Edwina Currie#Salmonella in eggs controversy

Currie was born in south Liverpool to an Orthodox Jewish family, who "disowned her when she married a non-Jewish accountant".William D. Rubinstein, Michael Jolles, Hilary L. Rubinstein, The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, Palgrave Macmillan (2011), p. 189. She herself is not particularly religious, stating in a February 2000 interview that she found "religious mumbo jumbo hard to swallow in any faith".{{cite news|title=Edwina Currie: You ask the questions|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-726035.html|access-date=20 April 2011|newspaper=The Independent|date=9 February 2000|location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} She went to the Liverpool Institute High School for Girls in Blackburne House, in the Canning area of Liverpool, where she was Deputy Head Girl.

Currie studied philosophy, politics and economics at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was taught by Gabriele Taylor.{{cite news|title=Have I Got News For You, Series 25 Episode 6 with Hugh Dennis, Gyles Brandreth & Martin Freeman|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTZWT0OMpy0|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107203429/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTZWT0OMpy0&gl=US&hl=en&has_verified=1&bpctr=9999999999|archive-date=7 November 2019|url-status=live}} Subsequently, she gained an MA in economic history from the London School of Economics.{{Cite web|url=http://www.edwinacurrie.co.uk/|title=Edwina Currie – Writer, Broadcaster, Politician, Celebrity Speaker|website=www.edwinacurrie.co.uk|access-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608181855/http://www.edwinacurrie.co.uk/|archive-date=8 June 2019|url-status=live}}

From 1975 until 1986, she was a Birmingham City Councillor for Northfield. In 1983, she stood for parliament as a Conservative Party candidate, and was elected as the member for South Derbyshire. Frequently outspoken, she was described as "a virtually permanent fixture on the nation's TV screen saying something outrageous about just about anything" and "the most outspoken and sexually interested woman of her political generation."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2286269.stm "Westminster's odd couple"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626101618/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2286269.stm |date=26 June 2008 }}, BBC News Online, 28 September 2002.

In September 1986, she became a Junior Health Minister. Among her comments over the next two years were that "Good Christian people who would not dream of misbehaving will not catch AIDS", that elderly people should wrap up warm in winter and that northerners die of "ignorance and chips".{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stm |title=BBC ON THIS DAY | 3 | 1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim |work=BBC News |date=3 December 1984 |access-date=1 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812181105/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stm |archive-date=12 August 2017 |url-status=live }}

In 1988, she appointed Jimmy Savile to head up a task force to run the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Savile was given extraordinary power and a set of keys with complete access to every part of the hospital. He mingled repeatedly with the 800 or so patients, many teenage girls, some severely disturbed and medicated.{{Cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/broadmoor-savile-was-a-lunatic-in-charge-of-the-asylum|title=Broadmoor: Savile was 'a lunatic in charge of the asylum'|website=Channel 4 News|date=31 October 2012|access-date=5 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428161646/http://www.channel4.com/news/broadmoor-savile-was-a-lunatic-in-charge-of-the-asylum|archive-date=28 April 2016|url-status=live}} In 2012, after Savile's death, a police investigation concluded that he had possibly been one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19887019|title=Jimmy Savile abuse claims: Police pursue 120 lines of inquiry|date=9 October 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=25 April 2013|quote="At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender," said Commander Peter Spindler, head of specialist crime investigations, in an interview with the BBC.}}

{{Main|Salmonella-in-eggs controversy}}

Currie was forced to resign as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health in December 1988, after she issued a warning about salmonella in British eggs. The statement that "most of the egg production in this country, sadly, is now affected with salmonella"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stm "1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812181105/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stm |date=12 August 2017 }}, On this Day, BBC News Online, 3 December 1988. sparked outrage among farmers and egg producers, and caused egg sales in the country to decline rapidly, by 60 percent. The controversy gained her the nickname "Eggwina".{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Jemima |title=Edwina Currie left me with a lifelong instinct towards doubt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/05/06/edwina-currie-left-lifelong-instinct-towards-doubt/ |access-date=9 April 2022 |work=The Telegraph |date=6 May 2021}}

The loss of revenue led to the slaughter of four million hens.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25154046 "1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003091044/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25154046 |date=3 October 2018 }}, Why are we more scared of raw egg than reheated rice?, BBC News Online, 3 December 2013. Although the statement was widely interpreted as referring to "most eggs produced", in fact it related to the egg production flock; there was indeed evidence that a mid-1980s regulation change had allowed salmonella to get a hold in flocks.[http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/code-practice-egg-cop/egg-cop-append-c.pdf Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand Inc Code of Practice, 2002, Appendix C] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315153400/http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/code-practice-egg-cop/egg-cop-append-c.pdf |date=15 March 2012 }}

Long after the furore died down, in 2001, it was revealed that a covered-up Whitehall report produced months after Currie's resignation found that there had been a "salmonella epidemic of considerable proportions".{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1366276/Currie-was-right-on-salmonella.html |title=The Telegraph newspaper: Currie 'was right' on salmonella |date=26 December 2001 |access-date=2 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515215703/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1366276/Currie-was-right-on-salmonella.html |archive-date=15 May 2018 |url-status=live }}

In 1991, Currie became the first Conservative MP to appear on the BBC topical panel show Have I Got News for You. She appeared again two years later, in a special episode commemorating the release of Margaret Thatcher's memoirs, opposite fellow Liverpudlian (and Liverpool Institute alumnus) Derek Hatton.

During the 1992 general election campaign, Currie poured a glass of orange juice over Labour's Peter Snape shortly after an edition of the Midlands-based television debate show Central Weekend had finished airing.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/29/world/tories-say-party-s-strategy-is-hurting-campaign.html|title= Tories Say Party's Strategy Is Hurting Campaign|work= New York Times|first= Craig R.|last= Whitney|date= 29 March 1992|access-date= 3 June 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140116163411/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/29/world/tories-say-party-s-strategy-is-hurting-campaign.html|archive-date= 16 January 2014|url-status= live}} Speaking about the incident later, Currie said: "I just looked at my orange juice, and looked at this man from which this stream of abuse was emanating, and thought 'I know how to shut you up.'"

After the 1992 general election, she declined a request from Prime Minister John Major to take up a position as Minister of State for the Home Office.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2291467.stm "Currie interview in full"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060117064428/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2291467.stm |date=17 January 2006 }}, BBC News Online, 2 October 2002.

In February 1994 Currie, a member of the Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality (TORCHE),{{cite book |last1=Buckle |first1=Sebastian |title=Homosexuality on the Small Screen: Television and Gay Identity in Britain |date=30 August 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-78673-481-5 |page=161{{endash}}2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPSGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA161 |language=en}} tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill to lower the age of consent for male homosexual sexual acts from 21 to 16, which would mean an equal age of consent with opposite-sex couples if it passed. This amendment was defeated by 307 votes to 280, although a subsequent amendment resulted in the reduction of the age of consent for male homosexual acts from 21 to 18; final equalisation with an age of consent at 16 was voted through parliament in late 2000, becoming law in January 2001. In a speech in the House of Commons Currie said, "it is time to seize our homophobic instincts and chuck them on the scrapheap of history, where they belong".{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-02-21/Debate-13.html|title= Hansard|first= Craig R.|last= Whitney|date= 21 February 1994|access-date= 20 January 2022}}{{primary-inline|date=June 2024}}

In February 1994, Currie voted against the death penalty for murder, having previously voted and spoken in favour of it in July 1983; she had also supported it in June 1988 and December 1990.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

In June 1994, she contested the European Parliament seat of Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, but lost the seat to Labour's Eryl McNally by 94,837 votes to 61,628 votes. Currie was MP for South Derbyshire for 14 years; however, along with many other Conservative MPs, she lost her parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election.

File:Manchester Pride, August 2016 (35).JPG, August 2016]]

Currie attempted to be selected as a Conservative candidate for the European Parliament election of 1999, but was unsuccessful.{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTlaCwAAQBAJ&q=Andrew+Pearce+pro-euro&pg=PA85 |title = British Politics and European Elections 1999|isbn = 9780230554399|last1 = Butler|first1 = D.|last2 = Westlake|first2 = M.|date = 16 March 2000| publisher=Springer }}

After nearly a quarter of a century away from politics, it was announced in February 2021 that Currie would contest her home ward of Whaley Bridge on Derbyshire County Council at that year's local elections. She was challenging the incumbent, Ruth George of the Labour Party. The race was notable for pitting two former MPs against one another in an election for a council seat.{{cite web|first=|date=11 February 2021|title=Whaley Bridge election battle looms between Ruth George and Edwina Currie|url=https://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/politics/council/whaley-bridge-election-battle-looms-between-ruth-george-and-edwina-currie-3131467|access-date=2021-02-12|website=www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk}} On 7 May, it was announced that Currie had failed in her bid to win the marginal seat, receiving 1,878 votes to George's 2,544.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-57017415|title=Elections 2021: Tories increase Derbyshire County Council majority|date=7 May 2021|work=BBC News|accessdate=7 May 2021}}

In October 2022, Currie described the prime minister, Liz Truss, as "charmless, graceless, brainless, and useless".[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/liz-truss-edwina-currie-brainless-useless-tory-leadership-b2205255.html Liz Truss is 'charmless, graceless, brainless, and useless', former Tory minister says] The Independent. 18 October 2022''

Currie has written six novels: A Parliamentary Affair (1994), A Woman's Place (1996), She's Leaving Home (1997), The Ambassador (1999), Chasing Men (2000) and This Honourable House (2001). She has also written four works of non-fiction: Life Lines (1989), What Women Want (1990), Three Line Quips (1992) and Diaries 1987–92 (2002).

From the time she lost her seat in 1997, Currie has maintained a presence in the media. From 1998 to 2003, she hosted a late evening talk show on BBC Radio 5 Live, Late Night Currie.[http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/broadcasting_right.htm Broadcasting career] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213317/http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/broadcasting_right.htm |date=27 September 2007 }}, Edwina Currie's official website. In 2002, she moved to HTV, presenting the television programme Currie Night until 2003. Since then, she has appeared in a string of reality television programmes, such as Wife Swap in which she and her second husband John swapped places with John McCririck and his wife, Jenny. Currie appeared on a charity edition of the television quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on 17 September 2005, partnering Conservative speech-writer and lobbyist Derek Laud.{{cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/815178 |title=Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?: Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? |access-date=4 November 2012 |publisher=BFI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804033535/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/815178 |archive-date=4 August 2011 |url-status=dead }} She has also appeared in the reality cooking show Hell's Kitchen with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in 2004, and Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes in 2006.[http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/general_info.htm General information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030803040732/http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/general_info.htm |date=3 August 2003 }}, Edwina Currie's official website.

Currie was interviewed about the rise of Thatcherism for the 2006 BBC TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory! She was the first woman to win Celebrity Mastermind on 23 June 2004, specialising in the life of Marie Curie. She also won All Star Family Fortunes on 3 January 2009. She appeared in Channel 4's Come Dine with Me in February 2009 where she finished third. She made a second appearance on the show during Channel 4's "Alternative Election Night" coverage, with Rod Liddle, Brian Paddick and Derek Hatton as her competitors. She also appeared in James May's Show James May's Toy Stories where she helped him build a bridge made entirely out of Meccano in Liverpool.

In September 2011, Currie took part in the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing.{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14809342 | title=Strictly Come Dancing signs up Lulu and Edwina Currie | publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation | work=BBC News | date=6 September 2011 | access-date=6 September 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110907064529/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14809342 | archive-date=7 September 2011 | url-status=live }} She was paired with professional dancer Vincent Simone. On 9 October, she and Simone were the first couple to be eliminated from the competition.

In November 2014, Currie took part in the fourteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! entering the jungle on Day 5 of the competition,{{cite web |url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/jake-quickenden-and-edwina-currie-join-im-celebrityget-me-out-here |title=Jake Quickenden and Edwina Currie to join I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! |publisher=ITV |date=20 November 2014 |access-date=25 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141123103055/http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/jake-quickenden-and-edwina-currie-join-im-celebrityget-me-out-here |archive-date=23 November 2014 |url-status=live }} and finishing in fourth place.

In 2020, she trekked the Sultans Trail for BBC Two's Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul.{{cite news |title=Here's all you need to know about Pilgrimage Road To Instanbul |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/pilgrimage-the-road-to-istanbul-line-up-cast-when-time-tonight-bbc-one-route-411154 |work=inews.co.uk |date=10 April 2020 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul was more Duke of Edinburgh than RE |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/pilgrimage-road-to-istanbul-bbc2-review-413133 |work=inews.co.uk |date=27 March 2020 |language=en}}

On 1 July 1972, Edwina married accountant Ray Currie in Barnstaple, Devon. They had two children, Debbie and Susie. Currie and her husband separated in 1997, but did not finalise their divorce until 2001.{{Cite web|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edwina-currie/id1475913485?i=1000523859455|title = Iain Dale All Talk: Edwina Currie on Apple Podcasts}} During that marriage, between 1984 and 1988, Currie had a four-year affair with John Major, later Prime Minister, which she revealed in September 2002. Edwina and Ray were the subject of an edition of the BBC's The Other Half documentary series, broadcast in December 1984.{{cite web | url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/09cf3f10427f4acf9f287eb90976d0ff | title=BBC Programme Index | date=11 December 1984 }}

While she was MP for South Derbyshire, Currie lived in the house-converted windmill in Findern, built in 1715 and the oldest surviving windmill structure in the East Midlands.

On 24 May 2001, in Southwark, Currie married retired detective John Jones, whom she had met when he was a guest on her radio programme in 1999.[http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/standard_qanda.htm Frequently asked questions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114144913/http://edwina.currie.co.uk/html/standard_qanda.htm |date=14 November 2006 }}, Edwina Currie's official website, 1 September 2004. Retrieved 11 March 2007. Jones died on 1 November 2020.{{Cite web | url = https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55047879 | title = Edwina Currie remembers late husband's 'naughty' humour | date = 2020-11-25 | website = BBC News }}

Currie lives in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire.{{cite news|title=Whaley Bridge's Edwina sparks more controversy|url=http://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local/whaley-bridge-s-edwina-sparks-more-controversy-1-6452265|work=Buxton Advertiser|access-date=27 April 2014|date=28 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427172252/http://www.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local/whaley-bridge-s-edwina-sparks-more-controversy-1-6452265|archive-date=27 April 2014|url-status=live}}

Currie's Diaries (1987–92), published in 2002, caused a sensation, as they revealed a four-year affair with John Major between 1984 and 1988, while both were married to other people. The affair started while she was a backbencher and Major was the government whip in Margaret Thatcher's government. After Major's promotion to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the relationship ended, but the two remained friends. Currie apparently ceased the affair when it became dangerous and impractical owing to the presence of bodyguards who had to be avoided.

After publication, Major made a statement saying that he was ashamed of the affair and had privately revealed the matter to his wife. Currie said she had been in love with him for years after the end of the affair,[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2286008.stm "Major and Currie had four-year affair"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051228195906/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2286008.stm |date=28 December 2005 }}, BBC News Online, 28 September 2002. and that he had been "the love of her life".[http://news.scotsman.com/johnmajorsaffair/The-Major-love-story.2365303.jp "The Major love story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090222004441/http://news.scotsman.com/johnmajorsaffair/The-Major-love-story.2365303.jp |date=22 February 2009 }}, The Scotsman, 30 September 2002. However, only weeks after revealing the affair, she publicly criticised Major, accusing him of sidelining female and black politicians and of being "one of the less competent prime ministers".[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2294229.stm "Currie blasts Major's record in power"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060109175346/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2294229.stm |date=9 January 2006 }}, BBC News Online, 2 October 2002.

The admission came after years of denial of any affair while in office and a successful libel action against playwright David Hare, who had said a sexually voracious murderer played by Charlotte Rampling in his film Paris by Night (1988) was an "Edwina Currie-like" figure. Currie had also produced several novels with explicitly erotic content – and political background – such as A Parliamentary Affair. Following publication of her diaries, Express Newspapers lawyers re-examined documents in a libel case to see if there was anything in the diaries which would allow them to reopen the case and recoup damages.{{cite news|title='Express' re-examines Currie libel papers|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/express-reexamines-currie-libel-papers-613414.html|publisher=Independent Newspapers|first=Robert |last=Verkaik|date=7 October 2002|access-date=28 January 2011|location=London}}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In March 2000, Currie had been awarded £30,000 against them following a 1997 article entitled "How Edwina is now the vilest lady in Britain."{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/671514.stm|title=Currie wins "vilest lady" libel case|publisher=BBC News|date=9 March 2000|access-date=29 January 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040415040611/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/671514.stm|archive-date=15 April 2004|url-status=live}}

In September 2004, Currie took part in a sponsored cycle ride across Poland, near to the area where ancestors of hers lived, for Marie Curie Cancer Care.[http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/aboutus/news/news_archive/news_archive_2004/edwina_transforms_herself_into_marie_curie_for_polish_cycling_challenge.htm Edwina transforms herself into Marie Curie for Polish cycling challenge] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212215537/http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/aboutus/news/news_archive/news_archive_2004/edwina_transforms_herself_into_marie_curie_for_polish_cycling_challenge.htm |date=12 December 2007 }}, Marie Curie Cancer Care

In June 2005, in her role as a patron of the British Heart Foundation, Currie championed a campaign to raise awareness of the effect of heart disease on women.{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4613543.stm | work=BBC News | title=Heart campaign targets UK women | date=6 June 2005 | access-date=10 September 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712014939/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4613543.stm | archive-date=12 July 2006 | url-status=live }} In May 2007, the patient charity MRSA Action UK announced Currie as their patron.{{Cite web |url=http://mrsaactionuk.net/MRSA%20ACTION%20UK%20Welcomes%20Edwina%20Currie%20as%20our%20Patron.pdf |title=mrsaactionuk.net |access-date=10 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226051857/http://mrsaactionuk.net/MRSA%20ACTION%20UK%20Welcomes%20Edwina%20Currie%20as%20our%20Patron.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2011 |url-status=live }}

Edwina Currie was quoted by the media championing the campaign against hospital superbugs.[http://www.govtoday.co.uk/index.php/Infection-Control/superbugs-the-continuing-problem.html govtoday.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813080246/http://www.govtoday.co.uk/index.php/Infection-Control/superbugs-the-continuing-problem.html |date=13 August 2011 }}

In October 2011, Currie took part in EuroVoice, an event supported by the European Youth Parliament.[http://eypuk.co.uk/liverpool-eurvoice-a-%e2%80%98strictly%e2%80%99-inspirational-event eypuk.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404035640/http://eypuk.co.uk/liverpool-eurvoice-a-%e2%80%98strictly%e2%80%99-inspirational-event |date=4 April 2012 }} In November 2011, Currie accepted the position of President of the Tideswell Male Voice Choir.[http://www.tideswellmvc.co.uk/pages/news.shtml News – Our New President] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426001450/http://www.tideswellmvc.co.uk/pages/news.shtml |date=26 April 2012 }}, Tideswell Male Voice Choir website, Retrieved 1 December 2011.

In February 2013, Currie participated in an Oxford Union debate, saying she opposed feminism.{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSrX2FJ-Q8|title = We Are Not All Feminists {{!}} Edwina Currie {{!}} Oxford Union|date = 1 May 2013|access-date = 15 May 2015|website = YouTube|last = OxfordUnion|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150507004339/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSrX2FJ-Q8|archive-date = 7 May 2015|url-status = live}}

As part of the 2009 TV Show Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Currie teamed up with Declan Donnelly and two other celebrities to release a cover version of the Wham! hit song "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go". Her daughter, Debbie, had previously released a single.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

{{reflist|2}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• [http://edwina.currie.co.uk/ Official website]
• {{Hansard-contribs | mrs-edwina-currie | Edwina Currie}}
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/2288073.stm Extracts from her diaries]
• [http://www.qub.ac.uk/cawp/UK%20bios/UK_bios_80s.htm#currie Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics: biography]
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2286008.stm Major and Currie had four-year affair], BBC News Online, 28 September 2002
• {{IMDb name|0192956}}

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Category:UK MPs 1983–1987

Category:UK MPs 1987–1992

Category:UK MPs 1992–1997

Category:Women councillors in England

Category:British women diarists

Category:Writers from Liverpool

Category:Mistresses and lovers of prime ministers of the United Kingdom