Lisa Forbes (politician)

Lisa Forbes
Member of Parliament
for Peterborough
In office
6 June 2019 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byFiona Onasanya
Succeeded byPaul Bristow
Personal details
Born
Lisa Jane Forbes

(1969-07-28) 28 July 1969 (age 55)
Political partyLabour
Children4

Lisa Jane Forbes (born 28 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Peterborough from a June 2019 by-election to the general election in December that year.[1]

Early career

Forbes, who is a member of GMB,[2] was an official in Unite the Union. She has worked for Thomas Cook.[3]

Early political career

Forbes was elected as a Labour councillor for Orton Longueville ward on Peterborough City Council in 2012, standing down in 2016 to focus on her parliamentary candidacy.[4][5]

She was the Labour candidate for Peterborough at the 2015 General Election, reducing the Conservative majority by over half, but chose not to stand in the 2017 election at which Fiona Onasanya won the seat for Labour.[6] After Onasanya's removal by means of a recall petition, Forbes was selected to contest the seat again in the ensuing by-election.[7]

Parliamentary career

Main article: 2019 Peterborough by-election

Forbes was elected MP for Peterborough at the by-election on 6 June 2019 with a majority of 683 over the Brexit Party candidate Mike Greene, who had been expected to win.[8][9] She ran in the by-election on a platform of seeking to invest more into local schools,[10] revitalise the local police force and combat illegal dumping.[11] Jewish groups called on Labour to disown her[12] for having commented on a Facebook thread and also a video containing anti-Israel and allegedly antisemitic remarks: Forbes said she had not noticed the phrases.[13][14] After she was elected, Jeremy Corbyn said she was "not a racist in any way",[15] while she arranged to meet Jewish groups.[16]

During her brief time in Parliament she unsuccessfully called for a government bailout for Thomas Cook Group, which employed 1000 people at their head office in her constituency[17] and campaigned for there to be statutory guidance on school uniform costs.[18]

Forbes stood for re-election at the 2019 general election but lost to Conservative candidate Paul Bristow by a margin of 2,580 votes.

Personal life

Forbes has lived in the constituency for 30 years. She has four children.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Peterborough by-election: Labour beats Brexit Party to hold seat". BBC News. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Peterborough By-Election Thursday 6th June 2019". GMB. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Thomas Cook: Peterborough MP calls for government 'leadership'". BBC News. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  4. ^ "Labour's Lisa Forbes not standing for Peterborough City Council re-election but targets return contest with Stewart Jackson". Peterborough Telegraph. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  5. ^ "Results of previous elections". Peterborough City Council. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  6. ^ Lamy, Joel (14 February 2019). "Labour shortlists two candidates to stand in Peterborough election". Peterborough Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  7. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (21 February 2019). "Labour selects Lisa Forbes to replace Fiona Onasanya in Peterborough". LabourList. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Labour sees off Brexit Party in by-election". BBC News. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Can the Brexit Party win the Peterborough by-election?". The Week. 6 June 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Peterborough by-election: Fifteen candidates set out views". BBC News. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  11. ^ Leishman, Fiona (7 June 2019). "Lisa Forbes: Who is the new Labour MP for Peterborough?". CambridgeshireLive. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  12. ^ Buchan, Lizzy (2 June 2019). "Labour urged to disown by-election candidate who endorsed antisemitic Facebook post". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  13. ^ "New Labour MP Lisa Forbes sorry amid antisemitism row". Sky News. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  14. ^ Lamy, Joel (3 June 2019). "Peterborough Labour by-election candidate 'active in Israel hate group'". Peterborough Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  15. ^ Gayle, Damien (8 June 2019). "Jeremy Corbyn: new Labour MP Lisa Forbes 'not a racist in any way'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  16. ^ "New Labour MP Lisa Forbes to meet Jewish groups after she apologises for 'the hurt' she caused". The Jewish Chronicle. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  17. ^ "Thomas Cook: Peterborough MP calls for government 'leadership'". BBC News. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  18. ^ Savage, Michael. "Families in England hit by 70% cut in school uniform grant". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  19. ^ Lamy, Joel (20 February 2019). "New Peterborough Labour parliamentary candidate wants to 'challenge huge police and school cuts'". Peterborough Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Peterborough
June 2019–November 2019 		Succeeded by