Stella Creasy

Stella Creasy
MP
Member of Parliament
for Walthamstow
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded by Neil Gerrard
Majority 23,195 (55.5%)
Mayor of Waltham Forest
In office
2002–2003
Preceded by Muhammed Fazlur Rahman[1]
Succeeded by Robert Belam
Personal details
Born Stella Judith Creasy
(1977-04-05) 5 April 1977[2]
Sutton Coldfield, England
Political party Labour Co-operative
Alma mater Magdalene College, Cambridge
London School of Economics
University of London
Religion Anglicanism
Website Official website

Stella Judith Creasy (born 5 April 1977[2]) is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for the London constituency of Walthamstow since the 2010 general election.[3]

Early life and career

Creasy was born in Sutton Coldfield,[4] and is the daughter of Corinna Frances Avril (née Martin) and Philip Charles Creasy, both active Labour Party members; her father is a trained opera singer and her mother a headteacher of a special needs school.[4][5] Her elder brother, Matthew Henry Creasy (born 1974), is an academic.[6]

After spending her early childhood in Manchester, her family moved to Colchester where Creasy attended Colchester County High School for Girls, a grammar school.[4][5] Although she initially failed the eleven-plus exam, the Creasy family's move south gave her a second chance.[5] Creasy attended Magdalene College, Cambridge where she read Social and Political Sciences before pursuing postgraduate studies at London School of Economics.[7] In the 1990s, towards the end of John Major's period as prime minister, Creasy was an intern at the Fabian Society.[8]

In 2006, having already started work as a parliamentary researcher, she completed her thesis entitled Understanding the lifeworld of social exclusion, receiving a doctorate in Social Psychology from University of London.[9] Creasy received the Richard Titmuss Award in 2005 for her thesis.[10]

Early career

Creasy worked as a lobbyist and PR consultant, becoming head of Public Affairs at the Scout Association.[11]

A former deputy director of a think tank, Involve, she worked as a researcher and speech writer for various Labour government ministers, including Douglas Alexander, Charles Clarke and Ross Cranston.[12][13]

Elected as a councillor in Waltham Forest, Creasy later became the borough's Deputy Mayor before serving as Mayor for four months prior to her election to the House of Commons.[12]

Creasy was a member of the Young Fabians and served on its executive.

In Parliament

In 2010 Creasy was selected from an all-female shortlist as the Labour Party candidate for Walthamstow, being elected to Parliament at the 2010 general election, retaining the seat for her party as successor to the previous Labour MP, Neil Gerrard, who had retired from the Commons.[14]

Payday loans

Creasy has campaigned for better regulation of payday loans companies.[15] In an article published by The Guardian, she stated that just six companies controlled lending to 90% of the seven million Britons without a bank account or credit card. Her disclosure that the average cost of credit charged to these customers was 272% APR, as in the rest of Europe, and that there was a fourfold increase in payday loans since the start of the recession in 2008 led to cross-party parliamentary support for a cap.[15] Creasy also highlighted in a speech to the House of Commons the lack of competition in the market, leading to Government support for a cap of loans which exploit the poor, which in some cases reached 4000%. APR.[16] Creasy won The Spectator magazine's Campaigner of the Year prize in their Parliamentarian of the Year awards in 2011 for her work on the issue.[17]

In 2012, a Wonga employee used company equipment to make offensive personal attacks against Creasy.[18] Wonga made an "immediate and unreserved apology" following these malicious attacks, and Creasy also managed to get the firm to promote one of her constituency events in aid of struggling families.[18]

Twitter threats in 2013

At the end of July 2013 on her Twitter timeline, along with the feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez (who had lobbied the Bank of England to put a woman on the £10 note),[5] Creasy received numerous rape threats and other misogynistic messages.[19]

Creasy wrote in an article published on 27 July: "Twitter tell me we should simply block those who 'offend us', as though a rape threat is matter of bad manners, not criminal behaviour."[20] She also appeared on Newsnight on 30 July 2013 with Toby Young, the Conservative commentator, over the validity of addressing harassment on the social networking site.[21][22] She criticised him for a previous tweet about an MP's breasts.[23] Young has objected to Twitter's subsequent change in policy, writing that the company, "shouldn't change its abuse policy in response to being brow-beaten by a politician".[24] On 2 September 2014 at the City of London Magistrates' Court, Peter Nunn was found guilty of sending menacing messages to Creasy,[25] and was subsequently jailed for eighteen weeks.[26]

Creasy supported the No More Page 3 campaign to stop The Sun newspaper from including pictures of topless glamour models.[27][28]

Labour Party deputy leadership

Creasy speaking at the 2016 Labour Party Conference

Creasy was re-elected in 2015 with a substantially increased majority, securing a 17% increase in the share of the vote.

Following the 2015 general election defeat, Creasy announced her intention to stand as a candidate in the Labour Party deputy leadership election.[29] Gaining the minimum 35 required nominees to be included on the ballot by noon on 17 June,[30] Creasy did not back any of the four candidates in the leadership election.[31] She was prepared to work as deputy to any of the candidates for leader, including Jeremy Corbyn.[32] "Of course I would", she told Carol Midgley in a Times interview in August 2015, "because that process of rebuilding isn’t about any one person it’s about all of us. It’s written on the back of our membership card that we achieve more together than we do alone."[33]

Creasy gained 26% of the vote and came second, with Tom Watson being elected.

Momentum, Syria and Corbyn

An accusation was made in late 2015 that members of the Momentum group were aiming to replace Creasy with someone closer to the Labour Left.[34] A possibility that the seat might be redrawn after boundary changes means potential candidates are jockeying for position in the constituency party. Momentum have denied this claim.[34] Creasy has criticised Momentum.[35]

Creasy allegedly received threats via social media following her vote for extending UK military action against Daesh to Syria after the parliamentary debate on 2 December 2015.[36] Creasy was undecided until the day of the vote, while staff in her Walthamstow constituency office had to deal with harassing telephone calls.[37] Protesters had gathered outside the office the previous night urging a 'no' vote.[36][37] On Facebook, Creasy defended their right to peaceful protest.[38] Reports that protesters had gathered outside her home proved to be unfounded.[39][40]

Creasy is a critic of the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and has stated she has no confidence in him.[41] Additionally, Creasy criticised Corbyn for his call to decriminalise the sex industry.[42]

References

  1. ↑ www.walthamstowmemories.net
  2. 1 2 Some sources suggest Creasy was born on 1 January 1977. Her father, in a letter to The Guardian, confirmed that 5 April is the correct date. See "Brief Letters: Plaque Russians", The Guardian, 8 January 2013
  3. ↑ Election 2010– Walthamstow BBC News
  4. 1 2 3 Coleman, John (5 July 2015). "Relative Values: Stella Creasy and her mum, Corinna". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 6 December 2015. (subscription required)
  5. 1 2 3 4 Esther Addley "Stella Creasy: the MP who 'won't back down'", The Guardian, 1 August 2013
  6. ↑ www.gla.ac.uk
  7. ↑ McSmith, Andy (9 August 2013). "Stella Creasy - the Labour MP who has taken on the internet trolls and payday lenders". The Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  8. ↑ Bland, Archie (13 June 2014). "Stella Creasy: Could the Wonga-baiting, indie-loving MP tweet her way to No 10?". The Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  9. ↑ Day, Elizabeth (25 November 2012). "Stella Creasy: Labour's rising star who's taking on Wonga". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "20 under 40: Stella Creasy". New Statesman. 22 September 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  11. ↑ David Singleton (11 May 2010). "Many lobbyists win seats but some see majority decreased". PR Week. Archived from the original on 21 March 2011.
  12. 1 2 "Members Of Parliament in Walthamstow".
  13. ↑ "Stella Creasy – Biography".
  14. ↑ Paul Owen "The 32-year-old ex-mayor who hopes to bring activists and party together", The Guardian, 3 August 2009
  15. 1 2 Creasy, Stella (3 February 2011). "Legal loan sharks are circling the poor". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "MP urges government crack-down on legal loan sharks". BBC. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2012.
  17. ↑ Forsyth, James (26 November 2011). "Labour's new golden girl". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  18. 1 2 Mark King (21 November 2012). "Wonga apologises to Stella Creasy over abusive Twitter messages". Guardian newspapers. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  19. ↑ Emily Dugan "Pressure grows on Twitter to act on rape threats after Labour MP Stella Creasy calls in police", The Independent, 29 July 2013
  20. ↑ Stella Creasy "Twitter's inadequate action over rape threats is itself an abuse", The Guardian, 27 July 2013
  21. ↑ "Stella Creasy Shames Toby Young For Breasts Tweet In Newsnight Twitter Debate", The Huffington Post, 31 July 2013. See Esler's tweet confirming it was on the 30 July edition.
  22. ↑ "Newsnight debate: What should be done about Twitter trolls?", BBC News, 31 July 2013
  23. ↑ "'Stop Tweeting About Women's Tits'". The Huffington Post UK. Retrieved 2016-03-17.
  24. ↑ Toby Young "Twitter abuse: Stella Creasy has overstepped the mark", telegraph.co.uk (blog), 31 July 2013
  25. ↑ Twitter 'troll sent rape threats to MP Stella Creasy'
  26. ↑ "Man jailed for Twitter abuse of MP". BBC News. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  27. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/20/sun-scrapping-page-3-topless-victory-women
  28. ↑ http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/politics/stella-creasy-on-page-3-it-s-never-been-about-boobs-20150132202
  29. ↑ Bush, Stephen (16 May 2015). "Stella Creasy announces she will stand for the deputy leadership of the Labour party". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  30. ↑ Dathan, Matt (17 June 2015). "Stella Creasy scrapes through as five make it onto the ballot for deputy Labour leadership election". The Independent. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  31. ↑ Addley, Esther (1 November 2015). "Stella Creasy: 'New politics? I'm still waiting for that to happen'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  32. ↑ Lewis, Helen (11 August 2015). "Stella Creasy rages against the political machine, but can she break it?". New Statesman. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  33. ↑ Midgley, Carol (22 August 2015). "'It's not a question of left or right — Labour's challenge is to be relevant'". The Times. London. Retrieved 11 September 2016. (subscription required)
  34. 1 2 Bush, Stephen (2 December 2015). "Stella Creasy targeted for deselection". New Statesman. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  35. ↑ Mason, Rowena (24 March 2016). "Labour MP Stella Creasy attacks Momentum movement". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
  36. 1 2 Butter, Susannah (3 December 2015). "The battle for Stella Creasy's streets: how the bombing of Syria is causing a growing divide in Walthamstow". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  37. 1 2 Marshall, Tom (5 December 2015). "Stella Creasy defends anti-war protesters who marched on her Walthamstow office". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  38. ↑ McSmith, Andy (3 December 2015). "Why Stella Creasy has become prime target for deselection over Syria vote". The Independent. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  39. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (4 December 2015). "Stella Creasy crushes story about protest outside her house". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  40. ↑ "Today, Radio 4, 3 December 2015: Finding by the Editorial Complaints Unit". Editorial Complaints Unit. BBC. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  41. ↑ Creasy, Stella (1 July 2016). "Labour is a party running on empty". New Statesman. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  42. ↑ Watts, Joseph (8 March 2016). "Stella Creasy attacks Jeremy Corbyn for call to decriminalise sex industry". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Neil Gerrard		 Member of Parliament
for Walthamstow
2010–present 		Incumbent
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