Margaret Mary Beckett (née Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and subsequently the Acting Leader of the Party following John Smith's death. She later served in the Cabinet under Tony Blair, most notably being appointed Foreign Secretary in 2006.
Bec...
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Margaret Mary Beckett (née Jackson; born 15 January 1943) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Derby South since 1983, rising to become the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party under John Smith, from 18 July 1992 to 12 May 1994, and subsequently the Acting Leader of the Party following John Smith's death. She later served in the Cabinet under Tony Blair, most notably being appointed Foreign Secretary in 2006.
Beckett was first elected to Parliament in 1974 and held junior positions in the governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. She lost her seat in 1979 but returned to the House of Commons in 1983 and became a senior member of the Labour Party. She was elected Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in 1992 and was briefly its leader in 1994 following the premature death of John Smith, the first woman to occupy either role.
After Labour's victory in the 1997 general election, Beckett became a member of Tony Blair's Cabinet. Initially the President...
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