Educated at Bromley High School and Oxford High School, Margaret obtained a BSc (Economics) degree at the London School of Economics in 1966. Her early career was in teaching and international market research. She became an elected councillor in 1973, rising to be Leader of L.B. Islington from 1982-92. She was also Chair of the Association of London Authorities and Deputy Chair of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities. She has served as Chair of school governing bodies and housing associations. She has been a member of a hospital trust, a prison governing board and held a number of Government appointments during her period in local government.
In 1992 Margaret joined Price Waterhouse Coopers as a Senior Public Sector consultant.
She became the Labour Member of Parliament for Barking in June 1994. In 2010 she faced a challenge from the leader of the British National Party in the General Election of that year, but was returned with a comfortable majority.
She was a Minister in the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, holding portfolios in the Departments for Education, Work and Pensions, Business, and Culture. She was the first Children’s Minister from 2003 to 2005, Minister for Universities from 2001-2003 and Minister for the Arts and the Creative Industries for the last years of the Labour Government.
In 2010 she became the first elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and was also its first female Chair. She held the post for the full parliamentary term, retiring in 2015. Margaret published “Called to Account” in September 2016, reflecting on her time as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
Margaret is now a Visiting Professor at The Policy Institute at King’s College London. She chairs the Board of the Theatre Royal Stratford East. She sits on the editorial board for Political Quarterly. In 2017, she co-chaired the Fawcett Society’s Local Government Commission and undertook a review of the Garden Bridge Project for the Mayor of London. In 2018, she became a member of the board at the Social Market Foundation.
