In 1973, Beckett was selected as Labour candidate for
Lincoln, which the party wanted to win back from ex-Labour MP
Dick Taverne, who had won the
Lincoln by-election in March 1973 standing as the
Democratic Labour candidate. At the
February 1974 UK general election, Beckett lost to Taverne by 1,297 votes. Following the election, she worked as a researcher for
Judith Hart, the
Minister for Overseas Development at the Foreign Office.
Harold Wilson called the
October 1974 general election, and Beckett again stood against Taverne in Lincoln. This time Beckett became the MP, with a majority of 984 votes. Almost immediately following her election she was appointed as
Judith Hart's
Parliamentary private secretary.
Harold Wilson made her a
Whip in 1975, promoted to
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the
Department of Education and Science, replacing
Joan Lestor, who had resigned in protest over spending cuts. Beckett remained in that position until she lost her seat at the
1979 general election. The
Conservative candidate
Kenneth Carlisle narrowly won the seat with a 602-vote majority, the first time the Conservatives had won at Lincoln since
1935. She joined
Granada Television as a researcher in 1979. Out of Parliament, and now known as Margaret Beckett after her marriage, she was elected to Labour's
National Executive Committee in 1980, and supported the left-winger
Tony Benn in the
1981 Labour deputy leadership election narrowly won by
Denis Healey. She was the subject of a vociferous attack by
Joan Lestor at the conference. Beckett was selected to stand at the
1983 general election as the Labour candidate in the parliamentary constituency of
Derby South following the retirement of the sitting MP,
Walter Johnson. At the election she retained the seat with a small majority of 421 votes. In March 2022, Beckett announced she would end her parliamentary career, standing down as MP for Derby South at the next general election.
Shadow Cabinet and Deputy Leader, 1984–1994 Upon returning to the
House of Commons, Beckett gradually moved away from the
left, supporting incumbent leader
Neil Kinnock against Benn in 1988. By this time she was a front bencher, as a spokeswoman on Social Security since 1984, becoming a member of the
shadow cabinet in 1989 as
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following the
1992 general election she was elected
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and served under
John Smith as
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. She became a
Member of the Privy Council in 1993. She was the first woman to serve as deputy leader of the Labour Party. Following the sudden death of
John Smith from a heart attack on 12 May 1994, Beckett became Acting Leader of the Labour Party, the party's constitution providing for the automatic succession of the deputy leader for the remainder of the leadership term, upon the death or resignation of an incumbent leader in opposition. In times when the party is in opposition, party leaders are subject to annual reelection at the time of the annual party conference; accordingly, Beckett was constitutionally entitled to remain in office as acting leader until the 1994 Conference; however, the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) rapidly decided to bring forward the election for Labour Leader and Deputy Leader to July 1994. Beckett decided to run for the position of Labour Leader, but came last in
1994 leadership election, behind
Tony Blair and
John Prescott. The deputy leadership was contested at the same time; Beckett was also defeated in this contest, coming second behind Prescott. Though she failed in both contests, she was retained in the shadow cabinet by Blair as
Shadow Health Secretary. A footnote to her ten-week tenure as caretaker leader of the Labour Party is that she was the leader at the time of the
1994 European Parliament election, which were held four weeks after she assumed the position. Labour's election campaign had been long in the planning under Smith, whose sudden death led to a "sympathy rise" in opinion polls for Labour, compounding what had already been a strong lead over the Conservatives. Consequently, Labour had a commanding victory in what was its best result in any of the eight European elections held since 1979. The two Labour leadership elections followed six weeks later on 21 July 1994 and the Labour electorate did not appear to attribute any credit for the successful European election result to Beckett's chance-ordained position as acting leader in the four weeks immediately prior to the election. Under Blair's leadership, Beckett was the Shadow Secretary of State for
Health, and then from 1995 the
Shadow President of the Board of Trade. She was one of the leading critics of the government when the
Scott Report published its findings into the
Arms-to-Iraq scandal in 1996. In
2025 Labour Party deputy leadership election, Beckett recalled that being deputy leader was a "ghastly job".
In government, 1997–2001 The Labour Party was elected to government in a
landslide in the
1997 general election and Beckett held a number of senior positions in the
Blair government. Following the election she was appointed
President of the Board of Trade (a position whose title later reverted to
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry); the first woman to have held the post. She was succeeded by
Peter Mandelson in July 1998. Beckett was then
Leader of the House of Commons from 1998 until her replacement by
Robin Cook in June 2001. Her tenure saw the introduction of
Westminster Hall debates, which are debates held in a small chamber near Westminster Hall on topics of interest to individual MPs, committee reports, and other matters that would not ordinarily be debated in the Commons chamber. Debates that take place in Westminster Hall are often more consensual and informal, and can address the concerns of
backbenchers. She received admiration for her work as Leader of the House, working on this and a number of other elements of the Labour government's modernisation agenda for Parliament. In 2000, she expressed republican sympathies.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2001–2006 Following the
2001 general election, Beckett became Secretary of State at the new
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), created after the
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) was abolished in the wake of perceived mismanagement of the
foot-and-mouth epidemic in 2001. The new department also incorporated some of the functions of the former
Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR). Beckett rejected demands for an expansion of
nuclear power from a lobby including energy minister
Brian Wilson and Downing Street staff. She argued there was no need for new nuclear for at least 15 years given current energy prices and generation capacity. The 2003 energy
white paper stated that "the current economics of nuclear power make it unattractive" and there were no proposals for new nuclear power stations. Beckett held the position of
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs until May 2006, when she was succeeded by
David Miliband. Beckett was on the front line of the government's efforts to tackle
climate change, and attended international conferences on the matter. In a report published on 29 March 2007 by the
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee, she was criticised for her role in the failures of the
Rural Payments Agency when she had been
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Foreign Secretary: 2006–2007 Following the
2006 local elections, Blair demoted
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and appointed Beckett as Straw's successor. She was the first woman to hold the post, and only the second woman (after
Margaret Thatcher) to hold one of the
Great Offices of State. Some commentators claim that Beckett was promoted to Foreign Secretary because she was considered to be a 'safe pair of hands' and a loyal member of the Cabinet. Her experience at DEFRA in dealing with international climate change issues has also been cited as a factor in the move. Beckett had to adapt quickly to her diplomatic role; within a few hours of her appointment as Foreign Secretary, she flew to the
United Nations in New York City for an urgent meeting of foreign ministers to discuss the
Iran nuclear weapons crisis. About a month later, she came under fire for not responding quickly enough to the
2006 Lebanon War which saw
Israel invade that country, although some reports suggested that the delay was caused by Cabinet division rather than Beckett's reluctance to make a public statement on the matter. ,
Condoleezza Rice, following her appointment as Foreign Secretary Beckett is understood to have delegated European issues to the
Foreign Office minister responsible for Europe,
Geoff Hoon, who, following his demotion as Defence Secretary, continued to attend Cabinet meetings. Hoon and Beckett were said to have a difficult ministerial relationship. As Foreign Secretary, Beckett came in for some trenchant criticism. According to
The Times, she did not stand up well in comparison with the previous Foreign Secretary,
Jack Straw.
The Spectator described her as "at heart, an old, isolationist, pacifist Leftist" and called on her to resign, and the
New Statesman accused her of allowing the Foreign Office to become subservient to 10 Downing Street after the tenures of Straw and
Robin Cook. In August 2006, 37 Labour Party members in her Derby South constituency left the party and joined the
Liberal Democrats, criticising her approach to the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Two weeks earlier, Beckett's successor,
David Miliband, raised concerns during a cabinet meeting about the failure of Blair and Beckett to call for an immediate ceasefire. Straw and
Hilary Benn, then
International Development Secretary, also raised concerns. Former minister
Michael Meacher said there was "despair, anger and bewilderment" in the Labour Party at the UK's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire. On 28 June 2007, Brown selected David Miliband as her replacement and Beckett returned to the back benches. It was announced on 29 January 2008 that Beckett would become the new head of the Prime Minister's
Intelligence and Security Committee, replacing
Paul Murphy, who became the
Secretary of State for Wales. Having been tipped for a possible return to the front bench in July 2008, due to her reputation as a solid media performer, Beckett returned to government in the
reshuffle on 3 October 2008 as the
Minister of State for Housing in the
Department for Communities and Local Government. She attended Cabinet meetings, but was not a full member and was not to be entitled to vote on collective decisions. She ultimately was allowed to return due to her cabinet experience and her economic management in the past. Beckett was a member of the
Top Level Group of UK Parliamentarians for Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Non-proliferation, established in October 2009. She has served as a member of the
Henry Jackson Society Advisory Council.
Expenses Beckett was found to have claimed £600 for
hanging baskets and
pot plants by
The Daily Telegraph in the
2009 expenses scandal. As she had no
mortgage or
rent outstanding it was queried how she managed to claim £72,537 between 2004 and 2008 on a house in her constituency when she was renting out her London flat and living in a
grace and favour flat.
Bid to become Speaker On 10 June 2009, Beckett announced that she wished to replace
Michael Martin as
Speaker of the House of Commons. She said: "I think at the moment we have got very considerable problems in Parliament. We have got to make changes.... After the next election, if we have a more finely balanced chamber than we have had in the recent past, it will be a very different ball game.... I hope I can help us deal with that." Beckett received 74 votes in the first round and 70 votes in the second round of the 2009 Speaker election, reaching the third place as the strongest Labour candidate both times but considerably trailing the two Conservative frontrunners
John Bercow and
George Young. She withdrew following the second round of voting. In August 2009, Beckett wrote to Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman of the
Committee on Standards in Public Life which was investigating MPs' expenses. In the letter, she says the allowances do not adequately cover MPs' costs, which include political campaigns.
The Telegraph criticised the "self-pitying" letter, saying it will fuel "concern that some MPs are not genuinely committed to reform".
Alternative Vote referendum On 26 November 2010, Beckett was announced as the President of the
NOtoAV campaign, which campaigned to retain the
First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system at the
2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum. She led the campaign to success, and FPTP remains the system used in UK parliamentary elections.
2015 Labour leadership election Beckett was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate
Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the
Labour leadership election of 2015. Later, during an interview with
BBC Radio 4's
The World at One, after it became known he was in the lead among the candidates, Beckett was asked if she was "a moron" for nominating Corbyn. She replied: "I am one of them." In January 2016, Beckett claimed that Labour would need an "unexpected political miracle" if it were to win under his leadership, and criticised Corbyn for failing to win back the trust of the electorate on
welfare reform and
mass immigration, saying: "I think we had the right policies towards immigration, but the simple thuggishness of the kind of Ukip and Conservative approach is easier to understand and we didn't overcome those communication difficulties ... We have to try and work on ways to overcome that – I'm not suggesting we've done it yet". She later supported
Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Corbyn in the
2016 Labour leadership election. In February 2019, she acknowledged during an interview with
Sophy Ridge on
Sky News that she was "surprised" about how Corbyn had "grown into the job" after taking on the leadership. She further claimed that veteran Conservative MP
Kenneth Clarke called Corbyn a "perfectly competent" opposition leader.
Beckett report On 16 January 2016, Beckett released "Learning the Lessons from Defeat Taskforce Report", a 35-page report into why the Labour Party lost the
2015 general election after the then deputy leader
Harriet Harman requested Beckett investigate the reasons for Labour's failure. Labour's defeat came as a shock to pollsters, whose polls had suggested that the result would be much closer than it eventually was. Ultimately, the Conservatives won a narrow majority. The main reasons given for Labour's losses were the perceived weakness of
Ed Miliband as party leader, fear of Labour's relationship with the
Scottish National Party (SNP) among English voters, a perceived association with
the financial crisis under the
Brown ministry, The report also said that it would be difficult for Labour to win next time because of changes to constituency boundaries (
due in 2018), voter registration changes and restrictions on trade union funding of parties. Beckett said the party should campaign in ordinary language, focus its policy on the condition of Britain in 2020, unite for the
2016 European Union membership referendum, and draw up a five-year media strategy. Others criticised the report for being too broad and too vague in its conclusions.
Stephen Bush wrote in the
New Statesman that "every bit of the Labour party will have something it can cling to" in the report: He continued:
Owen Jones, a columnist for
The Guardian, said that the left should not fear the Beckett report, saying: "Let's have a full inquest, not in the interests of navel-gazing, but in the interests of winning." According to the
Morning Star, many centrist and more right-wing Labour politicians also welcomed the report. In Parliament, Beckett is Chair of the National Security Strategy (Joint Committee), and is a former member of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament and Modernisation of the House of Commons Committee.
National Executive Committee Chairmanship On 24 November 2020, Beckett was elected to succeed the
Transport Salaried Staffs' Association's Andi Fox as the Chair of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. She was elected unopposed after NEC members from the left of the party staged a virtual walkout, protesting her election over then vice-chair Ian Murray from the
Fire Brigades Union. Beckett was criticised after being overheard insulting a fellow NEC member during a
Zoom call on 11 March 2021. Beckett thought her microphone was turned off when calling
Laura Pidcock a "silly cow", after which Pidcock left the meeting. Beckett apologised immediately and told the BBC the following day: "I deeply regret the remark, which was unjustifiable." Fellow NEC members called on her to resign, while Labour's general secretary
David Evans said that complaints against Beckett would be investigated. ==Honours==