Anna Turley

Anna Turley MP
Member of Parliament for Redcar
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015
Preceded by	Ian Swales
Majority	10,388 (25.4%)
Personal details
Born	9 October 1978 Dartford, England
Political party	Labour Co-operative

Anna Catherine Turley^[1] (born 9 October 1978) is a British Labour Co-operative politician. She became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar at the 2015 general election.^[2]

Early career

Turley was formerly a civil servant, initially working on youth crime issues, and later moved to the Department for Work and Pensions specialising in child poverty issues.^[3]

Political career

In 2005, Turley became a special adviser in the Department for Work and Pensions under David Blunkett, then in 2006 the Cabinet Office under Hilary Armstrong.^[3][4] In 2006, she stood for election as a Labour council candidate for Wandsworth Common.^[5]

In 2007, Turley worked for public relations agency The Ledbury Group.^[6] In April 2008, she became deputy director of the local government research organisation the New Local Government Network,^[6] and in 2010 co-founded the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network designed to enable local authorities to work in partnership with local communities.^[3][7]

Turley was shortlisted for the North West Durham seat for the 2010 general election but lost out to Pat Glass.^[8] In 2011, Turley founded a consultancy and online forum ProgLoc (Progressive Localism) for progressive debate of key issues affecting local government,^[9][10][11] and became an associate researcher for the NGO Future of London.^[12][13] Since 2012 Turley has been a speaker for the New Labour pressure group Progress.^[14] In 2013, Turley became a senior research fellow at IPPR North.^[15]

In 2013, Turley was selected to stand in the Redcar constituency from an all-women shortlist, in a contentious selection that ultimately led to the deselection of ten Labour councillors for continued dissension.^[4][16]

After becoming the member of parliament for Redcar at the May 2015 general election, Turley was appointed as a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee in July 2015.^[17] She supported Andy Burnham in the 2015 leadership election.^[18]

Soon after becoming an MP, Turley had to respond to major local employer SSI UK, which operated Teesside Steelworks, going into liquidation,^[19][20] leading to about 3,000 local job losses. The steelworks had once employed about 40,000.^[21]

In September 2015, the newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appointed Turley as shadow civil society minister in his first shadow cabinet.^[3] Turley resigned in June 2016 as part of a mass shadow cabinet resignation in protest at Corbyn's leadership.^[22] In the 2016 leadership election campaign soon afterwards, Turley was critical of Corbyn stating he was "completely out of touch with reality", and supported Owen Smith for leader.^[23]

Personal life

Turley was born in Dartford,^[24] attended an independent school,^[25] and lives in Redcar.^[4] Previously she lived in Islington, London.^[3]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 61230. p. 9124. 18 May 2015.
2. "2015 General Election results". BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
3. Andy Hillier (22 October 2015). "Anna Turley MP – the new shadow minister for charities". Third Sector. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
4. "Former Blunkett adviser named Redcar Parliamentary candidate". Teesside Gazette. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
5. Andrew Teale. "Local Election Results 2006 - Wandsworth". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
6. "Ex-Blunkett aide joins think-tank". PR Week. 3 April 2008. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
7. "Anna Turley given shadow responsibility for charity sector". Third Sector. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
8. Richard Moss (18 December 2009). "Durham North West Labour shortlist revealed". BBC News. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
9. Jessica Asato (27 May 2011). "Who's hue in tankworld". Progress Online. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
10. Anna Turley (27 July 2011). "Progressive localism". Progress Online. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
11. "Companies House - PROGLOC LIMITED". Companies House. Company No. 07605429. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
12. Anna Turley (13 December 2011). "London and the Localism Act". Future of London. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
13. Anna Turley, Joanna Wilson (March 2012). "Localism in London" (PDF). Future of London. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
14. "Speaker List for CLPs". Progress. Archived from the original on 20 August 2012.
15. Bill Davies, Anna Turley (January 2014). "Back to Rising Damp? Addressing housing quality in the private rented sector" (PDF). IPPR North. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
16. Prof. David Byrne (27 April 2015). "Can a Green union man beat Labour's London parachuter in the north east?". Durham University. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
17. "Home Affairs Committee: Committee membership announced". Parliament.UK. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
18. Conor McGinn, Anna Turley (26 May 2015). "Why we are backing Andy Burnham's bid to be Labour leader". New Statesman. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
19. Mike Blackburn, Andrew Glover (30 September 2015). "SSI: Labour MPs will present 'rescue plan' to steel minister tomorrow". GazetteLive. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
20. Steven Hugill (17 September 2016). "Future of SSI UK Redcar plant 'must not be held to ransom by Thai banks'". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
21. Anna Turley (19 January 2016). "What's the future for industrial towns?". Fabian Society. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
22. "Jeremy Corbyn unveils new top team after resignations". BBC News. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
23. Ian Johnson (24 October 2016). "Teesside MP who called Corbyn 'Wizard of Oz' congratulates him on victory". GazetteLive. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
24. "Biography Anna Turley MP". MyParliament. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
25. Sebastian Whale (7 January 2016). "Labour calls on private schools to open up facilities to state school children". PoliticsHome. Retrieved 20 September 2016.