Vera Baird
Vera Baird QC MP (
February 13,
1951)
British politician, author and barrister,
Member of Parliament for
Redcar, and a
Queen's Counsel. She is a member of the
Labour Party.
She was born in 1951 in
Oldham,
Lancashire, and was educated at the
Chadderton Grammar School;
Newcastle Polytechnic; The
Open University; and the
University of London. She joined the Labour Party in
1971 and was
Called to the Bar at
Gray's Inn in
1975 and has been a practising barrister since, and currently works in the Chambers of
Michael Mansfield, working alongside Patrick Roche, the husband of her former
parliamentary colleague,
Barbara Roche.
At the
1983 General Election, she unsuccefully contested the constituency of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and was defeated into third place, the winner of the contest being
Alan Beith. She has written several books concerning
rape and women's experiences in court and a book on women murderers. She is also a visiting Fellow at
St Hilda's College, Oxford.
Vera Baird was selected to contest the ultra safe Labour seat of Redcar at the
2001 General Election following the retirement of the sitting MP and former
Cabinet minister,
Mo Mowlam.
Following the
2005 General Election, Baird became the
Parliamentary Private Secretary to the
Home Secretary,
Charles Clarke.
On
8 May 2006, she was appointed as a
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the
Department for Constitutional Affairs.
*
Vera Baird Q.C. official site
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ePolitix - Vera Baird official site
*
Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Vera Baird MP*
TheyWorkForYou.com - Vera Baird MP 
