Maggie Throup was born on 27 January 1957 in Shipley, West Riding of Yorkshire.[4][5] Her early education was at the Bradford Girls' Grammar School,[6] which was a private fee-paying school at the time she attended. She graduated from the University of Manchester with a BSc in biology.[7] After graduating she worked as a biomedical scientist at the Calderdale Health Authority for seven years, specialising in haematology.[8] During her time at Calderdale Health Authority, she became a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science.[8][9] She then pursued a career in marketing and public relations which included a directorship of a pharmaceutical company and running her own consultancy.[5][6][9]
She held her seat in the 2017 general election with 25,939 (52.1%) and an increased majority of 4,534.[15] After the election, Throup was re-elected onto the Health Select Committee, but stood down in February 2018.[16] Following the Government reshuffle in January 2018, Throup was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministerial team at The Department for Health and Social Care.[17]
She is the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Obesity, Heart Disease, and the secretary for the APPG on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery.[18][19]
In January 2016, a Labour-proposed amendment that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation" was rejected by 312 votes to 219. According to Parliament's register of interests, Throup was one of 72 MPs who voted against the amendment who derived an income from a property. Communities minister Marcus Jones said the Government believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.[20][21]
In May 2016, it was reported that Throup was one of a number of Conservative MPs being investigated by police for allegedly spending more than the legal limit on constituency election campaign expenses.[22] In May 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service said that while there was evidence of inaccurate spending returns, it did not "meet the test" for further action.[23]
In September 2017, it was reported in the press that Throup had claimed expenses on first class tickets when she travelled by rail, despite official guidance from parliamentary watchdog IPSA – set up in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal – saying politicians should "consider value for money" when booking tickets. She was revealed to be one of only 22 MPs who never travelled standard class. She argued that her claims were permissible within the expenses rules and that the first class tickets were cheaper than some standard class tickets available.[24]