Eagle worked in the voluntary sector from 1983 to 1990, and then went to the College of Law, London, where she took her law finals in 1990, before she joined Brian Thompson & Partners in Liverpool as an articled clerk in 1990. In 1992 she became a solicitor with Goldsmith Williams in Liverpool, and later a Solicitor at Stephen Irving & Co also in Liverpool, where she remained until her election to Westminster.[5]
After joining the Labour Party, Eagle was elected the secretary of the Crosby Constituency Labour Party (CLP) for two years in 1983,[6] and was also elected as the campaigns organiser with that CLP for three years in 1993.[6]
Eagle was re-elected as MP for Liverpool Garston at the 2001 general election with an increased vote share of 61.4% and a decreased majority of 12,494.[15]
At the 2005 general election, Eagle was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 54% and a decreased majority of 7,193.[16] Following the election, she was the Minister for Children at the Department for Education and Skills, until the May 2006 reshuffle moved her to Northern Ireland, where she was minister for Employment and Learning.
Eagle was moved to the Ministry of Justice when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007. In September 2008, she was nominated for Stonewall Politician of the Year for her work to support equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people.[17] As part of the government reshuffle in October 2008, she assumed additional responsibility for Equalities. In the June 2009 reshuffle, she was promoted to Minister of State.[6]
Expenses controversy
On 17 May 2009, during the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, The Daily Telegraph revealed that Eagle had claimed £3,500 for the refurbishment of the bathroom of her Liverpool home, then switched her second home designation to a different property four months later. Eagle voted in favour of legislation which would have kept MPs' expenses information secret.[18]
In opposition
Official portrait, 2017
Prior to the 2010 general election, Eagle's constituency of Liverpool Garston was abolished, and replaced with Garston and Halewood. At the 2010 general election, Eagle was elected to Parliament as MP for Garston and Halewood with 59.5% of the vote and a majority of 16,877.[19]
In February 2013, she voted in favour in the House of Commons Second Reading vote on marriage equality in Britain.[23]
At the 2015 general election, Eagle was re-elected as MP for Garston and Halewood with an increased vote share of 69.1% and an increased majority of 27,146.[24][25]
Eagle was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in September 2015 by newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.[26][27] She said she was surprised by her appointment as she had disagreed with Corbyn's advocacy of unilateral nuclear disarmament and supported the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.[28] Tasked with leading Labour's defence review, she said she would not rule out the possibility of it recommending unilateral disarmament.[28] However, she described Corbyn commenting he would not countenance using a nuclear deterrent as "unhelpful" to the policy process.[29]
At the snap 2017 general election, Eagle was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 77.7% and an increased majority of 32,149.[33] She was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 72.3% and a decreased majority of 31,624.[34]
Following her initial election, Eagle joined her twin sister Angela in Parliament.[b] Maria describes herself as "the straight one", while Angela is a lesbian.[40]
Notes
^Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State from 2007 to 2009
^They are sometimes incorrectly described as the first set of twins to sit in the Commons at the same time;[28] in fact the first set of twins is believed to have been James and Richard Grenville, who sat together for Buckingham between 1774 and 1780.[39]
^McDougall, L.; McDougall, Linda (31 January 2012). Westminster Women. Random House. ISBN9781448130498. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2016 – via Google Books.
^Rentoul, John; Ward, Stephen; MacIntyre, Donald (9 January 1996). "Labour blow as all-women lists outlawed". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
