the House of Commons from 2016 to 2021 in the Shadow Cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer.
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Valerie Vaz was born on 7 December 1954 in Aden to Anthony Xavier and Merlyn Verona Vaz.
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Valerie Vaz's father died by suicide when she was 16.
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Valerie Vaz attended the University of London, where she completed a BSc degree in Biochemistry in 1978.
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Valerie Vaz set up her own law firm, Townsend Vaz Solicitors, and has sat as a Deputy District Judge in the County Court on the Midland and Oxford Circuit.
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Valerie Vaz was a councillor in the London Borough of Ealing from 1986 to 1990, and the council's Deputy Leader from 1988 to 1989.
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At the 1999 European Parliament elections, Valerie Vaz stood in the East Midlands, but was not elected.
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Valerie Vaz worked as a presenter and interviewer for the BBC TV programme Network East in 1987.
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On 8 October 2019, Valerie Vaz was appointed as a member of the Privy Council, giving her the style of The Right Honourable for life.
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Valerie Vaz continued in her role as Shadow Leader of the House after the election of Keir Starmer as the Leader of the Labour Party.
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On 24 May 2021, Valerie Vaz was criticised after she suggested that the condition of Boris Johnson was exaggerated when he was in intensive care with COVID-19.
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Valerie Vaz is chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Epilepsy.
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Valerie Vaz's younger brother Keith Vaz was the Labour MP for Leicester East from 1987 to 2019, while her sister Penny is a lawyer.