Baroness Estelle Moriss of Yardley

Estelle Morris started her career as a teacher at Sidney Stringer School and Community College in Coventry in 1974.

She was elected as a member of Warwick District Council in 1979 and led the Labour Group for seven years.

In 1992 she was elected as MP for Birmingham Yardley and in 1994 she was appointed as Opposition Spokesperson for Education and Employment. After Labour’s 1997 election victory, Estelle Morris became Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the department for Education and Employment and in 1998 she became the Minister for School Standards.

In 2001 she was appointed to the post of Secretary of State for the newly created Department for Education and Skills. Ms Morris resigned from this post in 2002 but returned to the front bench eight months later as Minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

Ms Morris did not seek re-election at the general election in 2005 after thirteen years as MP for Birmingham Yardley. She was appointed to the House of Lords after the May 2005 election.

Estelle Morris became the Pro Vice-Chancellor of Sunderland University in 2005 and Chair of the Strategy Board of The Institute of Effective Education at the University of York in April 2007.  She serves on a number of charitable bodies connected to both Education and the Arts. She has been awarded honorary degrees from a number of universities.