Rachel Maclean (politician)

Rachel Helen Maclean[1] (née Cooke; born 3 October 1965) is a Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Redditch in Worcestershire since 2017. Before serving as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, from September 2019 until February 2020.

Not to be confused with the Scottish artist Rachel Maclean.
Rachel Maclean

MP
Maclean in 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Future of Transport
Assumed office
13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byPaul Maynard
Member of Parliament
for Redditch
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byKaren Lumley
Majority16,036 (36.4%)
Personal details
Born (1965-10-03) 3 October 1965
Madras, Madras State, India
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
David Maclean
​
(m. 1992)​
Children4
Alma materSt Hugh's College, Oxford,
Aston University
Websitewww.rachelmaclean.uk

Prior to her political career, she worked for the bank HSBC and co-founded her own publishing company.

Early life and education

Rachel Helen Cooke was born on 3 October 1965 in Madras (now Chennai), India, to David and Anthea Cooke (now Kaan).[2] She studied Experimental Psychology at St Hugh's College, Oxford and obtained a master's degree in Work and Occupational Psychology at Aston University. After graduation, she entered a fast track management scheme in 1989 at HSBC which involved working in Australia, Japan and China. In 2005, Maclean founded a publishing company specialising in information technology with her husband, David.[3]

Parliamentary career

Maclean contested the Birmingham Northfield seat in the general election of 2015, finishing second behind the incumbent Labour Party MP Richard Burden.[4][5] She voted for the United Kingdom (UK) to remain within the European Union (EU) in the June 2016 membership referendum.[3]

In April 2017, Karen Lumley, Conservative MP for Redditch announced that she would not contest her seat in the June snap general election due to ill health.[6] The following month, Maclean was selected to be the Conservative candidate in the election.[7] She won the seat at the election with 23,652 votes and a majority of 7,363 (16.3%).[8] In parliament, she sat on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee between September 2017 and June 2018.[9]

In the same year, Maclean also co chaired Andy Street's successful campaign to become the Mayor of the West Midlands.[3] In July, in her maiden parliamentary speech, she commented that her main priority would be 'to fight to protect and strengthen local health services', especially the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.[10]

In February 2018, Maclean was elected to be the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Women in Parliament.[11] She is also the chair of the APPG on Carers and the APPG on Endangered Species.[12] The following month, she was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) within the Home Office.[13]

In March 2019, Maclean voted for then Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement.[14] She supported Michael Gove in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[15] In September 2019, she was appointed as PPS to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid.[16]

She has been the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport in the Second Johnson ministry since February 2020.

Personal life

She married David Maclean in 1992. They have three sons and one daughter.[2]

References
  1. "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11786.
  2. "Maclean, Rachel Helen". A & C Black. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  3. Carr, Tim; Dale, Iain; Waller, Robert (7 September 2017). The Politicos Guide to the New House of Commons 2017. Biteback Publishing. pp. 341–342. ISBN 978-1-78590-278-9.
  4. "Birmingham, Northfield". General Elections Online. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  5. Wright, Oliver (7 May 2014). "General election 2015: A Birmingham seat where the Tories come up against their race problem". The Independent. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  6. "Redditch MP Karen Lumley to stand down due to ill health". BBC News. 29 April 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  7. Phibbs, Harry (6 May 2017). "Exclusive: Rachel Maclean is selected as the Conservative candidate for Redditch". Conservative Home.
  8. "Election 2017: Redditch". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  9. "Rachel Maclean". parliament.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  10. Maclean, Rachel (3 July 2017). "Air Travel Organisers' Licensing Bill". Hansard. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  11. Russell, Ben (8 February 2018). "Redditch MP Rachel Maclean elected chairman of influential parliamentary women's group". Redditch Advertiser. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  12. "Register of All-Party Parliamentary Groups" (PDF). parliament.uk. 31 January 2018. pp. 302, 423. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  13. "Rachel Maclean MP promoted to Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) within the Home Office". Redditch Advertiser. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  14. "How MPs voted on May's withdrawal deal defeat". Financial Times. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
  15. Crawford, Ross (28 May 2019). "Why I'm backing Michael Gove for the leadership – Rachel Maclean". Redditch Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  16. Russell, Ben (26 September 2019). "Redditch MP Rachel Maclean appointed Chancellor Sajid Javid's Parliamentary Private Secretary". Worcester News. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Karen Lumley		 Member of Parliament for Redditch
2017–present		 Incumbent
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