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Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971) is a British Labour politician who has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since 2023, however is currently on medical leave. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester West since 2010. Kendall was born in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire, and studied at the University of Cambridge. From 2011 to 2015, she served as Shadow Minister for Care and Older People on the Official Opposition frontbench of Ed Miliband, who invited her to attend meetings of his Shadow Cabinet, although she was not technically a Shadow Cabinet member in this position. Kendall stood in the Labour Party leadership election in September 2015 following the resignation of Ed Miliband, finishing in last place. In April 2020, Keir Starmer appointed Kendall Shadow Minister for Social Care on the Official Opposition frontbench. Early life and career Elizabeth Kendall was born on 11 June 1971 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She attended Watford Grammar School for Girls, alongside Geri Halliwell. After leaving school, she attended Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in history in 1993. Kendall joined the Labour Party in 1992 and, after graduating from Cambridge, worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in the area of child development and early years learning. In 1996, she became a political adviser to Harriet Harman, and then became Harman's government special adviser in the Department for Social Security after Labour won the 1997 general election and Harman became a government minister. In 1998, when Harman was sacked from the government, Kendall resigned and was awarded a fellowship by the King's Fund, a health charity. She also wrote a series of research papers for the IPPR and was appointed as the Director of the Maternity Alliance, a charity for pregnant women. She was unsuccessful in an attempt to be selected as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Chesterfield at the 2001 general election, following the retirement of Tony Benn. In 2001, she returned to government to work for Patricia Hewitt, at the Department for Trade and Industry, and then followed her to the Department for Health where she was involved in bringing in the smoking ban in 2006. After Hewitt left government, Kendall became the Director of the Ambulance Services Network, where she remained until 2010. Parliamentary career At the 2010 general election, Kendall was elected to Parliament as MP for Leicester West with 38.4% of the vote and a majority of 4,017. She made her maiden speech in a debate on tackling poverty in the UK on 10 June 2010. She was briefly a member of the Education Select Committee between July 2010 and October 2010. She supported David Miliband for the leadership of the Labour Party in 2010. In Ed Miliband's first reshuffle in October 2010, she joined the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Junior Health Minister where she served under John Healey. In 2011, she contributed along with other Labour MPs and former Labour ministers to The Purple Book, in which she wrote a chapter on the early years and health and social care where she proposed a "Teach Early Years First" scheme. Later that year, she was appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Care and Older People and became an attending member of the shadow cabinet. Kendall was re-elected as MP for Leicester West at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 46.5% and an increased majority of 7,203. Labour Party leadership candidature On 10 May 2015, Kendall announced that she was standing as a successor to Ed Miliband for the Labour Party leadership following their defeat in the 2015 general election. Kendall was regarded by many in the media as the Blairite candidate, though Kendall stated she would like to be known as the "modernising candidate". Her leadership bid was supported by Shadow Cabinet colleagues Ivan Lewis, Chuka Umunna, Tristram Hunt, Emma Reynolds and Gloria De Piero. Senior Labour politicians supporting her included Alan Milburn, Alistair Darling, John Hutton and John Reid. She also had the support of the Blue Labour Group within the Labour Party including figures such as Maurice Glasman and Rowenna Davis. In June 2015, Kendall's leadership bid received praise from The Sun, who said that she is the "only prayer they [the Labour Party] have". The Sun also praised her for saying "the country comes first" in response to Andy Burnham who said "the Labour Party always comes first" in the Newsnight Labour leadership hustings. Commentators from across the political spectrum said that Kendall was the leadership candidate the Conservatives would "fear the most". This claim was even re-stated by some Conservative politicians including George Osborne, Boris Johnson, Ruth Davidson, Anna Soubry and Philip Davies. Ultimately, Kendall finished 4th in the election, obtaining 4.5% (18,857) of the vote. Resignation from the Shadow Cabinet Kendall resigned from the Shadow Cabinet following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in September 2015. She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. At the snap 2017 general election, Kendall was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 60.8% and an increased majority of 11,060. In August 2017, James Chapman, former Director of Communications at HM Treasury under George Osborne, said, "We really need Liz Kendall to be the leader of [a] new centre party". Chapman had already tweeted his proposals for a new centrist political party opposed to Brexit, 'The Democrats'. After stepping down from frontline politics, Kendall was a regular guest on BBC current affairs programme This Week until its cancellation in July 2019. Kendall was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 49.7% and a decreased majority of 4,212. Return to frontbench Keir Starmer reappointed Kendall to the frontbench after winning the 2020 Labour leadership election. After the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, it was announced that Karin Smyth will cover her duties while Kendall was on maternity leave. On 4 September 2023 she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer as part of the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle. Political views Economic and fiscal policy During her leadership campaign in 2015, Kendall committed herself to the living wage and said the Low Pay Commission's remit should be extended to encourage more firms to pay it. She also said she would end the exploitation of care workers by preventing firms from docking the cost of uniform and travel time from their wages. She has also come out in support of worker representation on company boards as part of her plans for economic reform. After the Budget, Kendall commissioned the former minister Margaret Hodge, to undertake a review into the £100bn tax r.... Discover the Andrew Whelan Ruth Walker Christopher Mo popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Andrew Whelan Ruth Walker Christopher Mo books.