Ruth Kelly

Ruth Maria Kelly (born 9 May 1968) is a British politician. She is the Member of Parliament for the Greater Manchester constituency of Bolton West representing the Labour Party. She was Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2004-2006, and in the May 2006 reshuffle was made Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. She has also worked with the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Early life

Kelly was born in Limavady, Northern Ireland. She also lived briefly in the Republic of Ireland before moving to England where she attended Edgarley Hall - the prep school for Millfield School. She then went to Sutton High School. After jumping up a year and sitting O-levels at Sutton High School at the age of 15 she decided to move back to Ireland to look after her ill grandmother. Her grandmother died after six weeks, but Kelly stayed for a year anyway, living with her aunt and taking A-level French. She returned to England where she won a scholarship to the sixth-form of Westminster School to undertake her A-levels. She went on to The Queen's College, University of Oxford (where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and then the London School of Economics. She was an economics writer for The Guardian from 1990, before becoming deputy head of the Inflation Report Division of the Bank of England in 1994. She is married to Derek Gadd, and they have four children, Eamonn, Sinead, Roisin and Niamh.

Career as an MP

In the 1997 general election, Kelly gained the seat of Bolton West from the Conservatives while heavily pregnant, and gave birth to her first son eleven days later. She served on the Treasury Select Committee; she was also appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown from 1998. Kelly was a member of a commission set up by the Institute for Public Policy Research into the Private Finance Initiative, which expressed some scepticism about the operation of the policy.

After the 2001 general election Kelly was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury. She had responsibility for competition policy and small businesses. After a year she was promoted to be Financial Secretary to the Treasury where she had responsibility for regulation of the financial services industry. Both posts were heavily affected by the thorough revision of the Financial Services regulation system which was introduced by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Kelly brought in new regulations to tackle the funding of terrorism after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Kelly had primary responsibility for dealing with Equitable Life after the Penrose Report into the society was published. She rejected calls for government compensation to Equitable policyholders, on the grounds that the losses arose from actions of the Society rather than from any defect of regulation, and that the Society was still trading. Equitable policyholders continued to demand redress.

In a small reshuffle, she was promoted to be Minister for the Cabinet Office on 9 September 2004, replacing Douglas Alexander. Kelly guided the Civil Contingencies Bill through its final stages in Parliament, which faced serious objections from some civil liberties campaigns. She supported new technologies in government.

In the Cabinet

In the reshuffle following the resignation of David Blunkett on 15 December 2004, Kelly entered the Cabinet (also becoming a member of the Privy Council) with the position of Secretary of State for Education and Skills. She became the youngest woman ever to sit in the Cabinet.

The Government's Extended Schools policy, which plans to open some schools from 8am to 6pm and provide child-care services for working parents, has been dubbed by some as "Kelly hours" after Kelly. It has also been suggested that Kelly has, since taking up the position of Secretary of State, championed the role of parents in the education system, engendering mixed feeling within the sector as to whether this is a helpful stance. But her proposals in the 2005 white paper to reduce the number and influence of parent governors in Trust Schools have hurt this reputation, with many considering that she is solely interested in the problems and issues of working parents.

As a mother of four she has refused to work the long hours normally associated with her position or take a red box in the evening, which consequently has caused problems with the speed at which she has made decisions or engaged with issues within her own Department.

Kelly's time as Secretary of State has not been easy. She controversially rejected the proposals of the Tomlinson report on education reform for the 14–19 age group . After the 2005 election she was offered a change of job by the Prime Minister back into her old post at the Treasury, a move she declined as it would have been a demotion. She did so only after accepting the appointment of Tony Blair's adviser Andrew Adonis as a Minister within her Department, an appointment she did not welcome.

On 5 May 2006, one day after the English local elections, she was replaced as Secretary of State for Education and Skills by Alan Johnson. She will be taking over responsibility for local government and housing, which is to be split off from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

Sex offenders in schools controversy

On 9 January 2006, it came to light that Kelly’s department had granted permission for a man, Paul Reeve, who had been cautioned by police for viewing child pornography images, and who was on a sex offenders register, to be employed at a school in Norwich on the basis that he had not been convicted of an offence. He, and an unknown number of others on the sex offenders register, were not on the DfES prohibited list, "List 99".

This caused uproar in the media, and Downing Street were forced to deny that she was about to lose her job. On 13 January, Kim Howells admitted that he had actually made the decision, in accordance with advice given to him by civil servants that the "person did not represent an ongoing threat to children but that he should be given a grave warning". There was further outrage as it transpired that a teacher, William Gibson, 59, who had been convicted in 1980 for indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl, and who had been removed from three schools, had been cleared to work at Portchester School in Bournemouth, on the basis of a letter from the Department for Education implicating the Secretary of State.

Trust Schools White Paper

In October 2005, the DfES published the White Paper Higher Standards, Better Schools for All — More Choice for Parents and Pupils. It set out plans to "radically improve the system". The blurb distributed with it established a number of key areas that the White Paper was intended to address:

The challenge to reform
A school system shaped by parents
Choice and access for all
Personalised learning
Parents driving improvement
Supporting children and parents
School discipline
The school workforce and school leadership
A new role for local authorities

Trust Schools

One of the most controversial elements in the White Paper was the proposal to establish a new breed of school called a Trust school. The White Paper introduced a new term to the educational taxonomy when it explained how school's would "acquire a Trust". There is a remarkable similarity between Trust schools and voluntary aided schools/Foundation schools. The proposals allow for each Trust school to decide its own governance model from either the VA or Foundation model. Local authority assets - buildings and land - would be transferred to trust ownership, and the trust would take on the responsibility for the employment of all the school staff.

The governance model of VA Schools would allow the Trust to directly appoint more than half of the governors allowing it to effectively control the governing body. Such a model would also reduce the number of elected Parent governors. To tackle this obvious reduction in parent power it was proposed that a new consultative body - a Parents’ Council to ensure that parents have a strong voice in decisions about the way the school is run - although it was stressed that statuatory guidance on this would produced at some as yet unspecified later stage. This notion effectively killed any suggestion that Kelly could be seen as a champion of parents.

The Trusts were intended to be non-profit making and to have charitable status, although they could be formed by commercial enterprises. In fact one of the early DfES-hosted seminars on the establishment of Trusts included representatives from Microsoft and KPMG. But it is their ability to set their own admission arrangements that came in for the most criticism.

Political fallout

The white paper was not received with universal acclaim. A large number of Labour backbenchers, as well as numerous Labour luminaries like Neil Kinnock and former Education Secretary Estelle Morris, made known their opposition to the proposals and published an alternative white paper. Faced with such a rebellion, the government initially stressed that it would press on with the reforms. However an astutely political move by Tory leader David Cameron forced them onto the back foot. Cameron announced that these reforms were in line with Tory policies and that he would support the bill if presented in the proposed form. The government were faced with the prospect of pushing through their reforms only with opposition support and in the face of increased resistance from its own supporters.

Following a report by the Education Select Committee - which was in itself controversial - Kelly finally wrote to the committee chairman Barry Sheerman in February 2006, outlining how the bill would look when presented to parliament and stressing how it would accommodate many of the fears expressed in the committee's report. This was reported as the government backtracking on many key issues although they stressed that it was not a climbdown.

The Education and Inspections Bill 2006

On 28 February 2006, the bill was finally published. It contained much of what had been trailed, although most notable by its absence was any mention of "trust school". It seems as if Foundation and Voluntary Aided schools will pick up the mantle of trust schools.

Religion

Kelly is a practicing Roman Catholic. Her brother, Ronan, is a supernumerary in Opus Dei, but she refuses to say whether or not she is a member, arguing that this is a private matter.

Some commentators have alleged that her religious views could be the cause of conflict over government policy issues such as embryonic stem cell research, abortion, and religion in schools.

Family History

Kelly's grandfather Philip Murphy was an IRA officer interned in 1922 by the Northern Ireland Government. Murphy's detention file refers to him as 'quartermaster of the West Fermanagh IRA Battalion'. He went on hunger strike to protest at his detention. He was released unconditionally in June 1924 when internment ended.

Gay Equality Issues

When she became Minister for Women and Equality, she was criticised on both BBC Radio 5 Live, and on the front page of The Independent of 10 May 2006, for having failed to support a single measure in favour of homosexual rights since 1997 when the Labour government came to power. It was pointed out that she had absented herself from votes on such issues as equalisation of the age of consent, and gay adoption, and had voted for a motion that would prevent same-sex couples from adoption. She was also criticised for refusing to comment on whether she considered that homosexuality is a sin. Gay-rights activist Peter Tatchell commented: "Tony Blair would never appoint someone to a race equality post who had a lukewarm record of opposing racism"

In a letter published in The Times on May 11th, 2006, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster, UK, voiced criticism to allegations that Ruth Kelly’s Catholicism might be considered incompatible with her role as Equality Minister. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor wrote "Ms Kelly may well be scrutinised for her fitness in office. That is a political judgement. But her Catholicism should not be a criterion in forming that judgement." . However, the criticism to which this responded was not that she was a Catholic, but that she allegedly holds views about homosexuality (and other issues) which some hold as contrary to the equality agenda which it is her ministerial duty to promote. Many practising Catholics (including, for example, the human rights lawyer and wife of the Prime Minister Cherie Booth QC) do not hold these views.

Fathers for Justice attacks

On two occasions Kelly has been targeted by members of Fathers 4 Justice in egg-throwing incidents. In February 2006 she was to give evidence in the case of Father 4 Justice protester Simon Wilmot-Coverdale, but he changed his plea to guilty at the hearing.

On departure she was attacked, the egg smashing on the back of her head. The thrower stated he was from Fathers for Justice, not Fathers 4 Justice.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics — Ask Aristotle: Ruth Kelly MP
TheyWorkForYou.com — Ruth Kelly MP
BBC interview 23 January 2005
Scientists are alarmed by Ruth Kelly's strict beliefs — December 22, 2004 Times article describing Ms. Kelly's links with Opus Dei.
Kelly worst education secretary under Labour — March 26, 2005 Opinion article from the Independent on Kelly's relations with the NUT
Analysis of Kelly's first set piece political speech as Education Secretary The Guardian, 11 January 2005
PinkNews.co.uk: MPs and gay groups question wisdom of Kelly appointment
Reshuffle error? Can Ruth Kelly really represent the gay community? Commentary by a pro-gay online magazine on her appointment as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women and Equality
Ruth Kelly's Faith — May 11, 2006 Times Letter by Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster
Irish heritage