Maria Miller: Chairwoman of the Women & Equalities Select Committee
Dame Maria Frances Lewis Miller DBE is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Basingstoke since 2005.
From 2005 to 2006, Miller was the Shadow Minister for Education, from 2006 to 2007, the Shadow Minister for Family Welfare, and from 2007 to 2010, the Shadow and Shadow Minister for Families.
From 2010 to 2012, she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Disabled People), then from 2012 to 2014, she was Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, as well as Minister for Women and Equalities in the Cabinet. After rumors that she had over-claimed costs, she resigned from the Cabinet in April 2014.
Miller was elected Chair of the newly formed Women and Equalities Select Committee in June 2015. In 2017, she was re-elected without opposition after being nominated for the role by MPs from across the House. Miller resigned from the position in 2019.
Early life
Maria Miller was born in Wolverhampton but raised in Bridgend, South Wales, as the daughter of John Lewis. She attended Brynteg Comprehensive School before going to the London School of Economics to study Economics and graduated in 1985.
She began her career as an advertising executive with Grey Advertising Ltd, but left in 1990 to work for Texaco as a marketing manager. She returned to Greys in 1994 as a director for five years before joining the Rowland Group as a director for four years in 1999.
Parliamentary career
Miller joined the Conservative Party in 1983 and ran for Wolverhampton North East in the 2001 general election, but lost to Ken Purchase, the incumbent Labour MP. She kept formal ties with the local Conservative Association for a while after that, and she also chaired the Wimbledon Association for a year beginning in 2002.
Maria was first elected to the House of Commons for the Basingstoke constituency in 2005, following the retirement of the constituency’s previous MP, Conservative Andrew Hunter, who had moved to the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party before stepping down. She was a member of the Trade and Industry Select Committee in Parliament for a year starting in 2005.
David Cameron later designated her as a spokeswoman for the Shadow Education and Skills team in 2005. In 2007, she was named Shadow Minister for Families. She was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister for Disabled People at the Department for Work and Pensions following the 2010 general election.
Maria Miller pushed the Prime Minister in May 2012 to press ahead with plans to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Miller was named Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, as well as Minister for Women and Equality, in David Cameron’s first major Cabinet reshuffle on September 4, 2012.
From its inception in June 2015 to January 2020, she chaired the Women and Equalities Select Committee. In 2019, Miller stood down as chair, and Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton North, was nominated and elected to replace him.
Prior to the 2016 referendum, Miller was an outspoken opponent of Brexit.
Maria Miller joined the Administration Committee and the Panel of Chairs in March 2020, and the Joint Committee on the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act in November 2020.
In the 2022 Birthday Honours, Miller was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her parliamentary and public service.
Personal life
Maria Miller is legally married with 3 children Read More…
