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Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP
Patricia was elected to the House of Commons as the first female MP for Leicester West at the 1997 General Election. She took over from the retiring veteran Labour MP Greville Janner who had served for 27, following his father Barnet Janner.
In Parliament she served for a year as a member of the social security select committee from 1997 before being appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury in 1998. She was promoted in 1999 to become a Minister of State for Small Business and E-Commerce at the Department for Trade and Industry.
She joined the Blair Cabinet for the first time following the 2001 General Election as the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women and Equality. Most recently she served as Secretary of State for Health from May 2005 – June 2007. She is currently Chair of the Labour Party’s European Manifesto group, developing European policy for the next General Election Manifesto
In addition to her Parliamentary duties Patricia had been appointed as a special consultant to Alliance Boots and a special adviser to private equity company Cinven. She is also a non executive Director for BT.
