Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles

Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles
Shadow Minister for Overseas Development
In office 20 October 1994 – 25 July 1996
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Tom Clarke
Succeeded by	Clare Short
Shadow Spokesperson for Children and Families
In office 2 November 1989 – 20 October 1994
Leader	Neil Kinnock John Smith
Member of Parliament for Eccles
In office 11 June 1987 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Lewis Carter-Jones
Succeeded by	Ian Stewart
Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough
In office 31 March 1966 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Anthony Meyer
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	13 November 1931
Died	27 March 1998 (Age 66)
Political party	Labour
Other political affiliations	Socialist Party
Alma mater	University of London

Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles (13 November 1931 – 27 March 1998) was a British Labour politician.

Early life

Lestor was educated at Blaenavon Secondary School, Monmouth; William Morris High School, Walthamstow and the University of London. She became a nursery school teacher and a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, but resigned from the latter over the Turner Controversy. She became a councillor in 1958 on the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth and later the London Borough of Wandsworth. She served on London County Council (1962–64).

Parliamentary career

Lestor contested Lewisham West in 1964 and was elected Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough in 1966.

She was briefly a junior minister from 1969–70 with responsibility for nursery education. In March 1974 she became the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and in June 1975 moved back to Education as Under-Secretary of State, for Education and Science. In March 1976 she resigned over cuts.

Lestor was one of the founding editors of anti-fascist monthly, Searchlight, though that magazine had only a tenuous connection to the current publication.

After boundary changes in 1983, Lestor contested the new constituency of Slough but was defeated by the Conservative candidate John Watts. No longer an MP, Lestor worked for the World Development Movement, campaigning for child welfare and setting up a unit to investigate child abuse, including sexual abuse, an area neglected by mainstream politicians at the time.

She was returned for Eccles in 1987, and held this seat until 1997. She served in the shadow cabinet between 1989 and 1996 firstly as Shadow Spokesperson for Children and Families and subsequently as Shadow Minister for Overseas Development. She resigned on 25 July 1996 after announcing that she was not seeking re-election at the next election.

House of Lords

On 4 June 1997, she was created a life peer as Baroness Lestor of Eccles, of Tooting Bec in the London Borough of Wandsworth., nine months before her death.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Joan Lestor

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Anthony Meyer	Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough 1966–1983	Constituency abolished
Preceded by Lewis Carter-Jones	Member of Parliament for Eccles 1987–1997	Succeeded by Ian Stewart
Party political offices
Preceded by John Chalmers	Chair of the Labour Party 1977-1978	Succeeded by Frank Allaun