Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst serving as Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities since July 2024.[1][2] She previously served as Chair of the Labour Party from 2021 to 2024. She was Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from April 2020 to May 2021, the first woman to hold the position, and Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities from 2021 to 2024. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford East since 2017 and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2014 to 2017.
Born in Aberdeen and privately educated at Robert Gordon's College, Dodds read Philosophy, Politics and Economics as an undergraduate at St Hilda's College, Oxford and subsequently took a master's degree in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in government at the London School of Economics. She lectured in Public Policy at King's College London and Aston University. After joining the Labour Party, she unsuccessfully contested Billericay at the 2005 general election and Reading East at the 2010 general election.
Dodds was elected to the European Parliament at the 2014 European Parliament election. She resigned her South East England seat when she was elected to the House of Commons at the 2017 general election. She served in the Shadow Treasury Team of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell as Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2017 to 2020. In this role, she supported calls for a confirmatory referendum on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. In April 2020, she was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by new Labour leader Keir Starmer. She was demoted from the role in a reshuffle after the 2021 local elections, and appointed Chair of the Party and Policy Review. She gained the additional Shadow Women and Equalities Secretary brief in September 2021, following Marsha de Cordova's resignation.
Early life and career
editAnneliese Dodds was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and was educated at Dunnottar Primary School in Stonehaven and the private co-educational day school Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen.[3] She then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford.[4] While at Oxford, she was involved with student activism and ran for president of Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) in 1998. She was fined £75 for breaking election rules by canvassing using email.[5][6] In 1999, she became OUSU president, serving until 2000.[7][8] She took part in protests against the introduction of tuition fees in 2000 and in support of LGBT rights.[5] She graduated in 2001 with a first-class degree.[9]
Dodds later studied for a master's degree in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in government at the London School of Economics, where she completed a thesis on liberalisation in higher education in France and the UK in 2006.[10][11] She also had her postdoctoral fellowship at the LSE funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.[10]
Dodds was a lecturer in Public Policy at King's College London from 2007 to 2010 and a senior lecturer in Public Policy at Aston University from 2010 to 2014.[12][13] Her research interests have been stated as being in regulation and risk in the public sector,[10][12] and she has been published in journals such as The Political Quarterly,[14] Public Policy and Administration,[15] and the British Journal of General Practice.[16] In 2018, the second edition of her book, Comparative Public Policy, was published by Red Globe Press, an imprint of Palgrave Macmillan.[17]
Political career
edit
At the 2005 general election, Dodds stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate in Billericay, where she finished second with 29.2% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative Party MP John Baron.[18]
She was also unsuccessful in the 2006 Oxford City council elections[19] for the ward of Holywell.
Dodds also stood unsuccessfully in the 2010 general election in Reading East, finishing third with 25.5% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP Rob Wilson and the Liberal Democrat candidate.[20]
Dodds was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England region in 2014.[21] In the European Parliament, she sat on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.[22] In the 2015 Labour leadership election, she supported Yvette Cooper.[23]
At the snap 2017 general election, Dodds was elected to Parliament as MP for Oxford East, winning with 65.2% of the vote and a majority of 23,284.[24][25][26]
On 3 July 2017, she was appointed as a Shadow Treasury Minister by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.[27] In April 2019, she supported calls for a second Brexit referendum.[28] She was vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Whistleblowing from 2018 to 2019.[29][30]
Dodds was re-elected as MP for Oxford East at the 2019 general election with a decreased vote share of 57% and a decreased majority of 17,832.[31]
On 5 April 2020, Dodds was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by the newly elected Labour leader Keir Starmer, becoming the first woman to hold this position.[32] Some commentators argued that she struggled to make an impact on the political discussion in the context of generous government spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.[33][34] In March 2021, The Sunday Times reported that Starmer was preparing to dismiss Dodds.[35] Two months later, after a set of relatively poor results for Labour at the 2021 local elections she was removed from her position in a shadow cabinet reshuffle and replaced with Rachel Reeves. She was then given a role previously held by Deputy Leader Angela Rayner as the party's chair.[36]
Dodds became Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities in September 2021, following the resignation of previous office holder Marsha de Cordova.[37]
In June 2024, Dodds was reselected as the Labour candidate for Oxford East at the 2024 general election.[38] In July 2024 she was re-elected as MP for Oxford East with a decreased vote share of 49.7% and a decreased majority of 14,465.[39]
Political positions
editLabourList has described Dodds as a "unity candidate", explaining that although she is not a Corbynite, she was supported by her predecessor as Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell,[40] and the Financial Times has said that she is on the "soft left" of the party.[41] In terms of her position on Brexit, she is a remainer, and supported calls for a second referendum on the issue.[28]
While Labour candidate for Reading East in the 2010 election, she explained several of her policy positions, including how she wouldn't take the full salary available to MPs if elected, instead, only taking the average salary of the constituency and "invest[ing] the rest in an improved service" for constituents.[42] On the economy, she argued for increased support for those who need retraining, and those who are long-term unemployed. Furthermore, she stated her desire for "smarter" regulation of the financial system.[43] In terms of criminal justice, she said that helping drug addicts end their dependency, and prosecuting drug dealers whose customers end up dying was important; and in terms of education, she maintained it was important to "better join up children's services across the fields of education, child care, health care and social services".[43]
She described the problem of climate change as a "climate 'emergency'", and wanted to see "far more radical change" to protect against the risks of climate change, suggesting several actions that could help do so, such as banning domestic flights, making it easier to build wind farms, and increased investment in green technology.[43][44] However, she further explained how these actions should be "realistic and fair", and not be funded by "expensive green taxes".[43] In September 2019, she wrote on her website that she had taken part in climate marches, and explained her interest in ideas to promote increasing cycling and public transport in Oxford, and how "we simply cannot return to business as usual in the next parliamentary session".[45]
During the 2019 general election campaign, she argued in support of Labour's plans to increase corporation tax because she believes "those with the broadest shoulders" should contribute more.[46]
After being appointed Shadow Chancellor in early 2020, she stated that she remained committed to "co-operative and mutual ownership", as was supported under Corbyn's leadership of the party,[41] and opposed the introduction of a universal basic income.[44]
On transgender rights, Dodds has affirmed Labour's commitment to "trans people and women" but also affirmed the requirement for gender dysphoria for legal changes in gender, in addition to claiming the necessity of "places where it is reasonable for biological women only to have access."[47] This has prompted criticism from PinkNews as "sitting on the fence" and Spiked magazine for sacrificing "sex-based rights at the altar of gender ideology".[48][49]
On the Israel Hamas war, in 2023 Dodds abstained on a motion calling for all parties to agree to a ceasefire.[50] In January protests In the 23rd February 2024, a fundraising event for Dodds was gate-crashed by both Palestinian activists and members of Just Stop Oil. The event which was held in a restaurant in Cowley Road, Oxford.[51] Footage of the protest was uploaded to YouTube by Middle East Eye.[52] In April 2024 the Oxford Mail contacted Dodds asking if she would back a ban on arms sales from the UK to Israel. While Dodds told the mail her sympathies were with the British aid workers killed by Israel during the World Central Kitchen aid convoy attack, she did not confirm her support for banning arms sales to Israel.[53]
Personal life
editDodds lives in Rose Hill, Oxford and is the partner of Labour Party councillor Ed Turner, the deputy leader of Oxford City Council, and has a son and daughter.[54][55][56]
Dodds was sworn of the Privy Council on 10 July 2024, entitling her to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.[57]
Publications
edit- Comparative Public Policy (2018, 2nd ed.) ISBN 9781137607041 OCLC 1040263476
References
edit- ^ "Ministerial Appointments: July 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ "Minister of State for Development - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
- ^ Farquharson, Kenny (25 July 2020). "Anneliese Dodds: Putting up taxes would not be sensible, we must go for growth". The Times. Times Newspapers Ltd. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "About Anneliese". anneliesedoddsmep.uk. 23 July 2016. Archived from the original on 13 September 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
- ^ a b Jones, Harrison (31 August 2019). "Looking back: A young Anneliese Dodds MP's Oxford student activism". Oxford Mail. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Diver, Tony (27 May 2017). "Revealed: "Illicit canvassing" of Labour's Anneliese Dodds in 1998 OUSU elections". Cherwell. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Seenan, Gerard (9 December 1999). "Bright young things spurn Oxford". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ Milne, Laura (25 April 2000). "Rum do for NUS over drink deal". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "Congratulations". sthildas.ox.ac.uk. 27 May 2014. Archived from the original on 18 June 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c "Professor Anneliese Dodds". Aston University. 21 May 2017. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese. "Liberalisation and the public sector: The case of international students' policy in Britain and France". LSE Theses Online. Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Dr Anneliese Dodds". Research Portal, King's College, London. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Dr Anneliese Dodds. Who's Who, Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U281988. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese (2016). "Why People Voted to Leave and What to Do Now: A View from the Doorstep". The Political Quarterly. 87 (3). Wiley: 360–364. doi:10.1111/1467-923x.12294. ISSN 0032-3179.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese (4 August 2011). "Logics, thresholds, strategic power, and the promotion of liberalisation by governments: a case study from British higher education" (PDF). Public Policy and Administration. 27 (4). SAGE Publications: 303–323. doi:10.1177/0952076711407954. ISSN 0952-0767. S2CID 55856792. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese; Fulop, Naomi (1 November 2009). "The challenge of improving patient safety in primary care". British Journal of General Practice. 59 (568). Royal College of General Practitioners: 805–806. doi:10.3399/bjgp09x472845. ISSN 0960-1643. PMC 2765829. PMID 19861023.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese (2018). Comparative public policy. London: Palgrave. ISBN 978-1-137-60704-1. OCLC 1040263476.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Results – Oxford City Council All Wards 2006". oxford.gov.uk. 10 July 2017. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Lanktree, Graham (19 June 2015). "Britain should put City of London under EU financial rules – Deutsche Bank vice chairman". International Business Times. IBTimes Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
...UK Labour MEP Anneliese Dodds, who sits on the EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
- ^ Walker, Peter (5 April 2020). "Three key appointments: Keir Starmer fills top shadow cabinet roles". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ "GENERAL ELECTION: List of Oxfordshire parliamentary candidates published". The Oxford Times. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 May 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
- ^ "South Live: Thursday 11 May". BBC News. 11 May 2017. Archived from the original on 16 May 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ Rust, Stuart (28 April 2017). "Parliamentary candidate announced to replace Labour's Andrew Smith". The Oxford Times. Gannett. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
- ^ "Reshuffle 2: The Maintenance of the Malcontents". New Socialist. 8 July 2017. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
- ^ a b "80 Labour MPs demand second referendum as condition for Brexit deal". ITV News. 6 April 2019. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ "House of Commons – Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 29 August 2018: Whistleblowing". publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
- ^ "House of Commons – Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups as at 5 November 2019: Whistleblowing". publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
- ^ "Oxford East Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ Race, Michael (6 April 2020). "Who is the new shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^ Bush, Stephen (7 October 2020). "Anneliese Dodds' biggest enemy isn't Rishi Sunak. It's Covid-19". www.newstatesman.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ Boscia, Stefan (10 May 2021). "Analysis: Anneliese Dodds' departure was long time coming". CityAM. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ Wheeler, Caroline (28 March 2021). "Starmer 'to axe shadow chancellor' Anneliese Dodds after Labour poll slump". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
- ^ "Labour reshuffle: Anneliese Dodds out in Starmer's post-election reshuffle". BBC News. 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
- ^ Rodgers, Sienna (21 September 2021). "Anneliese Dodds replaces Marsha de Cordova in women and equalities role". LabourList. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
- ^ Green, Caroline (7 June 2024). "Election of Member of Parliament to UK Parliament Oxford East Constituency". Retrieved 7 June 2024 – via Oxford City Council.
- ^ "Oxford East – General election results 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Chappell, Elliot (17 April 2020). "6 policy areas our new Shadow Chancellor is passionate about". LabourList. Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b Pickard, Jim; Agyemang, Emma (15 April 2020). "UK needs new social contract, shadow chancellor says". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese (23 November 2009). "Why I couldn't draw a full MP's salary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b c d "PPC Profile: Anneliese Dodds". LabourList. 17 November 2009. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ a b Rentoul, John (9 May 2020). "Opinion: This was the week we saw how Keir Starmer might win the next election". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ "Anneliese on the climate emergency". Anneliese Dodds. 27 September 2019. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Rodgers, Sienna (6 December 2019). "WATCH: Anneliese Dodds triumphs over Brexit Party chair in tax row". LabourList. Archived from the original on 7 December 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Dodds, Anneliese (24 July 2023). "Labour will lead on reform of transgender rights – and we won't take lectures from the divisive Tories". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ Kelleher, Patrick (26 July 2023). "Labour 'placating gender critics' – and trans members have had enough". PinkNews. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ "Gays against Starmer". Spiked-online.com. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ Qurashi, Noor (16 November 2023). "Oxfordshire MP Anneliese Dodds on Gaza ceasefire vote". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ Keys, Cameron; Rouffin, Gaspard (25 February 2024). "Just Stop Oil and Palestine protests at Oxford Labour fundraiser". The Oxford Student. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ Labour MP Dodds’ Oxford fundraiser halted by Gaza ceasefire plea. Retrieved 28 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "MPs asked if they will back Israel weapon sales ban". Oxford Mail. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ Walker, Amy (6 April 2020). "Shadow chancellor TV interview gatecrashed by her daughter, three". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 April 2020. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
- ^ Pickard, Jim (5 April 2020). "Anneliese Dodds jumps from relative obscurity to shadow chancellor". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ "Who is the new shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds?". BBC News. 6 April 2020.
- ^ "List of Business – 10 July 2024" (PDF). Privy Council Office. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
External links
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