Rachel Helen Cooke was born on 3 October 1965 in Madras (now Chennai), India, to David and Anthea Cooke.[5] She studied Experimental Psychology at St Hugh's College, Oxford and obtained a master's degree in Work and Occupational Psychology at Aston University. After graduation, she entered a fast track management scheme in 1989 at HSBC which involved working in Australia, Japan and China. In 2005, Maclean co-founded Packt, a publishing company specialising in information technology with her husband, David.[6][7]
Parliamentary career
Maclean contested the Birmingham Northfield seat in the general election of 2015, finishing second behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden, who won a majority of 2,509 votes.[8][9]
In April 2017, Karen Lumley, Conservative MP for Redditch, announced that she would not contest her seat in the June snap general election due to ill health.[10] The following month, Maclean was selected to be the Conservative candidate in the election.[11] She won the seat at the election with 23,652 votes and a majority of 7,363 (16.3%).[12] In parliament, she sat on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee between September 2017 and June 2018.[13]
In 2017, Maclean co-chaired Andy Street's successful campaign to become the Mayor of the West Midlands.[6] In July, in her maiden parliamentary speech, she commented that her main priority would be 'to fight to protect and strengthen local health services', especially the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.[14]
In September 2021, following the withdrawal of foreign defence forces from Afghanistan and takeover by the Taliban, Maclean was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Safeguarding) at the Home Office. She succeeded Victoria Atkins, who simultaneously became Minister of State for Prisons and Probation at the Ministry of Justice. Both ministers adopted Government responsibility for the Afghan resettlement programme and Operation Warm Welcome.
In May 2022, during an interview on Sky News, Maclean suggested some people struggling with rising prices could consider working more hours or getting a better-paid job. She later said her comments were unfairly taken out of context and the "long-term" idea would not work for all households. Maclean said she had received a "torrent of personal attacks" including a death threat.[22][23]
In December 2023, she was accused by political opponents of transphobia after sharing a social media post about Melissa Poulton, the Green Party candidate for the Bromsgrove constituency.[29] The police later reversed their decision to record Maclean's action as a "non-crime hate incident", and therefore removed all mention of it from their records.[30]
Personal life
She married David Maclean in 1992. They have three sons and one daughter.[5] Maclean lives in Redditch with her family.[31]
