Jane Kennedy (politician)

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = Jane Kennedy

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Jane Kennedy.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = Kennedy in 2009

| office = Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner

| term_start = 22 November 2012

| term_end = 12 May 2021

| predecessor = Office established

| successor = Emily Spurrell

{{collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Ministerial offices

|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office = Minister of State for Farming and the Environment

| term_start = 5 October 2008

| term_end = 8 June 2009

| primeminister = Gordon Brown

| predecessor = The Lord Rooker

| successor = Jim Fitzpatrick

| office1 = Financial Secretary to the Treasury

| term_start1 = 28 June 2007

| term_end1 = 5 October 2008

| primeminister1 = Gordon Brown

| predecessor1 = John Healey

| successor1 = Stephen Timms

| office2 = Minister of State for Quality and Patient Safety

| primeminister2 = Tony Blair

| term_start2 = 10 May 2005

| term_end2 = 8 May 2006

| predecessor2 = John Hutton

| successor2 = Andy Burnham

| office3 = Minister of State for Work

| primeminister3 = Tony Blair

| term_start3 = 1 April 2004

| term_end3 = 10 May 2005

| predecessor3 = Des Browne

| successor3 = Margaret Hodge

| office4 = Minister of State for Northern Ireland

| primeminister4 = Tony Blair

| term_start4 = 11 June 2001

| term_end4 = 1 April 2004

| predecessor4 = Adam Ingram

| successor4 = Barry Gardiner

| office5 = Lord Commissioner of the Treasury

| primeminister5 = Tony Blair

| term_start5 = 28 July 1998

| term_end5 = 11 October 1999

| predecessor5 = John McFall

| successor5 = Tony McNulty{{efn|Office vacant between 11 October 1999 and 12 June 2001.}}

}}

| office1 = Member of Parliament
for Liverpool Wavertree
{{nobold|Liverpool Broadgreen (1992–1997)}}

| term_start1 = 9 April 1992

| term_end1 = 12 April 2010

| predecessor1 = Terry Fields

| successor1 = Luciana Berger

| birthname = Jane Elizabeth Hodgson

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|05|04|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Whitehaven, Cumberland, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse = Malcolm Kennedy (1977–1998)

| party = Independent (since 2019)

| otherparty = Labour (until 2019)

| relations = Peter Dowling (partner)

| children = 2

| alma_mater = University of Liverpool

}}

Jane Elizabeth Kennedy ({{née}} Hodgson; born 4 May 1958) is a British politician and the inaugural Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Wavertree, formerly Liverpool Broadgreen, from 1992 to 2010.

Formerly a member of the Government, on 8 June 2009, she returned to the backbenches leaving her position as Minister of State for Farming and the Environment at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088862.stm "Kennedy leaves Government"], BBC.co.uk; accessed 11 November 2015.

Originally a member of the Labour Party, she left the party in March 2019 after the resignation of her successor, Luciana Berger MP, and the announcement that former Liverpool City councillor Derek Hatton – a former member of the Militant tendency – had been re-admitted to party membership.{{cite web |title=Merseyside's DPCC Councillor Emily Spurrell resigns her post with immediate effect. |url=https://www.merseysidepcc.info/36/section.aspx/35/merseysides_deputy_police__crime_commissioner_councillor_emily_spurrell_resigns_her_post_with_imme |website=Merseysidepcc.info |access-date=18 March 2019 |archive-date=21 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321045235/https://www.merseysidepcc.info/36/section.aspx/35/merseysides_deputy_police__crime_commissioner_councillor_emily_spurrell_resigns_her_post_with_imme |url-status=dead }}

Early life

She was born in Whitehaven, Cumberland, and attended Haughton Comprehensive School (now part of the 'Education Village') on Rockwell Avenue in Haughton Le Skerne, then Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington.{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/janekennedyltd/|title=Jane Kennedy|website=LinkedIn|access-date=12 July 2019}} She studied chemistry at the University of Liverpool from 1976 until 1978, however did not graduate from her studies, deciding to marry and settle with her family in Liverpool.{{Cite web|url=https://www.merseysidepcc.info/home/about-us/about-your-pcc.aspx|title=Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner – About your PCC|website=www.merseysidepcc.info|access-date=2019-05-06|archive-date=6 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506083752/https://www.merseysidepcc.info/home/about-us/about-your-pcc.aspx|url-status=dead}} She worked in social care for Liverpool City Council from 1979 to 1988, and in 1988 she became a trade union Area Organiser for the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) until 1992. In Liverpool she had been active in ending the Militant group's infiltration of the Liverpool Labour Party.{{Cite book|title=Militant|last=Crick|first=Michael|isbn=978-1785900297|oclc=944157366|year = 2016|publisher=Biteback }}

Member of Parliament

Kennedy had been a Member of Parliament since the 1992 general election, when she was elected for the Liverpool Broadgreen constituency. She served as a member of the social security select committee from 1992 to 1994, and in 1995 she was appointed as a Labour whip.{{Cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/jane-kennedy/486/|title=Jane Kennedy|website=UK Parliament|language=en|access-date=2019-05-06}}

Her constituency was abolished for the 1997 general election, but she was returned to Parliament for the new Liverpool Wavertree constituency. Following Labour's victory in the 1997 election, she served as an assistant government whip until 1998 and as a government whip until 1999, sitting on the House of Commons administration select committee from 1997 until 1999.

On 9 November 2009 she announced she would be standing down at the 2010 general election.{{cite web |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/11/09/liverpool-mp-jane-kennedy-to-quit-at-next-general-election-100252-25121715|title=Liverpool MP Jane Kennedy to quit at next General Election|author=David Bartlett|date=9 November 2009|publisher=Liverpool Echo|access-date=11 November 2015}} It was announced in January 2010 the Wavertree Labour Party had picked Luciana Berger as the candidate to succeed her.{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/01/25/labour-picks-luciana-berger-to-fight-jane-kennedy-s-wavertree-seat-100252-25676165|title=Labour picks Luciana Berger to fight Jane Kennedy's Wavertree seat|author=David Bartlett|date=25 January 2010|publisher=Liverpool Echo|access-date=7 February 2010}} This selection caused some controversy because Berger had stayed at Kennedy's home for a period before the selection, a home Kennedy shares with her partner Peter Dowling, the local Labour Party's agent.{{cite news|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2010/02/01/liverpool-labour-candidate-luciana-berger-i-ll-fight-on-to-win-seat-100252-25730393|title=Liverpool Labour candidate Luciana Berger: I'll fight on to win seat|work=Liverpool Echo|date=1 February 2010|access-date=5 July 2017}}

=In government=

Kennedy was appointed as a junior minister in the Lord Chancellor's Department from 1999 until 2001, when she became a Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office with responsibility for security and the justice system. Following the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly in October 2002, she also became responsible for education and employment in the province. In 2003, she was made a Privy Councillor.{{Cite web|url=http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/word/13%20November%202003.doc|title=Orders for 13 November 2003|website=Privy Council Office|archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20101103140224/http://www.privy-council.org.uk/files/word/13%20November%202003.doc|archive-date=3 November 2010|url-status=dead|access-date=6 May 2019}}

She transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions in 2004 and then to the Department of Health after the 2005 general election, remaining a Minister of State. She left the government on 5 May 2006 during a wide-ranging reshuffle. She was initially thought by journalists to have been sacked; however, she subsequently said she took the opportunity to resign from the government in light of concerns about the impact of the government's policies on the National Health Service.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4981532.stm "Blair 'target of Old Labour coup'"], BBC News, 7 May 2006.

In Gordon Brown's first government since becoming Prime Minister, Kennedy was appointed as the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, becoming the third ranked minister in the Treasury, taking on the ministerial responsibilities of the old Paymaster General, Dawn Primarolo. On 5 October 2008, Kennedy was promoted to Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with the portfolio of Farming and the Environment. She resigned that position in June 2009 in protest at Gordon Brown's Leadership.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8088862.stm|title=Brown faces down Labour critics|publisher=BBC News|access-date=7 November 2009|date=8 June 2009|location=London, UK}}

Police and Crime Commissioner

Kennedy was elected to the post of Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner on 15 November 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.southportreporter.com/579|title=Southport & Mersey Reporter... PCBT Photography, Online Newspapers}} She was re-elected in 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/jane-kennedy-re-elected-merseyside-11297325|title=Jane Kennedy re-elected as Merseyside Police and Crime boss|last=Traynor|first=Luke|date=2016-05-06|website=liverpoolecho|access-date=2016-05-06}}

Expenses row

In 2009 the Houses of Parliament started publishing MP expenses. Her partner Peter Dowling worked at her office handling research and parliamentary affairs,[http://www.janekennedymp.co.uk/contact_me Jane Kennedy official website]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, janekennedymp.co.uk; accessed 11 November 2015. and was paid out of her parliamentary expenses.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6529797/MPs-expenses-Jane-Kennedy-is-first-MP-to-quit-over-family-jobs-row.html|title = MPS expenses: Jane Kennedy is first MP to quit over family jobs row| date=9 November 2009 }}

Personal life

Jane married Malcolm Kennedy in 1977 in Knowsley; they divorced in 1998. They have two sons, Robert (born 1978) and Alan (born 1983). She currently lives with her partner Peter Dowling.

Notes

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20121128131451/http://janekennedy.info/ Jane Kennedy's website]
{{Hansard-contribs | ms-jane-kennedy | Jane Kennedy }}
[http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-2866,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Jane Kennedy MP]
[https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/jane_kennedy/liverpool,_wavertree TheyWorkForYou.com – Jane Kennedy MP]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/378.stm BBC Politics] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20071021084328/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/378.stm |date=21 October 2007 }}