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Bridget Prentice
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Bridget Theresa Prentice (née Corr; born 28 December 1952) is a Scottish politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham East from 1992 to 2010. She was married to the Labour MP Gordon Prentice from 1975 until their divorce in 2000. She was a member of the Labour Party until May 2019, when she resigned in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Key Information
Background
[edit]Bridget Prentice was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 28 December 1952. She attended Our Lady and St Francis School, the University of Glasgow (MA English Literature and Modern History 1973), the University of London (PGCE 1974) and South Bank Polytechnic (LLB 1992).
After beginning her working life as the Rector's Assistant at the University of Glasgow (1972–73), she became a history and English teacher at the Roman Catholic London Oratory School in Fulham (1974–86) and later Head of Careers (1984–86), before switching to John Archer School in Wandsworth as Head of Careers between 1986 and 1988.
Member of Parliament
[edit]Prentice was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1987 general election, when she stood for Croydon Central. She contested Lewisham East at the 1992 election; its incumbent Conservative MP Colin Moynihan had a majority of 4,814. Prentice gained it for Labour with a majority of 1,095, and increased the majority to 12,127 in 1997. In subsequent general elections she held the seat with reduced majorities of 9,003 in 2001, and 6,751 in 2005.
Appointed a Labour Whip in 1995 by Tony Blair, she continued in the role on Labour entering government in May 1997, before becoming PPS to the Minister for Trade (1998–1999), and then PPS to the Lord Chancellor (1999–2001); she then left government in 2001 to become a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee (2001–2003).
Prentice rejoined the government in 2003, appointed again to the Government Whips' Office. She later became a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, continuing in the role in the department's successor, the Ministry of Justice.
Within the department, she was responsible for reform of electoral administration, legal services, legal services complaints, legal services commissioner and ombudsman, asylum and immigration, devolution and regional policy. In December 2008, she was reprimanded by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon, for misusing her communications allowance. She agreed to pay back the money, which had been spent on sending party political literature to voters who were outside her constituency, but who would join it at the next election as the result of boundary changes.[2]
In April 2009, Prentice announced her decision to stand down from Parliament at the following election.[3] She has close ties to Bonus Pastor Secondary School in Lewisham, accepting one pupil every year for work experience, which included work within the constituency and the Houses of Parliament.
Personal life
[edit]Although a Roman Catholic, Prentice has been a Governor at Trinity Church of England All Through School since 2010. In September 2013, she was elected chair of its governing body. She resigned from her membership of the Labour Party in May 2019.[4]
Prentice was a participant in the 2022-23 series of the quiz show Only Connect, in the team "Jugadores".[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Constitutional Affairs (2005–07)
- ^ MP breached rules using taxpayer cash for leaflets[permanent dead link], Evening Standard, 8 December 2008
- ^ LEWISHAM: MP Bridget Prentice set to stand down, Evening Standard, 6 April 2009
- ^ @BridgetPrentice (14 May 2019). "My resignation letter. 45 years but enough is enough" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 May 2019 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Only Connect (2) - UKGameshows". www.ukgameshows.com. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
External links
[edit]
Bridget Prentice
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Bridget Prentice (née Corr; born 28 December 1952) is a former Scottish Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Lewisham East from 1992 until 2010.[1][2]
During her time in office, she advanced through roles including government whip and junior minister, notably as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Constitutional Affairs from 2005 and subsequently in the Ministry of Justice until 2010, overseeing areas such as legal aid, courts administration, and electoral matters.[1][3]
Prentice retired from Parliament ahead of the 2010 general election but remained active in public service, including as Labour's representative on the Electoral Commission.[4]
Her most notable post-parliamentary action was resigning from the Labour Party in May 2019 after 45 years, condemning the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn for enabling antisemitism through "slow, reluctant and inadequate" responses, promoting a "Corbyn cult" that prioritized ideology over pragmatism, and displaying "complete ignorance" on Brexit policy.[5][6][7]
Early Life and Education
Upbringing in Scotland
Bridget Prentice was born Bridget Theresa Corr on 28 December 1952 in Glasgow, Scotland, the daughter of James Corr, a joiner, and Bridget Corr, a clerical worker.[2] Her family resided in the east end of Glasgow, a predominantly working-class district characterized by industrial employment and socioeconomic challenges typical of post-war urban Scotland.[8] This environment, shaped by manual trades and clerical roles among working families, provided Prentice's formative years amid the economic realities of Glasgow's shipbuilding and heavy industry heritage, where household incomes often depended on skilled labor and unionized workforces.[8] Her parents prioritized upward mobility through diligence and opportunity, reflecting the aspirations common in such communities during the 1950s and 1960s.[8]Academic and Professional Training
Prentice pursued higher education at the University of Glasgow, earning a Master of Arts, before continuing her studies at the University of London and South Bank University, where she obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and a Bachelor of Laws, respectively.[4] These qualifications equipped her with expertise in humanities analysis, pedagogical methods, and legal reasoning, reflecting a deliberate progression from her Scottish origins toward interdisciplinary proficiency relevant to public policy and governance. Her early professional roles centered on education, beginning with administrative support as Rector's Assistant at the University of Glasgow in the early 1970s, followed by teaching English and history at secondary schools in London after completing teacher training.[9] In these positions, she advanced to Head of Careers Education and Guidance, fostering skills in counseling, critical thinking, and community engagement that underpinned her aptitude for advocacy and constituency representation.[10] Although her LLB provided formal legal training, Prentice did not engage in barrister practice prior to her political involvement, instead leveraging her teaching background to build foundational capacities for parliamentary scrutiny and reform initiatives.Entry into Politics
Pre-Parliamentary Involvement
Prior to her parliamentary career, Prentice maintained long-standing membership in the Labour Party, joining around 1974 and engaging in grassroots activities during the 1970s and 1980s, a period marked by the party's internal debates over economic policy and public sector reform.[11] [5] Her commitment reflected empirical focus on addressing working-class concerns through center-left approaches, including advocacy for public services amid deindustrialization and rising unemployment in urban areas. As a qualified solicitor practicing in London, Prentice's professional experience involved legal work that aligned with Labour priorities on social justice, though specific cases from this era remain undocumented in public records. In 1986, she was elected as a councillor for Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, serving in local government roles that provided hands-on involvement in housing, education, and community services—key areas of Labour's reform agenda.[8] This tenure, spanning the late 1980s, honed her administrative skills and visibility within party networks.[12] These activities culminated in her selection as the Labour candidate for Lewisham East in early 1992, positioning her for national contention based on demonstrated local efficacy rather than ideological posturing. Her pre-parliamentary path underscored a pragmatic progression from party activism to elected local office, emphasizing causal links between community-level engagement and broader candidacy viability.1992 Election to Parliament
Bridget Prentice stood as the Labour candidate for Lewisham East in the United Kingdom general election held on 9 April 1992 and secured victory, representing a gain for her party from the incumbent Conservative MP.[13] This outcome defied the national trend, in which Labour under leader Neil Kinnock secured 271 seats compared to the Conservatives' 336 under John Major, allowing the latter to form a government with a slim majority of 21 seats despite pre-election polls suggesting a Labour lead.[13] Local factors contributing to Prentice's success included the constituency's urban working-class demographics in southeast London, where Labour had built organizational strength through council control and trade union ties, though specific campaign dynamics such as voter turnout—nationally at approximately 77.7%—amplified engagement in marginal seats like Lewisham East.[14] Following her election, Prentice entered Parliament as a freshman opposition MP amid Labour's post-defeat introspection, with Kinnock resigning shortly thereafter; she oriented toward scrutinizing the newly re-elected Conservative administration on issues like economic policy and public services while establishing her presence in the Commons.[11]Parliamentary Service (1992–2010)
Representation of Lewisham East
Bridget Prentice served as the Member of Parliament for Lewisham East, a diverse urban constituency in south-east London characterized by high levels of deprivation and significant immigration-related demographic changes, from 1992 to 2010. During this period, the area experienced ongoing waves of migration, particularly from Commonwealth countries and later Eastern Europe, contributing to an increasing ethnic minority population share that rose notably in the 1990s and 2000s amid broader London trends.[15] Local challenges included persistent urban poverty, with Lewisham East featuring pockets of high child and working-age deprivation, which Prentice addressed through constituency casework emphasizing practical resolutions over partisan ideology.[16] Prentice secured re-election in subsequent general elections, reflecting sustained but diminishing voter support amid falling turnout and shifting demographics. In 1997, she won with 21,821 votes (58.3% of the valid vote), securing a majority of 12,127 over the Conservative candidate.[17] By 2001, her vote share fell to 16,160 (53.7%), with a majority of 9,003.[17] In 2005, amid national Labour fatigue, she polled 14,263 votes (45.8%), retaining the seat by a majority of 6,751 over the Conservative runner-up.[18] These results coincided with constituency boundary stability until 2010, though internal demographic diversification, including higher non-UK born residents, pressured Labour's traditional base.[19] In terms of parliamentary duties, Prentice maintained a voting attendance rate of approximately 81% in her final term (2005–2010), participating in 1,044 of 1,288 divisions, with low rebellion rates (1.2% against party lines), indicating disciplined adherence to Labour positions on constituency-relevant matters like welfare and housing.[20] Her approach to casework prioritized empirical handling of local issues such as poverty alleviation and immigration queries, often redirecting complex welfare or asylum cases to council services for efficiency, though this practice drew some constituent frustration over perceived limited direct intervention.[21] She was noted for frugal use of expenses and allowances compared to peers, but faced scrutiny in 2008 for potential misuse of the communications allowance, including mailings to non-constituents and party branding; parliamentary authorities ultimately cleared her of breaches regarding logos but highlighted boundaries on targeted outreach.[22] [23] Overall, her record emphasized pragmatic constituency service in a high-needs area, tempered by criticisms of infrequent parliamentary speeches and selective case engagement.[24]Backbench and Whip Roles
Following her election to Parliament in 1992, Prentice initially served as a backbench member of the opposition Labour Party, contributing to debates and early day motions on issues such as social policy and party reform.[25] She was appointed an opposition whip around 1995, a role in which she helped maintain party discipline during shadow government activities leading up to the 1997 general election.[6] After Labour's victory in the May 1997 election, Prentice was elevated to the government payroll as an Assistant Whip, serving from 6 May 1997 until 28 July 1998.[26] In this capacity, she enforced attendance and voting unity among Labour MPs, contributing to the party's cohesion during the early implementation of Tony Blair's legislative agenda, including the initial stages of devolution and welfare reforms. Her tenure as a whip exemplified the internal mechanisms that sustained Labour's slim majorities in the House of Commons at the time, with whips playing a causal role in minimizing rebellions on key votes.[12] Prentice's dismissal from the whip position in 1998 occurred without publicly disclosed reasons, though it coincided with broader reshuffles under Blair.[12] Returning to the backbenches after 1998, Prentice engaged in select committee scrutiny, notably as a member of the Home Affairs Committee from 7 June 2001 to 14 July 2003.[1] There, she participated in inquiries into policing, immigration, and anti-terrorism measures, providing cross-party oversight that influenced government policy without direct executive involvement. This backbench work highlighted her focus on internal parliamentary accountability rather than frontline constituency duties.Ministerial Appointments and Responsibilities
Bridget Prentice served as a government whip following Labour's 1997 election victory, initially as an Assistant Whip from 6 May 1997 to 28 July 1998, responsible for maintaining party discipline and supporting legislative business in the House of Commons.[26] She resumed whip duties as Assistant Whip from 13 June 2003 to 11 May 2005, contributing to the coordination of government votes and procedural management during key parliamentary sessions.[26] In May 2005, Prentice was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA), a role she held until 9 May 2007, overseeing aspects of constitutional and electoral matters.[1] Following the DCA's merger into the newly formed Ministry of Justice, she continued as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State there from 9 May 2007 to 6 May 2010, with responsibilities including electoral administration reform, legal aid policy, and probate services.[1] During this period, she advanced legislative changes such as reducing the minimum age for candidacy in elections to 18, enacted through the Electoral Administration Act 2006, aiming to broaden political participation among younger adults.[27] Prentice's tenure in the Ministry of Justice involved shepherding the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 through Parliament, which reformed the coronial system by standardizing inquest procedures, enhancing support for bereaved families, and introducing safeguards against state inquests into certain deaths, thereby addressing long-standing inefficiencies in post-mortem investigations.[8] The Act's implementation improved procedural consistency across England and Wales, though subsequent reviews noted ongoing challenges in coroner resource allocation and delays in complex cases.[28] She also contributed to regulations curbing malpractice in claims management, with the first year of enforcement under her oversight leading to increased compliance and reduced fraudulent practices in compensation claims processing.[29] These efforts yielded measurable procedural gains, such as streamlined legal aid eligibility assessments, but faced criticism for insufficient funding adjustments amid rising caseloads, resulting in variable implementation effectiveness across regions.[30]Key Policy Positions and Debates
Advocacy for Electoral Reform
During her tenure as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs from 2005 to 2007, Prentice oversaw the implementation of the Electoral Administration Act 2006, which expanded access to postal voting by requiring returning officers to verify voters' identities through personal identifiers—specifically, a signature and date of birth—on both application forms and returned ballots. This measure aimed to balance increased voter convenience with security enhancements, following all-postal voting pilots in local elections that boosted turnout but prompted concerns over administrative burdens.[31] Prentice argued that such reforms facilitated broader participation without compromising integrity, citing the low empirical incidence of fraud relative to the volume of postal votes processed.[32] In May 2007, amid heightened scrutiny from a Council of Europe investigation into potential human rights issues arising from postal voting vulnerabilities, Prentice publicly defended the system as "as secure as possible," emphasizing the new verification protocols and dismissing widespread fraud claims as unsubstantiated.[33] Official data supported this position: between 2000 and 2007, only 42 convictions for electoral offences were recorded across the UK, despite millions of postal ballots cast annually, yielding a fraud rate far below 0.001% in most analyses.[32] For instance, in the 2008 elections, 60 offences were noted against 16 million total votes, underscoring that while isolated abuses occurred—such as organized impersonation in Birmingham's 2004 local elections—the causal impact on national outcomes remained negligible, prioritizing access over precautionary restrictions.[32] Conservative critics, including figures like Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, contended that on-demand postal voting expansions under Labour created systemic risks of coercion and multiple voting, pointing to the Birmingham scandal where up to 22,500 voters reportedly deregistered amid probes into ballot harvesting.[34] These concerns led to a sharp decline in postal vote applications in affected areas, with Birmingham seeing an 80% drop post-2004 inquiry.[35] Prentice countered by highlighting procedural safeguards and the rarity of successful prosecutions, maintaining that empirical evidence did not warrant reversing expansions, which had empirically increased turnout among groups like the elderly and disabled without proportional fraud spikes.[33] This stance reflected a policy trade-off favoring voter access, though it drew accusations of underestimating localized vulnerabilities in urban constituencies with high postal uptake.[36]Stance on Labour Party Internal Dynamics
Prentice aligned closely with the New Labour project under Tony Blair, serving as a party whip from 1995 and enforcing discipline on modernization reforms that prioritized electability over traditional socialist orthodoxy.[5] Her record reflects strong support for policies shifting Labour toward market-oriented approaches, including the 1995 revision of Clause IV to remove commitments to public ownership, which she backed as part of Blair's leadership team.[37] This stance contributed to Labour's empirical successes, securing landslide victories in the 1997 and 2001 general elections with majorities of 179 and 166 seats respectively, demonstrating enhanced appeal to middle-ground voters despite internal critiques from the party's left wing that such changes diluted core socialist principles.[38] In parliamentary voting from 2005 to 2010, Prentice recorded only 13 rebellions out of 1,044 divisions, a rate of 1.2%, underscoring her fidelity to the leadership amid factional pressures from hard-left MPs who opposed welfare-to-work initiatives like the New Deal launched in 1998.[39] These programs, emphasizing conditionality and job placement over unconditional benefits, faced resistance from left-wing elements decrying them as punitive, yet Prentice's consistent adherence helped sustain government cohesion, as evidenced by Labour's retention of power in the 2005 election with 356 seats.[40] Tensions with the party's traditionalist factions emerged indirectly through her whip role, where she countered abstentions or dissent on reforms perceived as eroding redistributional purity, though her low dissent rate indicates prioritization of pragmatic governance over ideological purity.[41] Critics from the Labour left, including figures like Tony Benn, argued that Blairite modernizers like Prentice facilitated a causal shift away from class-based mobilization toward centrism, empirically boosting turnout among swing voters but alienating core supporters, as seen in declining party membership from 405,000 in 1997 to under 200,000 by 2010.[42] Prentice's positions prefigured broader intra-party divides, favoring evidence-based adaptations—such as welfare reforms that reduced long-term unemployment by 1.5 million between 1997 and 2007—over rigid adherence to 1970s-style statism, even as left-wing abstentions on bills like the 1997 Welfare Reform and Pensions Act highlighted ongoing friction. This reformist outlook positioned her against hard-left resistance, valuing electoral viability as a prerequisite for policy implementation.Resignation from Labour and Criticisms
2019 Departure
On May 14, 2019, Bridget Prentice formally resigned from the Labour Party after 45 years of membership, issuing a public statement via social media and correspondence to party officials.[11][5] In the announcement, she identified as a "proud Blairite," referencing her service under Tony Blair's governments.[5][43] The resignation occurred against the backdrop of extended Brexit impasse in Parliament, following the United Kingdom's 2016 referendum and repeated delays in ratification, alongside Labour's internal reconfiguration after its 2010 electoral loss that ended 13 years in government.[11][44] Party leadership, under Jeremy Corbyn since 2015, had shifted toward policies Prentice's statement implicitly contrasted with her prior alignments.[6] Prentice has not rejoined the Labour Party or sought re-entry into active politics since the departure, maintaining a low public profile thereafter.[45][7]Specific Critiques of Party Leadership
In her May 14, 2019, resignation letter from the Labour Party, Bridget Prentice accused the leadership under Jeremy Corbyn of fostering a "cult" atmosphere, where members engaged in sycophantic behaviors such as singing "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" and treating the leader with messianic veneration rather than subjecting policies to rigorous debate.[11] [5] She contrasted this with the evidence-based governance of the Blair era, during which she served as a minister, arguing that the Corbyn leadership prioritized ideological purity over empirical policy-making and tolerated a "familial clique" that stifled dissent through interrogations reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.[46] Labour Party spokespeople rejected these characterizations as "plainly untrue," attributing internal divisions to broader ideological clashes rather than cult-like dynamics.[5] Prentice's sharpest rebuke targeted the leadership's handling of antisemitism, which she described as a "sin of omission" through failure to confront "bullies and antisemites" decisively, leaving Jewish members to "beg for support" amid rising incidents within the party.[47] This critique aligned with empirical data showing a surge in complaints: Labour received over 1,000 antisemitism allegations between 2016 and 2019, with processing delays and inadequate investigations documented in the subsequent Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report, which found unlawful acts by the party including political interference in complaints handling.[7] [48] The EHRC concluded that leadership could have mitigated the issue more effectively had it prioritized action, a view Prentice echoed by highlighting the moral and electoral damage from unchecked growth.[48] Party defenders, including Corbyn, maintained that complaints were exaggerated and that zero-tolerance policies were in place, though evidence of suspended members and high-profile expulsions—over 100 by mid-2019—underscored systemic failures rather than isolated incidents.[49] On Brexit, Prentice lambasted Corbyn for "complete ignorance" and pandering to "the baser views of racists" by endorsing the end of free movement, which she saw as conceding to xenophobic elements instead of upholding Labour's pro-European traditions and the preferences of younger members who favored a second referendum.[47] [50] She criticized the leadership for ignoring mass marches like the People's Vote demonstrations, where hundreds of thousands rallied, and for ambiguous positioning that alienated remain-voting urban seats while failing to deliver for leave areas.[51] This stance contributed to Labour's 2019 general election defeat, in which the party secured only 202 seats—its worst result since 1935—with post-mortem analyses by Labour MPs citing Brexit indecision and the antisemitism scandal as key factors eroding voter trust beyond core demographics.[52] [53] Prentice framed these leadership choices as causally linked to the party's destruction, prioritizing short-term appeasement over principled, data-driven strategy that had characterized earlier successes.[54]Post-Political Activities
Professional Roles After 2010
Following her departure from Parliament in May 2010, Bridget Prentice engaged in governance advisory and training roles, primarily within the public and charitable sectors. She served as an Electoral Commissioner from 2014, representing Labour as one of the party-nominated members responsible for overseeing election administration and standards.[55] This non-executive position involved attending board meetings and contributing to regulatory decisions, such as those documented in Electoral Commission minutes from 2017.[56] Prentice held trusteeships at several charities, focusing on community and support services. She chaired the board of trustees at Age Exchange, a London-based organization promoting reminiscence activities for older adults and those with dementia, from an unspecified start date until her departure in June 2023.[57] She also served as a trustee and chair of the finance committee for the Jimmy Mizen Foundation (operating as For Jimmy), which works to prevent youth violence through education and community programs in southeast London.[58] These roles emphasized practical oversight of operations and finances rather than high-visibility public engagement.[3] In addition, Prentice provided freelance training on parliamentary processes and public administration, including courses on handling parliamentary questions for civil servants. She drew on her prior experience as a lead trainer at the Civil Service College, where she offered insights into legislative challenges.[59] Through her firm, Bridget Prentice Associates, she advised organizations on governance matters, maintaining a low-profile practice centered on training rather than returning to frontline legal or political work.[60] Her post-parliamentary career showed no involvement in major corporate boards or renewed bar practice, aligning with a shift to advisory and voluntary capacities amid limited public prominence.[3]Ongoing Public Commentary
Following her resignation from the Labour Party on 14 May 2019, Bridget Prentice has offered sparse public commentary on its affairs.[11] Her final documented statements critiqued the party's leftward trajectory under Jeremy Corbyn, including a "cult" mentality that tolerated antisemitism and demonstrated "complete ignorance" on Brexit policy.[44][43] No verifiable post-2019 media appearances or statements from Prentice address the leadership transition to Keir Starmer or ongoing internal reforms, indicating non-engagement with contemporary party dynamics.[6] This reticence contrasts with her prior active tenure but aligns with her expressed disillusionment, yielding no observable influence on public discourse thereafter.[5]Personal Life
Family Background
Bridget Prentice, née Corr, grew up in the east end of Glasgow, a poor area of the city, alongside her parents, two older brothers, a younger sister, and extended family members.[3] This working-class Scottish upbringing, rooted in a community of joiners and clerical workers, shaped her early exposure to socioeconomic challenges in post-war Scotland.[3] Prentice married Gordon Prentice, a fellow Labour Party member and later MP for Pendle, in 1975; the couple had met while studying at the University of Glasgow.[61] Their marriage lasted until divorce in 2000, coinciding with Prentice's active parliamentary tenure but predating major party internal shifts.[61] No public records indicate children from the union.[61] Her Scottish origins provided a foundation of familial solidarity amid the demands of political life, reflecting the resilience often associated with Glasgow's tenement communities during economic hardship.[3]Health and Interests
Bridget Prentice has not publicly disclosed or been associated with any significant health issues in available records from her time as an MP or subsequent activities.[62] Publicly available biographical details provide no specific information on Prentice's personal interests or hobbies, focusing instead primarily on her professional and political life.References
- https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Bridget_Prentice