Dr Julia Deighton

[Matt Kemp]

50

1965

Dr Julia Annette Eleanor Deighton is a British Labour & Co-operative Party politician and the Member of Parliament for Walthamstow.

Born in London on 8th December 1965, Deighton was the eldest daughter of school headmaster Phillip Jones and registered nurse Annette Jones (née Haworth.) She attended Walthamstow School for Girls and went on to study an MBBS at University College London. She graduated with first class honours in 1989 at the age of 24, and embarked on a career as a junior doctor at St Thomas’s Hospital whilst studying for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

In 1998 Deighton qualified as a GP and took up a post as a partner at the Ivel Medical Centre in Snaresbrook. She married her husband, Paul Deighton, in the same year. She was diagnosed with endometriosis and informed that she would likely never be able to bear children.

Deighton had been an active and prominent member of the Walthamstow Constituency Labour Party since her adolescence, and was closely associated with the party’s victory in the seat in 1992. She voted for Tony Blair in the 1994 leadership election and was assuredly enamoured with Blair’s performance in winning the 1997 general election. She was the GP to the incumbent Walthamstow MP, Neil Gerrard, who was an avowed left-winger who had resigned from a PPS role in protest at New Labour policies: although Gerrard and Deighton were worlds apart politically, the two built an enduring friendship and Gerrard effectively groomed Deighton to succeed him upon announcing his departure from Parliament ahead of the 2001 general election. Deighton was selected to contest the seat, and won with a slightly increased majority in percentage terms.

Deighton served on the Health Select Committee as a junior member from 2001 until 2003, at which point she was appointed to a junior ministerial role at the Department of Health. She had keenly supported the creation of foundation hospitals and expressed frustration privately at the Chancellor’s success in limiting their financial independence. As the widely-reported source of New Labour policies such as allowing patients to attend any hospital of their choosing for elective procedures, and allowing patients to choose their own GP, Deighton received a broadly anticipated promotion to Secretary of State for Health after the 2005 election. Deighton did not confine herself to focusing solely on her own brief; at the Cabinet table she was a voracious proponent of the 2006 Education & Inspections Bill, and became seen in the media as a key Blair ally. In the 2006 reshuffle following a disastrous local elections performance, Deighton’s interest in the brief was rewarded with a sideways move into the Department for Education.

Following the announcement of Blair’s departure in 2007, many expected that Deighton would stand down - or be stood down - from the Cabinet by his successor, Gordon Brown. Instead, she accepted a role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Alistair Darling - where she privately bemoaned Brown’s “interference” in Treasury business. Deighton was instrumental in responding to the 2007/8 financial crisis, supporting the work of the Chancellor in preparing a significant bailout package for the banks. Deighton supported further measures to stimulate the economy, proposing a £100 billion stimulus package in 2009.

Following Labour’s defeat at the 2010 general election, Deighton returned to the backbenches and offered her services as in-house GP to members and staff of the House of Commons. On 2 November 2014, she returned to the frontbench as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

[Harriet Steel]

Welcome

[Matt Kemp]

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