Judith Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds

Judith Vivienne Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds CBE (born 23 July 1953,[1] née Parsons) is a British Labour politician serving as a life peer in the House of Lords since 2021. She serves on the opposition front bench as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an Opposition Whip.

For other people named Judith Blake, see Judith Blake (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Blake of Leeds
CBE
Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government
Assumed office
18 May 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
25 March 2021
Life peerage
Leader of Leeds City Council
In office
21 May 2015 – 24 February 2021
Preceded byKeith Wakefield
Succeeded byJames Lewis
Local government offices
Member of Leeds City Council
for Middleton Park
In office
10 June 2004 – 6 May 2021
Preceded byWard established
Succeeded bySharon Burke
Member of Leeds City Council
for Hunslet
In office
2 May 2002 – 10 June 2004
Preceded byMark Davies
Succeeded byWard abolished
Member of Leeds City Council
for Weetwood
In office
2 May 1996 – 4 May 2000
Preceded byAnn Castle
Succeeded byJames Souper
Personal details
Born
Judith Vivienne Parsons

(1953-07-23) 23 July 1953
Leeds, England
Political partyLabour
Children4, including Olivia
Residence(s)Otley, West Yorkshire
EducationLeeds Girls High School
Alma materUniversity of Kent
Awards Life peer

Blake served as the leader of Leeds City Council from 2015 to 2021, becoming the first woman to hold the position.[2][3][4]

Personal life

Blake was born on 23 July 1953 into a Methodist family in Leeds. Both of her parents were doctors. She attended Leeds Girls High School until 1971 and then studied History at the University of Kent.[5][6]

After university, she began her career in education and social policy, living in London and then Birmingham in the 1980s. She taught English to refugees whilst living in Birmingham.[7][8] In 1992, she returned to live in Otley.[8]

Blake has four children. Her youngest child, Olivia Blake was elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in 2019.[7][9][10]

Political career

Blake was elected as an Otley town councillor,[7] and, except for a two-year gap after losing her seat in Weetwood at the 2000 city council election, has been an elected member of Leeds City Council since 1996.[3]

She has twice contested the Leeds North West constituency in 2005 and 2010 as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate, losing on both occasions to Greg Mulholland.

Following her selection as deputy leader of the Leeds Labour group in 2003, once the party regained control of Leeds in 2010, Blake served as the Deputy Leader of the Council for five years to 2015. She was the Executive Cabinet Member for Children & Families during this period, overseeing the city's Children's Services' Ofsted rating change from "inadequate" to "good overall".[3] She has been involved in a number of national legal campaigns, worked with education authorities in Yorkshire to raise school standards in the area, and worked on crises and issues with student grades and school placements throughout her career.[4]

She voted for Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership election.[11][12][13]

Leader of Leeds City Council

Following the stepping down of then-leader Keith Wakefield, Blake was elected as the first woman leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015.[2] She chaired the Council's Executive Board, having also served on the boards for NHS Leeds and the West Yorkshire Police Authority. In April 2019, Blake was appointed to the board of Northern Ballet.[14]

In December 2015, she expressed the frustration of city residents in feeling that Prime Minister David Cameron was giving greater attention to more affluent southern counties during a period of severe flooding.[15]

She was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.[16]

House of Lords

In December 2020, it was announced Blake would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.[17] In February 2021, she was created Baroness Blake of Leeds, of Gledhow in the City of Leeds.[18]

Blake joined the opposition front bench in May 2021, as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an Opposition Whip.[19][20] In December 2021 she became Shadow Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and International Trade, and following changes to the Machinery of Government in February 2023 is currently Shadow Spokesperson for Energy and Net Zero and Shadow Spokesperson for Business and Trade.

Electoral history
UK local elections
Date of election Ward Party Votes  % of votes Result
1996 Leeds City Council election Weetwood Labour 2,569 40.2 checkY Elected
2000 Leeds City Council election Weetwood Labour 2,023 36.3 ☒N Not Elected
2002 Leeds City Council election Hunslet Labour 1,535 68.2 checkY Elected
2004 Leeds City Council election Middleton Park Labour 2,111 40.9 checkY Elected
2007 Leeds City Council election Middleton Park Labour 2,467 46.7 checkY Elected
2011 Leeds City Council election Middleton Park Labour 3,313 64.5 checkY Elected
2015 Leeds City Council election Middleton Park Labour 4,974 51.2 checkY Elected
2018 Leeds City Council election Middleton Park Labour 2,747 61.1 checkY Elected
UK parliamentary elections
Date of election Constituency Party Votes  % of votes Result
2005 general election Leeds North West Labour 14,735 33.0 ☒N Not Elected
2010 general election Leeds North West Labour 9,132 21.0 ☒N Not Elected

References
  1. "Judith Blake". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  2. "Leeds City Council Elects Judith Blake as First Female Leader". BBC News. 11 May 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  3. "Clr Judith Blake: Power list 2016". Northern Power Women. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  4. "Councillor Judith Blake "Honoured" to be Leeds' First Ever Female Council Leader". Yorkshire Evening Post. 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  5. "Judith Vivienne BLAKE". Companies House. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  6. "Judith reflects on an education which paved the way to a life in politics". Grammar School at Leeds. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  7. "Judith Blake, Labour, Leeds North West". Telegraph & Argus. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  8. https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/the-next-best-thing-1-2045707
  9. "Sheffield Hallam Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. Burn, Chris (9 May 2018). "'Fresh start' hope after Sheffield tree-felling council boss quits post". The Yorkshire Post. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. Harris, John (8 September 2016). "'It feels like indulgence': Labour's city chiefs on leadership race". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  12. "Keir Starmer". twitter.com. Keir Starmer. 17 January 2020.
  13. "Keir Starmer". botzarelli.wordpress.com. botzarelli. 18 January 2020.
  14. "Northern Ballet appoints five new members to its Board of Directors". northernballet.com. Northern Ballet Limited. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  15. "As criticism rises, Cameron defends efforts to fight floods in England's north". Boston Globe. 29 December 2015. p. A3.
  16. Jack, Jim (22 June 2017). "Queen's Honour for Otley resident and city council leader Judith Blake". Wharfedale Observer. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  17. "Political Peerages 2020". Gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  18. "Crown Office". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  19. "Exclusive: Top Keir Starmer Aide Digs In Over Plan To Remove Her From Leader's Office". Politics Home. 7 June 2021. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  20. "Parliamentary career for Baroness Blake of Leeds - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
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