Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece
{{Short description|British politician (born 1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
|name = The Baroness Hussein-Ece
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE|size=100%|sep=,}}
|image = Official portrait of Baroness Hussein-Ece crop 2, 2019.jpg
|imagesize =
|office = Liberal Democrat Women and Equalities Spokesperson
|term_start = 29 July 2015
|term_end = October 2016
|leader = Tim Farron
|predecessor = Jo Swinson
|successor = The Baroness Burt
|office2 = Islington Borough Councillor
for Mildmay Ward
|term_start2 = 2 May 2002
|term_end2 = 6 May 2010
|predecessor2 = Jennette Arnold
|successor2 = Joe Caluori
|office1 = Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
|term_start1 = 29 June 2010
Life Peerage
|term_end1 =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1955|10|10}}
|birth_place = Islington, London
|death_date =
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|birthname =
|nationality = British
|party = Liberal Democrats
|spouse =
|relations =
|children = 3
|residence =
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}}
Meral Hussein Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece, {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE|size=100%|sep=,}} ({{IPA|tr|ˈedʒe|}} {{respell|EDGE|ey}}; born 10 October 1955) is a British Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is the first woman of Turkish Cypriot origin to be a member of either house of Parliament after she was appointed a Liberal Democrat working peer on 28 May 2010.{{cite web|url=http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/05/peerages-honours-and-appointments-51162|title=Peerages, honours and appointments|publisher=Number 10|date=28 May 2010}} She was the Liberal Democrat Spokeswoman for Equalities from 2015 until 2016, under leader Tim Farron.{{cite web|url=http://www.libdems.org.uk/spokespeople|title=Spokespeople|website=Liberal Democrats|access-date=24 August 2016}}
Early life
Baroness Hussein-Ece was born in Islington.{{cite web | url=http://www.libdemvoice.org/baroness-meral-husseineces-maiden-speech-20346.html | title=Baroness Hussein-Ece's maiden speech in the House of Lords | access-date=29 May 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724193800/http://www.libdemvoice.org/baroness-meral-husseineces-maiden-speech-20346.html | archive-date=24 July 2010 | url-status=dead }} Her Turkish Cypriot parents, Ayşe Cuma Abdullah (mother) and Hasan Nihat Hüseyin (father), came to the UK from Cyprus in the early 1950s, and settled in Islington, North London.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Ece and her second cousin Tracey Emin's paternal great-grandfather, Abdullah, was reportedly a Sudanese slave in the Ottoman Empire.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/uk-peer-meral-hussein-ece-and-artist-cousin-tracey-emin-trace-roots-to-slavery/news-story/7d1815cb167a80f076e2211b05f8415b?sv=1c15f36ebcb7035d36f30e15349cd5|title=UK peer traces roots to slavery|last=Woolf|first=Marie|date=2010-07-18|work=The Australian|access-date=2018-02-03}}
Career
Ece originally studied art history and fine art at Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design,{{Cite web|url=https://alumni.coventry.ac.uk/eulogies/2012-baroness-meral-hussein-ece-obe|title=2012-Baroness Meral Hussein-Ece OBE - Coventry University|website=alumni.coventry.ac.uk}} before going to work in local government and training as a librarian.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} She subsequently worked for Islington Council's Race Equality Unit, then went to work as a senior manager in the National Health Service, including as chief officer for Haringey Community Health Council.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}
She was elected as to Hackney Council as a Labour Party councillor for Clissold ward in 1994,"London Borough Council Elections 5 May 1994", London Research Centre, 1994, p. 66. and was Deputy Leader in 1995 and 1996.{{cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/87255 | title=Official Biography at the House of Lords | publisher=House of Lords | access-date=1 June 2011 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403144058/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/87255 | archive-date=3 April 2011 | df=dmy-all }} She was the first woman from a Turkish/Cypriot background elected to public office in the UK.[http://www.obv.org.uk/our-communities/parliamentarians-and-campaigners/peers/meral-hussein-ece Operation Black Vote: Meral Hussein-Ece].
Following a split in the Hackney Labour group, in 1997 Ece joined the Liberal Democrats; she was re-elected to Hackney Borough Council in Dalston ward in 1998."London Borough Council Elections 7 May 1998", London Research Centre, 1998, p. 63. She was instrumental in setting up the very first Turkish Women's Group, and establishing a domestic violence project for Turkish and Kurdish women in London.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}
In the local government elections of 2002, was elected as Liberal Democrat councillor for Mildmay ward on Islington Council."London Borough Council Elections 2 May 2002", Greater London Authority, 1998, p. 99. She was the Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care from 2002 to 2006, serving as chair of the Islington Health Partnership board and as a member of Islington Primary Care Trust board. She was also a non-executive director of Camden and Islington Mental Health and Social Care Trust.
After being re-elected in 2006, Ece was chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee from 2007 to 2009. In November 2009, Ece was appointed as a commissioner to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). In November 2012, Hussein-Ece and Lord Simon Woolley were not reappointed to their roles{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-tories-are-emasculating-the-equality-and-human-rights-commission-8280977.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-tories-are-emasculating-the-equality-and-human-rights-commission-8280977.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=The Tories are emasculating the Equality and Human Rights Commission|date=4 November 2012|last=Alibhai-Brown|first=Yasmin|work=The Independent}} and later claimed that they had been forced out because they were "too loud and vocal" about issues of race.{{cite news |last1=Mahmood |first1=Basit |title=Exclusive: Ex-Equalities Commissioners Say Calling Out Racism Cost Their Jobs |url=https://www.newsweek.com/equality-race-racism-ehrc-equalities-human-rights-commission-1520714 |access-date=28 July 2020 |magazine=Newsweek |date=28 July 2020}}
In May 2008, Ece was appointed by the Minister for Equalities, Harriet Harman MP to serve on the Government's Task Force to increase the numbers of ethnic minority women councillors in the UK.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}
Ece was awarded the OBE in the Queens New Year Honours 2009,{{London Gazette |issue=58929 |date=31 December 2008 |page=10 |supp=y}} for services to local government.{{cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/12/31/full-new-year-s-honours-list-91466-22578727/3/|title=Full New Year's Honours List|date=31 December 2008|publisher=WalesOnline}} She was chair of the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats (2007–10) and was a member of the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive Committee 2005–10, and advised Nick Clegg MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats on community cohesion and minority ethnic communities.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}
It was announced by the UK Cabinet Office on 28 May 2010 that Hussein-Ece was to be appointed to the House of Lords. She was created a life peer on 25 June 2010 taking the title Baroness Hussein-Ece, of Highbury in the London Borough of Islington.{{London Gazette |issue=59475 |date=30 June 2010 |page=12359}} She made her maiden speech at the House of Lords on 15 July 2010 in a debate on criminal justice.{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/100715-0001.htm#10071527000585|title=Lords Hansard text for 15 Jul 2010|work=Hansard|publisher=House of Lords|date=15 July 2010}}
In November 2012, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (DLitt) by Coventry University, for her work to promote equality for ethnic minorities in the UK, and contribution to peace in Cyprus.
In May 2011 Hussein-Ece apologised after she referred to customers in her local supermarket as "chavs". She claimed the word was not derogatory, but writers such as Polly Toynbee criticised her, arguing that the term was "acceptable class abuse by people asserting superiority over those they despise".{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/lib-dem-peer-apologises-for-chav-tweet-in-supermarket-sqkvd3bj5vk|title=Lib Dem peer apologises for 'chav' tweet in supermarket|last1=Flyn|first1=Cal|date=29 May 2011|work=The Times}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-13626046|title=Why is 'chav' still controversial?|work=BBC News |date=3 June 2011}}
In 2015 she joined Tim Farron's Spokesperson team as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Equalities.
Personal life
She has 3 children.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101227152051/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/meral-hussein-ece/87255 Houses of Parliament biography]
- [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_hussein-ece They Work for You profile - links to all speeches in the Lords]
{{Current Liberal Democrat Peers}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussein-Ece, Meral}}
Category:Turkish people of Sudanese descent
Category:British people of Turkish Cypriot descent
Category:English people of Turkish Cypriot descent
Category:English people of Sudanese descent
Category:People from Islington (district)
Category:Politicians from the London Borough of Islington
Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors
Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers
Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Islington
Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Hackney
Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire