Jennie Lee 1904-1988

Rt Hon Jennie Lee (Mrs Nye Bevan), later Baroness Lee of Ashridge

Daughter of a coal miner. read law at Edinburgh University.Taught for a while before standing as the Independent Labour Party candidate in the 1929 by-election in North Lanarkshire constituency. She won, becoming not only the first female Labour MP but at 24, the youngest MP in the House of Commons. Her maiden speech was an attack on the budget proposals of Winston Churchill, and was so good that Churchill later congratulated her on it!

As a maverick, however, Jennie did not endear herself to the establishment, even to the socialist establishment. Partly as a result of this, and of her opposition to the formation of Ramsay MacDonald's national government, she lost her seat in the House of Commons at the 1931 General Election.

In the 1930s Jennie was active in raising support for the Spanish Popular Front during the Spanish Civil War.

She was elected as Labour candidate for the Cannock constituency in Staffordshire at the 1945 General Election. She remained a determined socialist, opposing her own party's stance on a number of issues, including the UK nuclear deterrent. She was appointed arts minister in Harold Wilson's government, and amongst other achievements played a central role in the establishment of the Open University. Despite being widely regarded as a success, Jennie lost her ministerial position in 1967. In the 1970 General Election, she lost her seat in the House of Commons and was awarded a peerage as Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the City of Westminster.

Photo from Association of Open University Graduates site