Yvonne Fovargue

Yvonne Fovargue
Official portrait, 2020
Member of Parliament
for Makerfield
In office
6 May 2010 – 30 May 2024
Preceded byIan McCartney
Succeeded byJosh Simons
Member of Warrington Borough Council
for Fairfield and Howley
In office
10 June 2004 – 6 May 2010
Personal details
Born
Yvonne Helen Fovargue

(1956-11-29) 29 November 1956 (age 68)
Sale, Cheshire, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Paul Kenny
​
(m. 2009)​
Alma materUniversity of Leeds (BA)

Yvonne Helen Fovargue CBE (born 29 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield from 2010 to 2024.

Early life and career

Yvonne Helen Fovargue was born on 29 November 1956 in Sale, Cheshire.[1][2] She was educated at Sale Grammar School and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Leeds. Fovargue has been a member of Mensa.[3]

In the 1980s, she worked as a housing officer for Manchester City Council. Fovargue was later chief executive of the Citizens Advice Bureau in St Helens, Merseyside for over 20 years.

Fovargue was elected to Warrington Borough Council at the 2004 local elections, representing Fairfield and Howley ward.[4][5] She was re-elected in 2007 but resigned ahead of the 2010 general election.

Parliamentary career

Fovargue was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Makerfield at the 2010 general election, then considered to be a safe Labour constituency. She has been a member of the Unite the Union and the Co-operative Party.[6]

Under the leadership Ed Miliband, Fovargue was appointed to the opposition front bench as a whip in October 2011. She was promoted to serve as a Shadow Transport Minister from January until October 2013, when she was appointed to shadow the Minister for International Security Strategy.[7]

Fovargue changed roles again upon her appointment as Shadow Further Education and Skills Minister in October 2014.[8] She briefly returned as a Shadow Defence Minister under Harriet Harman's interim leadership from May to September 2015.

In September 2015, she was appointed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as Shadow Consumer Affairs and Science Minister.[9] Fovargue resigned from the front bench in June 2016 to protest Corbyn's leadership, and supported Owen Smith in the subsequent leadership election.[10]

She rejoined the front bench in October 2016, following Corbyn's re-election, as Shadow Local Government Minister. However, she resigned again in March 2019 after defying the Party whip to voting against a motion proposing second EU referendum.[11] In the 2020 Labour leadership election, she supporting neighbouring MP Lisa Nandy.[12]

In 2022, Fovargue was appointed as the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Libya and Tunisia.[13] She was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for 'political and public service' in the 2024 New Year Honours.[14]

Following the announcement of the 2024 general election, Fovargue announced that she would not be seeking re-election to Parliament.[15]

Personal life

Fovargue married Paul Kenny in 2009. Kenny served alongside Fovargue on Warrington Borough Council, and he was later elected to represent a Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council ward in her Parliamentary constituency.[16] She employed her husband as a Parliamentary assistant.[17]

References

  1. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8737.
  2. ^ "Yvonne Fovargue MP". BBC Democracy Live. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. ^ "Profile – Yvonne Fovargue". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  4. ^ Rallings, C.; Thrasher, M. "Warrington Borough Council Election Results 1997-2012" (PDF). The Elections Centre.
  5. ^ "What do women want?". Warrington Guardian. 9 August 1996. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Yvonne Fovargue". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  7. ^ Mason, Rowena (20 October 2014). "Former minister Pat McFadden gets Europe brief in Labour mini-reshuffle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  8. ^ Whittaker, Freddie (21 October 2014). "Yvonne Fovargue gets shadow education post in Labour's mini-reshuffle (in an alternate universe? or timeline idk)". FE Week. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Jeremy Corbyn unveils new top team after resignations". BBC News. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  11. ^ Wearmouth, Rachel (14 March 2019). "3 Shadow Ministers Resign Over Vote To Block Second Brexit Referendum". HuffPost. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest". www.wigantoday.net. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Prime Minister's Trade Envoys". GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  14. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N10.
  15. ^ Graham, Charles (22 May 2024). "Two Wigan borough MPs to stand down at general election". Wigan Post. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  16. ^ Skentelbery, Gary (4 March 2009). "Councillors tie the knot". Warrington Worldwide. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  17. ^ Register of Members' Financial Interests
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Makerfield
2010–2024 		Succeeded by