Bridget Phillipson

Bridget Phillipson
Official portrait, 2024
Secretary of State for Education
Assumed office
5 July 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byGillian Keegan
Minister for Women and Equalities
Assumed office
8 July 2024
Prime MinisterKeir Starmer
Preceded byKemi Badenoch
Shadow Secretary of State for Education
In office
29 November 2021 – 5 July 2024
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byKate Green
Succeeded byDamian Hinds
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
6 April 2020 – 29 November 2021
LeaderKeir Starmer
Preceded byPeter Dowd
Succeeded byPat McFadden
Member of Parliament
for Houghton and Sunderland South
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority7,168 (17.9%)
Personal details
Born
Bridget Maeve Phillipson

(1983-12-19) 19 December 1983 (age 40)
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England
Political partyLabour
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Websitewww.bridgetphillipson.com Edit this at Wikidata

Bridget Maeve Phillipson (born 19 December 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Houghton and Sunderland South since 2010.[1]

Born in Gateshead, Phillipson attended St Robert of Newminster Catholic School. She went on to study at the University of Oxford before working in local government and then as a manager at Wearside Women in Need. Phillipson joined the Labour Party at the age of fifteen, and was elected the co-chair of Oxford University Labour Club in 2003. She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election as MP for Houghton and Sunderland South. She was reelected at the 2015 general election and campaign to remain in the European Union (EU) in the 2016 Brexit referendum. She was reelected in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Phillipson endorsed Keir Starmer's successful campaign in the 2020 Labour leadership election and subsequently joined his shadow cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In the November 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle, she was promoted to Shadow Education Secretary. After Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Phillipson was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Starmer cabinet.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference whoswho was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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