Angela Eagle

Eagle's colleague, deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, said: "Women in Britain in the 21st century do not Expect to be told to 'calm down, dear' by their Prime Minister", with Labour officials calling for an apology, suggesting the remark was patronising and sexist.

Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992.

Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for the CBI and then a trade union.

In 1976, Eagle was joint winner of the British Girls' Under-18 chess championship.

While at Oxford, she was chairwoman of the Oxford University Fabian Society during 1980–1983.

She studied philosophy, politics, and economics at St John's College, Oxford, graduating from the university with a second-class Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983.

In 1984, after graduating from Oxford, Eagle worked in the economic directorate of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), before joining the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE) trade union where she held a number of positions.

She was elected secretary for the Constituency Labour Party in Peckham for two years from 1989.

Eagle was first elected to parliament as MP for Wallasey at the 1992 general election, winning with 48.9% of the vote and a majority of 3,809.

Allegations were made about irregularities in her selection as parliamentary candidate, including the exclusion of a local favourite from the shortlist of candidates, and in the vote count itself.

She became a member of the Employment Select committee in 1994.

Eagle was promoted by Tony Blair in 1996 to the position of an Opposition Whip.

Eagle was re-elected as MP for Wallasey at the 1997 general election with an increased vote share of 64.6% and an increased majority of 19,074.

Following the 1997 general election, Eagle was as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, moving to the Department of Social Security in 1998.

She was again re-elected at the 2001 general election, with a decreased vote share of 60.8% and a decreased majority of 12,276.

Following the 2001 general election, she succeeded Mike O'Brien as an Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office.

However, she was sacked by Blair in 2002, reportedly in error, and replaced by Lord Filkin.

As a backbencher, Eagle joined the Treasury Select Committee in January 2003.

She voted in favour of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and repeatedly against investigating it in 2003, 2006, and 2007.

At the 2005 general election, Eagle was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 54.8% and a decreased majority of 9,109.

Eagle returned to the government under Gordon Brown on 29 June 2007 as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, the most junior minister at HM Treasury.

In April 2008 Eagle took part in a debate in Parliament on the UK economy in which the Liberal Democrats tabled a motion suggesting that the country was facing an "extreme bubble in the housing market" and the "risk of recession".

Eagle responded, "Fortunately for all of us … that colourful and lurid fiction has no real bearing on the macro-economic reality."

A year later Jeremy Browne, who led the original debate, said her comments "summed up the Government's delusional attitude" towards warnings of financial crisis.

Eagle served as the Minister of State for Pensions and Ageing Society from June 2009 until May 2010.

Eagle was elected to the Shadow Cabinet in October 2010 and was appointed by Ed Miliband to be Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Eagle was again re-elected at the 2010 general election with a decreased vote share of 51.8% and a decreased majority of 8,507.

In October 2011, she was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons when Miliband reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet.

In April 2011, Eagle was put down in the House of Commons by Prime Minister David Cameron when he used Michael Winner's catchphrase "Calm down, dear".

In May 2012, Eagle became chair of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum and served as chair of the party's National Executive Committee 2013–14.

In June 2012, Eagle criticised Take That singer Gary Barlow in the House of Commons following newspaper allegations of tax avoidance made against him.

Eagle criticised his recent award of the OBE and claimed in the House of Commons that Barlow had "given a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Take That'," as well as questioning why Prime Minister David Cameron had not criticised Barlow publicly in the same way he had criticised comedian Jimmy Carr for tax avoidance.

She was appointed as both Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in September 2015 in Jeremy Corbyn's first Shadow Cabinet.

At the 2015 general election, Eagle was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 60.4% and an increased majority of 16,348.

She resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in June 2016.

Eagle announced a leadership challenge to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on 11 July 2016, but eight days later she withdrew leaving Owen Smith to challenge Corbyn for the leadership.

Angela Eagle was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, the daughter of Shirley (née Kirk), a factory worker, and André Eagle, a print worker.

She was educated at St Peter's C of E Primary School and Formby High School.

She was again re-elected at the snap 2017 general election with an increased vote share of 71.5% and an increased majority of 23,320.

At the 2019 general election, Eagle was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 64.3% and a decreased majority of 18,322.