Ousted MP to be health minister in the House of Lords
- Details
- Published: Wednesday, 16 January 2019 07:57
- Written by News Editor
- Hits: 1727
A former MP and health minister, Nicola Blackwood has been given a peerage and appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care. Ms Blackwood became the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon in 2010, and a health minister from 2016, but lost her seat in the 2017 general election to the Liberal Democrats’ Layla Moran.
Her appointment follows the resignation before Christmas of Lord O’Shaughnessy, who left for personal reasons. Ms Blackwood will rejoin the Department for Health and Social Care, where she was a minister before losing her seat. But Labour shadow cabinet member Jon Trickett said Ms Blackwood had been "rejected by voters" and her appointment was "yet another shocking example of the revolving door between highly paid advisory roles and lobbying and the government".
However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, however, wrote on twitter the former minister was "a fantastic champion of health innovation, bringing a wealth [of] experience to the post". She is now set to become Minister for Innovation, having previously served as chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee and a junior health minister. She will be the Government’s spokesperson in the Lords on health matters, including dentistry.
Before becoming an MP, Nicola worked for Andrew Mitchell MP, then Shadow International Development Secretary. Nicola continues this work as Co-Chair of the All Parliamentary Group on Women Peace and Security and as a member of the Department for International Development’s Gender Advisory Group. She was educated at Trinity College of Music, St Anne’s College, Oxford, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
You need to be logged in to leave comments.
Report