Fiona MacTaggart

Labour MP Slough

Date of birth

12 September 1953

Political profile

Fiona MacTaggart was first elected to the Commons in 1997, having been selected from an all-woman shortlist.

She proved to be one of Labour's most able and effective new MPs and many were surprised when she remained on the back benches after the 2001 election when Chris Smith, whom she had served as a PPS, lost his job.

Her prospects may not have been helped when she described the Blair government as promoting "a vanilla politics which appeals to geeks".

She has often spoken critically of the executive, though she has never voted against it.

And in the June 2003 reshuffle she won a place in government as a junior Home Office Minister.

Ms MacTaggart worked as a primary school teacher in Peckham before becoming an education lecturer.

She used to chair civil rights campaign group Liberty and takes a particular interest in immigration and asylum issues. She was critical of the voucher support system for asylum seekers as encouraging racism.

Ms MacTaggart is a supporter of stem cell research, revealing during a Commons debate that she suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Contact

Constituency office 01753 518161