{{Short description|British politician (born 1939)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}} {{Use British English|date=February 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Baroness Billingham | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|JP}} | image = File:Official portrait of Baroness Billingham crop 2, 2019.jpg | image_size = | caption = Official portrait, 2019 | order = | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 2 May 2000 | term_end1 = 13 May 2026 | office2 = Member of the European Parliament <br /> for Northamptonshire and Blaby | term_start2 = 9 June 1994 | term_end2 = 10 June 1999 | predecessor2 = ''Constituency established'' | successor2 = ''Constituency abolished'' <!-- Personal --> | birth_name = Angela Theodora Case | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|31 July 1939}} | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | citizenship = | party = Labour | spouse = Peter Billingham | partner = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married--> | children = 2 | education = Aylesbury Grammar School | alma_mater = {{hlist| Institute of Education | University of Oxford }} | occupation = | profession = | committees = | awards = }}
'''Angela Theodora Billingham, Baroness Billingham''' ({{nee|'''Case'''}}; born 31 July 1939), is a British Labour politician who was an MEP for Northamptonshire and Blaby from 1994 to 1999. She was later a member of the House of Lords as a life peer from 2000 to 2026.
==Early life== Born Angela Theodora Case in Liverpool, she was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliamentaryrecord.com/content/profiles/peer/Angela-Billingham/1493 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131001837/http://www.parliamentaryrecord.com/content/profiles/peer/Angela-Billingham/1493 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-31 |title=Parliamentary record |access-date=1 July 2025 }}</ref> the Institute of Education and the Department of Education, University of Oxford. She became a teacher, working in education for thirty-five years until 1995.
==Political career== Baroness Billingham was a councillor for many years. From 1970 to 1974, she served on Banbury Borough Council, then from 1974 to 1984 on Cherwell District Council. She was Mayor of Banbury in 1976. She was an Oxfordshire county councillor from 1993 to 1994. She stood for Parliament in 1992 for Banbury, without success.
Billingham was elected to the European Parliament for Northamptonshire and Blaby in 1994.<ref>{{cite news | last =Foster | first =Jonathan | title =The European Elections: Working-class voters wooed back | work =The Independent | date =13 June 1994 }}</ref> In 1999, she unsuccessfully stood for the European Parliament in the new East Midlands Region. She was made a life peer as '''Baroness Billingham''', of Banbury in the County of Oxfordshire on 2 May 2000<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55846 |date=12 May 2000 |page=5243}}</ref> and sat on the Labour benches,<ref>{{cite news | last = Hartley-Brewer | first = Julia |author2=Woodward, Will | title =Policy and Politics: Blair 'balances' Lords with 33 new peers | work =The Guardian | pages =11 | date =31 March 2000 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title =Life Peers | work =The Times (London) | pages =24 | date =4 May 2000 }}</ref> until her exclusion from the House on 13 May 2026.
==Interests== She has promoted sports for people with disabilities and is a regular on Sky News, for which she previews the following morning's newspapers. Angela also campaigns for reform of the current daylight saving system, arguing that lighter evenings could end the national scourge of childhood obesity by allowing children to do an extra hour of physical activity a day. She also cites economic, environmental and safety concerns as important reasons for reform of the current system. She is also a keen tennis player, and is Chair and Captain of the Commons and Lords Tennis Club, and the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Tennis Group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi543.htm |title=Register of All-Party Groups |date=24 February 2010 |work=House of Commons |accessdate=2 April 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327153909/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi543.htm |archivedate=27 March 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8593098.stm |title=All-Party Tennis Group warns LTA over public profile |last=Slater |first=Matt |date=29 March 2010 |work=BBC Sport |publisher=BBC |access-date=2 April 2010 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100401121058/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8593098.stm| archive-date= 1 April 2010 | url-status= live}}</ref>
==Personal life== She married Peter Billingham in 1962, and they had two daughters.
==Parliamentary expenses== Subsistence allowances are designed to help peers who live in the country to attend late-night votes and debates in Parliament. Billingham, who has a flat in Hampstead and a country house in Suffolk, claimed £26,983 in 2006–07 in overnight allowances, prompting calls for an inquiry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peers face demand for expenses probe |date=2008-02-10 |website=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602102306/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/feb/10/lords |archive-date=2022-06-02 |url-status=live |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/feb/10/lords}}</ref>
==References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_billingham Baroness Billingham page on theyworkforyou.com] * {{UK MP links | parliament =2538 | publicwhip =Baroness_Billingham | theywork =13510 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billingham, Angela Billingham, Baroness}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Mayors of places in Oxfordshire Category:20th-century women MEPs for England Category:Labour Party (UK) MEPs Category:MEPs for England 1994–1999 Category:People educated at Aylesbury Grammar School Category:Women mayors of places in England Category:Peers removed under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014