Rachel Squire
Rachel Squire | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Dunfermline and West Fife Dunfermline West (1992–2005) | |
| In office 9 April 1992 – 5 January 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Dick Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Willie Rennie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 13 July 1954 Carshalton, Surrey[1] |
| Died | 5 January 2006 (aged 51) Saline, Fife[2] |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Durham University, Trevelyan College, Durham, University of Birmingham |
Rachel Anne Squire (13 July 1954 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician in Scotland. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline West from 1992 to 2005, and then for Dunfermline and West Fife from 2005 until her death after a long series of illnesses.
Background
Squire was born in Surrey, England. She attended the private all-female Godolphin and Latymer School, in Hammersmith and then proceeding to a degree in Anthropology at Durham University, and a social work qualification at Birmingham University.[3] After university, Squire became a social worker, also working in factories and other manual jobs. She became a full-time official with National Union of Public Employees, the public sector union, later part of UNISON. Working for the union took her to Merseyside, and then to Scotland where she became the union's education officer. She served on the Labour Scottish Executive.
Member of Parliament
Rachel Squire was known as 'one of the most committed and successful constituency advocates in Parliament'.[4] She worked to get regeneration funds for her constituency, campaigned for the Rosyth Dockyard and secured funds to put off the closure of the Longannet coal mine.
In Parliament, Squire was a member of Defence Select Committee and served as PPS to Education ministers Stephen Byers and Estelle Morris from 1997 to 2001.
Squire was a patron for Brain Tumour Action, a cancer charity. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 1993, and a second one in 2003. On 2 June 2005, she was admitted to hospital after suffering a stroke, thought to have been caused by bleeding stemming from the second brain tumor. She did not recover, and died on 5 January 2006.[5]
Her death prompted the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, held on 9 February 2006, in which her former seat was won by Willie Rennie for the Liberal Democrats.
References
External links
- 1954 births
- 2006 deaths
- Deaths from brain cancer
- British female MPs
- Deaths from stroke
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Scottish constituencies
- Female members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Scottish constituencies
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Fife constituencies
- Old Dolphins
- People from Surrey
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- Alumni of Durham University
- Alumni of Trevelyan College, Durham
- Alumni of the University of Birmingham