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Estelle Morris

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Morris of Yardley
PC
Official portrait, 2019
Minister of State for the Arts
In office
13 June 2003 – 5 May 2005
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byThe Baroness Blackstone
Succeeded byDavid Lammy (Culture)
Secretary of State for Education and Skills
In office
8 June 2001 – 24 October 2002
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byDavid Blunkett (Education and Employment)
Succeeded byCharles Clarke
Minister of State for School Standards
In office
28 July 1998 – 8 June 2001
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byStephen Byers
Succeeded byStephen Timms
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for School Standards
In office
2 May 1997 – 28 July 1998
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byCheryl Gillan
Succeeded byGeorge Mudie
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
14 June 2005
Life peerage
Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Yardley
In office
9 April 1992 – 11 April 2005
Preceded byDavid Bevan
Succeeded byJohn Hemming
Personal details
Born
Estelle Morris

(1952-06-17) 17 June 1952 (age 72)
Manchester, England
Political partyLabour
ParentCharles Morris (father)
RelativesAlf Morris (uncle)
Alma materCoventry College of Education

Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, PC (born 17 June 1952), is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Yardley from 1992 to 2005.

As Education Secretary, she is known for removing compulsory modern languages from secondary schools in England in 2002.[1]

Early life

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Morris was born in Manchester into a political family. Her uncle, Alf Morris, was Labour MP for Manchester Wythenshawe (1964–1997) and her father, Charles, was Labour MP for Manchester Openshaw (1963–1983) and a Post Office union official who married Pauline Dunn. She attended Rack House primary school in Wythenshawe and Whalley Range High School in Whalley Range where she failed her English and French A-levels.[2]

She is a graduate of the Coventry College of Education,[3] where she gained a BEd degree in 1974. Morris remembered the long-serving principal, Joan Dillon Browne (1912–2009), as "a pioneer in showing what women could achieve, long before it was fashionable to do so."[4] Morris was a PE and humanities teacher at the inner-city Sidney Stringer School in Coventry from 1974 to 1992, becoming head of sixth form studies, and was a member of Warwick District Council from 1979 to 1991.

Parliamentary career

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Morris was elected to Parliament in 1992 for Birmingham Yardley, gaining the seat from the Conservatives with a majority of only 162. She became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment in 1997 and was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2001. She was the first former comprehensive school teacher to have the position. She suddenly resigned her post in October 2002, explaining that she did not feel up to the job. She had made a commitment to the then Conservative Shadow Education Secretary, David Willetts to resign if the literacy and numeracy targets were not met.[5] In interviews following her resignation she stated that she had felt happier and more effective as a junior education minister.

She rejoined the government in 2003 as Minister for the Arts in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and caused further comment when she admitted that she did not know much about contemporary art. She stepped down from the government and as a Member of Parliament at the 2005 general election. Her constituency was gained by the Liberal Democrats at that election.

On 13 May 2005 it was announced that she would be created a life peer,[6] and she was conferred as Baroness Morris of Yardley, of Yardley in the County of West Midlands, on 14 June 2005.[7]

Career outside Parliament

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Between 2005 and 2009 she was pro vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland. In May 2005, she was appointed chair of the Children's Workforce Development Council. In September 2005, it was announced that she would succeed Lady Kennedy of The Shaws as president of the National Children's Bureau.[8] Also, since September 2005 she has been a member of the council of Goldsmiths, University of London and she was chair of council until 2018.[9][10] Since 2007 she has been chair of the executive group of the Institute for Effective Education at the University of York.[11]

Morris is the chair of the medical charity, APS Support UK, for antiphospholipid syndrome[12] and was patron of Hanover Foundations.

Awards

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In 2004, Morris was awarded an honorary D.A. degree from Leeds Metropolitan University[13] and an honorary D.Ed. degree from the University of Wolverhampton.[14] She received an honorary D.Litt. degree from the University of Bradford on 21 July 2005,[15] and the University of Chester on 18 March 2011,[16] on 18 July 2007 she was awarded an honorary D.Ed. degree by Manchester Metropolitan University in recognition of her contribution to education throughout a lifelong career as a dedicated teacher and politician with an education portfolio that has spanned 10 years.[17] She was awarded an honorary fellowship in 2007 from the University of Cumbria.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "Philip Hensher: If only Estelle Morris had learned French". The Independent. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  2. ^ "BBC News | Education | School standards minister failed A levels". news.bbc.co.uk.
  3. ^ [1] Archived 2 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Obituary - News - TES". Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  5. ^ (Hansard – 2 March 1999 : Column 948)
  6. ^ Tempest, Matthew; and agencies (13 May 2005). "Labour becomes biggest party in Lords". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  7. ^ "No. 57677". The London Gazette. 17 June 2005. p. 7919.
  8. ^ "MMU - Honorary Awards". The Wayback machine. 15 October 2007. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Council Minutes, 23 June 2005". Goldsmiths College. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  10. ^ "Members of Council" (PDF). Goldsmiths College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
  11. ^ "Executive profiles". University of York. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  12. ^ "Who is involved with APS Support UK". APS Support UK. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  13. ^ "Summer Graduation 2004". Leeds Metropolitan University. Archived from the original on 18 March 2005. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  14. ^ "Degree honour for actress and MP". BBC News Online. 12 September 2004. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  15. ^ "Honorary Graduations at the University of Bradford, July 2005". University of Bradford. 15 July 2005. Archived from the original on 23 September 2007. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
  16. ^ "A day to celebrate for hundreds of Chester graduates". University of Chester. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  17. ^ University, Manchester Metropolitan. "Honorary Graduates 2011 – 1970, Manchester Metropolitan University". Manchester Metropolitan University.
  18. ^ "2007 | University of Cumbria". www.cumbria.ac.uk.
[edit]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Yardley
1992–2005 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded byas Secretary of State for Education and Employment Secretary of State for Education and Skills
2001–2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for the Arts
2003–2005 		Succeeded byas Minister of State for Culture
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