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Dr. Chris N. Ussher , MD - Free Doctor Profile - Rheumatology, located... healthgrades.com | Ask Our Expert - Kiddies & Kitties drspock.com | Success Stories - Kitty Murphy | Carolinas Natural Health Center carolinasnaturalhealth.co... | Kitty Jigsaw Puzzle petvets.com |
Katharine "Kitty" Anne Ussher (born 18 March 1971) is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Burnley since 2005, succeeding Peter Pike. Ussher formerly held the position of Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in Gordon Brown's Government until her resignation.
[edit] BiographyUssher is the daughter of an Anglo-Irish lawyer father, and headmistress mother whose brother is Peter Bottomley.[1] Consequently, this makes her the niece of the former Conservative cabinet minister, Virginia Bottomley She was educated on a free place at the independent St Paul's Girls' School, and Balliol College, Oxford, where she read PPE, and Birkbeck College, London, where she took a MSc in Economics. [edit] CareerPrior to her election she worked as chief economist for Britain in Europe and as an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Centre for European Reform. In addition she has worked as secretary to Paul Boateng and as researcher to MPs Martin O’Neill, Kim Howells and Adam Ingram. From 2001 until her selection as a parliamentary candidate in 2004 she was special adviser to Patricia Hewitt in the Department of Trade and Industry. She served as a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth for Vassall ward from 1998 to 2002 where she chaired the finance and environment scrutiny committees. [edit] Parliamentary careerUssher was elected as the member of Parliament for Burnley at the 2005 General Election, having been selected as the Labour candidate for the constituency through an All-Women Shortlist.[2] As a constituency MP her local campaigning has focussed on bringing a university to the town, as well as greater funding for housing renewal projects and a direct train link to Manchester. She has also run a long-running campaign regarding changes to local hospital provision.[3] From 2005 - 2006 she was a member of the Public Accounts Committee. She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Hodge MBE the Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry until 29 June 2007. In Gordon Brown's first reshuffle she was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, succeeding Ed Balls. One of her first speeches was to London First's "Building the Capital's Capital". She described this position as "her dream job" and told her audience, "we want our decisions to be informed by your expertise. And more than that, we need them to be.”.[4] The timing of her appointment gave her a ringside seat at the credit crunch, party to crucial meetings of the Tripartate Commmittee of Treasury, FSA and the Bank of England as the authorities dealt with the collapse of Northern Rock, the subsequent financial crisis and its legislative response. Her time also saw a review of the policy towards co-operatives and credit unions, to give them greater commercial freedom and ability to expand. She also developed the policy leading to the Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Act 2009 that redistributes unclaimed banking assets to community use, and the Savings Gateway Act 2009 that provides financial incentives to poorer people to save. On 5 October 2008 she moved to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions taking on broad welfare reform responsibilities previously undertaken by Stephen Timms and James Plaskitt. At the time of the reshuffle, she was described by The Times' city diarist Martin Waller as "one of the brighter denizens of the lower depths of the Brown administration" who had "made herself popular enough in the City".[5] She became responsible for the government's review of housing benefit policy and a review of the social fund, as well as the Child Support Agency and welfare policy on lone parents. In December 2008 she was the minister responsible for explaining the Government's position on charging interest on Social Fund loans.[6] She said that the Government was “absolutely not” proposing charging interest on loans from the Social Fund, although a consultation paper was clearly proposing such an idea and included a worked example of interest charges. The idea was comprehensively rejected in the Government's formal response.[7] In 2007-08 she claimed £22,767, in Additional Costs Allowance, the 242nd highest claim among MPs, which according to her website is used to maintain a terrace house in Brixton uses when her Parliamentary duties require her to be in London. She also spent £9,620 of the Communications Allowance, putting her joint 217th among MPs.[8][9] In April 2009 Ussher announced that she had made her constituency house her second home for parliamentary purposes and London address her main home. This was because her children would be going to school in London in order to keep the family together during the week. She will maintain a home off Manchester Road in Burnley. Ussher was moved back to HM Treasury in the June 2009 reshuffle, this time becoming Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury however she was sacked due to the expenses controversy after 8 days and was replaced by Sarah McCarthy-Fry, the MP for Portsmouth North. [edit] Expenses controversyMain article: Disclosure of expenses of British Members of Parliament On 10 May 2009 the Sunday Telegraph reported that within a year of being elected, Mrs Ussher was inquiring about claiming for around £20,000 worth of renovations to her London home, a property she had owned for several years before becoming an MP. Among other things she asked, "Generally, there are gaps in terms of our furniture, white goods etc. And some of the windows require curtains and/blinds." She also attempted to justify other claims: "The plumbing in the entire house is strange [...] The electrics are also odd [...] Most of the ceilings have Artex coverings. Three-dimensional swirls. It could be a matter of taste, but this counts as ‘dilapidations’ in my book!" A letter produced by the Telegraph include a covering "With Compliments" slip stating "I am aware this takes us over our limit. Please pay as much as you are able".[10] On 17 June 2009, after controversial details of MP's expenses had been released in the press,[10] Ussher resigned, citing a desire to "prevent embarrassment to the government" after allegations that she changed the designation of her "main" home for capital gains tax purposes to reduce her tax bill.[11] In her resignation letter Ussher said that she had done nothing wrong and that her actions were "in line with HM Revenue and Customs guidance and based on the advice of a reputable firm of accountants who in turn were recommended to me by the House of Commons fees office". She also denied any abuse of the allowances system of the House of Commons.[12] Ussher has also announced that she would not contest the next election, citing the difficulties in reconciling her parental responsibilities with the working hours of parliament however this resignation came after the expenses scandal surrounding her claims broke.[13] Commenting on her resignation, the BBC described her as a "rising star" who had risen quickly through the ranks, despite only being elected in 2005.[14] On 5 June 2009 the police at Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service issued a statement regarding MPs' expenses, which stated that they had not found evidence of criminal activity and that it was 'highly unlikely' that MPs would face charges. The police said that the incidents of flipping second homes to avoid paying capital gains tax was not a matter for police investigation.[15] [edit] Personal lifeShe married accountant Peter Colley in September 1999 in Hammersmith;[1] they have one daughter (born 7 June 2005)[16]) and a son (born 3 January 2008.[17] Ussher is niece of Peter Bottomley, MP, and (many generations back) of Archbishop James Ussher. Burnley elected her cousin Gerald Archibald Arbuthnot as MP in 1910.[citation needed] Kitty states that her hobbies are walking the moors of Burnley and supporting Burnley Football Club where she is a season ticket holder.[citation needed] [edit] References
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Categories: Labour MPs (UK) | UK MPs 2005- | Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies | Councillors in Lambeth | Old Paulinas | Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford | Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London | British female MPs | 1971 births | People from Aylesbury | Living people | Politics of Burnley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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