Barbara Keeley
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Barbara Keeley is the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons for Worsley. She was elected at the 2005 general election, after the retirement of Terry Lewis. She is married to Colin Huggett.
She was educated at Mt St Mary's College, Leeds, and the University of Salford. She was elected as a Labour councillor on Trafford Council in 1995, and served as a member for Priory ward until 2004. She was Cabinet member for Children and Young People, Early Years and Childcare and Health and Wellbeing. From 2002 to 2004, was Cabinet member for Education, Children's Social Services and all services for children and young people and Director of a pathfinder Children's Trust. She is a member of the GMB union, the Co-operative Party and the Fabian Society.
Keeley's early career was with IBM, working first as a Systems Engineer and then as a Field Systems Engineering Manager. Later she became an independent consultant, working on community regeneration issues across the North West region.
From 2002 to 2005, she worked as a consultant to the charity, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, researching carers' issues — particularly those related to primary health care. She is co-author of the reports "Carers Speak Out" and "Primary Carers".
In the House of Commons, Keeley served as a member of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee and from February 2006, the Finance and Services Committee. On 8 February 2006, she was appointed as PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary), to the Cabinet Office, working with the Cabinet Office Minister, Jim Murphy MP. In June 2006, she moved to be PPS to Jim Murphy as Minister of State at the Department of Work and Pensions.
