{{Short description|British Labour Party politician (born 1953)}} {{other people|Judith Blake}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use British English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Baroness Blake of Leeds | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} | image = Official portrait of Baroness Blake of Leeds crop 2.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2024 | office = Baroness-in-Waiting<br/>Government Whip | prime_minister = Keir Starmer | term_start = 11 July 2024 | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 1 February 2021 {{collapsed infobox section begin | last = yes | Shadow portfolios | titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey}} {{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | subterm = 2021–2024 | suboffice = Energy Security and Net Zero | subterm1 = 2021–2024 | suboffice1 = Business and Trade | subterm2 = 2021–2023 | suboffice2 = Whip | subterm3 = 2021–2021 | suboffice3 = Levelling Up, Housing and Communities {{collapsed infobox section end}}}} | office2 = Leader of Leeds City Council | term_start2 = 21 May 2015 | term_end2 = 24 February 2021 | predecessor2 = Keith Wakefield | successor2 = James Lewis | office3 = Member of Leeds City Council<br />for Middleton Park<br />{{nobold|Hunslet (2002–2004)}} | term_start3 = 2 May 2002 | term_end3 = 6 May 2021 | predecessor3 = Mark Davies | successor3 = Sharon Burke | office4 = Member of Leeds City Council<br />for Weetwood | term_start4 = 2 May 1996 | term_end4 = 4 May 2000 | predecessor4 = Ann Castle | successor4 = James Souper | birth_name = Judith Vivienne Parsons | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|7|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Leeds, England | party = Labour | children = 4, including Olivia | education = Leeds Girls High School | alma_mater = University of Kent }}
'''Judith Vivienne Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (née '''Parsons'''; born 23 July 1953<ref>{{cite web |title=Judith Blake |url=https://api.parliament.uk/query/resource?uri=https://id.parliament.uk/Yp0K9YBt |website=api.parliament.uk |access-date=29 June 2022}}</ref>) is a British Labour politician serving as a life peer in the House of Lords since 2021. She serves as a Baroness-in-Waiting (Government Whip) in the House of Lords.<ref name="Parliamentary career">{{Cite web|title=Parliamentary career for Baroness Blake of Leeds|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4912/career|accessdate=2024-07-18|website=members.parliament.uk}}</ref>
Blake served as the leader of Leeds City Council from 2015 to 2021, being the first woman to hold the position.<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|title=Leeds City Council Elects Judith Blake as First Female Leader|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-32695680|publisher=BBC News|date=11 May 2015|accessdate=6 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Northern Power Women">{{cite web|title=Clr Judith Blake: Power list 2016|url=https://www.northernpowerwomen.com/portfolio/cllr-judith-blake/|website=Northern Power Women|accessdate=24 November 2019}}{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="First Female Council Leader">{{cite news|title=Councillor Judith Blake "Honoured" to be Leeds' First Ever Female Council Leader|url=http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/councillor-judith-blake-honoured-to-be-leeds-first-ever-female-council-leader-1-7255526|newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post|date=11 May 2015|accessdate=6 July 2017|archive-date=1 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001024722/http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/councillor-judith-blake-honoured-to-be-leeds-first-ever-female-council-leader-1-7255526|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Personal life== Blake was born on 23 July 1953 into a Methodist family in Leeds. Both her parents were doctors. She attended Leeds Girls High School until 1971 and then studied history at the University of Kent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/Haddx-SvFMB0O5X-BNKN4jkaFcI/appointments|title=Judith Vivienne BLAKE|work=Companies House|accessdate=15 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gsal.org.uk/judith-reflects-on-an-education-which-paved-the-way-to-a-life-in-politics|title=Judith reflects on an education which paved the way to a life in politics|work=Grammar School at Leeds|date=24 May 2019|accessdate=14 December 2019}}</ref>
After university, she began her career in education and social policy, living in London and then Birmingham in the 1980s. During her time living in Birmingham, she taught the English language to refugees.<ref name="Judith Blake">{{cite web|title=Judith Blake, Labour, Leeds North West|url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/news_elections/general_election_2010/constituencies/310.leeds_north_west/candidates/593._judith_blake/|website=Telegraph & Argus|accessdate=6 July 2017|archive-date=1 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201193705/http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/news_elections/general_election_2010/constituencies/310.leeds_north_west/candidates/593._judith_blake/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk"/> In 1992, she returned to live in Otley.<ref name="yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk">https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/the-next-best-thing-1-2045707 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref>
Blake has four children. Her youngest child, Olivia Blake, was elected as the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam in 2019.<ref name="Judith Blake" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Sheffield Hallam Parliamentary constituency |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000922 |publisher=BBC News |accessdate=5 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/latest-news/fresh-start-hope-after-sheffield-tree-felling-council-boss-quits-post-1-9156778|title='Fresh start' hope after Sheffield tree-felling council boss quits post|work=The Yorkshire Post|last=Burn|first=Chris|date=9 May 2018|accessdate=13 December 2019|archive-date=13 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213160735/https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/latest-news/fresh-start-hope-after-sheffield-tree-felling-council-boss-quits-post-1-9156778|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Political career== Blake was elected as an Otley town councillor,<ref name="Judith Blake" /> and, except for a two-year gap after losing her seat in Weetwood at the 2000 city council election, has been an elected member of Leeds City Council since 1996.<ref name="Northern Power Women" />
She contested the Leeds North West constituency in the 2005 and 2010 national elections as the Labour Party's prospective parliamentary candidate. In 2005 she came second behind Greg Mulholland of the Liberal Democrats; in 2010, she fell to third behind Julia Mulligan of the Conservatives and re-elected MP Mulholland.
Following her selection as deputy leader of the Leeds Labour group in 2003, once the party regained control of Leeds in 2010, Blake served as the Deputy Leader of the Council for five years to 2015. She was the Executive Cabinet Member for Children & Families during this period, overseeing the city's Children's Services' Ofsted rating change from "inadequate" to "good overall".<ref name="Northern Power Women" /> She has been involved in a number of national legal campaigns, worked with education authorities in Yorkshire to raise school standards in the area, and worked on crises and issues with student grades and school placements throughout her career.<ref name="First Female Council Leader" />
She voted for Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Party leadership election and supported Keir Starmer in the 2020 leadership election.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/08/labour-leadership-contest-john-harris|title='It feels like indulgence': Labour's city chiefs on leadership race |work=The Guardian|last=Harris|first=John|date=8 September 2016|accessdate=22 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Keir Starmer | url = https://twitter.com/keir_starmer/status/1218306746738974720 | website = twitter.com | publisher = Keir Starmer | date = 17 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Keir Starmer | url = https://botzarelli.wordpress.com/2020/01/18/keir-starmer | website = botzarelli.wordpress.com | publisher = botzarelli | date = 18 January 2020}}</ref>
===Leader of Leeds City Council=== After then-leader Keith Wakefield stepped down, Blake was elected as the first woman leader of Leeds City Council in May 2015.<ref name="BBC News" /> She chaired the Council's Executive Board, having also served on the boards for NHS Leeds and the West Yorkshire Police Authority. In April 2019, Blake was appointed to the board of Northern Ballet.<ref name="NB">{{cite web |title=Northern Ballet appoints five new members to its Board of Directors |url=https://northernballet.com/media-releases/2019-04-25/northern-ballet-appoints-five-new-members-to-its-board-of-directors |website=northernballet.com |publisher=Northern Ballet Limited |accessdate=27 November 2019}}</ref> During her time as leader she was a key proponent of a public art project to celebrate the women of Leeds, which culminated in the unveiling of ''Ribbons'' by Pippa Hale in 2024.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |last=Mort |first=Don |date=2 June 2024 |title='Ribbons' sculpture celebrating inspirational Leeds women set to be installed near Leeds Playhouse |url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/people/ribbons-sculpture-celebrating-inspirational-leeds-women-set-to-be-installed-near-leeds-playhouse-4656516 |access-date=2024-10-13 |newspaper=Yorkshire Evening Post}}</ref>
In December 2015, she expressed the frustration of city residents in feeling that David Cameron, then the prime minister of the United Kingdom, was giving greater attention to more affluent counties in southern England during a period of severe flooding.<ref>{{cite news|title=As criticism rises, Cameron defends efforts to fight floods in England's north|work=Boston Globe|date=29 December 2015| page= A3}}</ref>
== House of Lords == In December 2020, it was announced Blake would be conferred a Life Peerage after a nomination by Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Political Peerages 2020|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/political-peerages-2020|access-date=22 December 2020|website=Gov.uk}}</ref> In February 2021, she was created Baroness Blake of Leeds, of Gledhow in the City of Leeds.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Crown Office|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3728485|access-date=2021-02-12|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref>
Blake joined the opposition front bench in May 2021, as a Shadow Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government and an Opposition Whip.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-06-07|title=Exclusive: Top Keir Starmer Aide Digs In Over Plan To Remove Her From Leader's Office|url=https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/exclusive-starmers-most-senior-aide-jenny-chapman-axed-and-moved-to-lords-to-shadow-lord-frost|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Politics Home|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Parliamentary career" /> In December 2021 she became Shadow Spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and International Trade, and in February 2023 she became Shadow Spokesperson for Energy and Net Zero and Shadow Spokesperson for Business and Trade.<ref name="Parliamentary career" /> On 11 July 2024, she became a Baroness-In-Waiting (Government Whip) in the House of Lords.<ref name="Parliamentary career" />
==Recognition== She was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.<ref name="Jack">{{cite news |last1=Jack |first1=Jim |title=Queen's Honour for Otley resident and city council leader Judith Blake |url=https://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/15363948.queens-honour-for-otley-resident-and-city-council-leader-judith-blake/ |accessdate=27 November 2019 |work=Wharfedale Observer |date=22 June 2017}}</ref>
Blake's name is one of those featured on the sculpture ''Ribbons'', unveiled in 2024.<ref name="list">{{cite web |title=383 Inspirational Women of Leeds |url=https://www.ribbons-sculpture-leeds.co.uk/women |website=Ribbons Sculpture Leeds |access-date=13 October 2024 |archive-date=23 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240823171410/https://www.ribbons-sculpture-leeds.co.uk/women |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14821gz1e6o|title=Leeds: Ribbons sculpture celebrates city's inspiring women|date=October 12, 2024|website=www.bbc.com}}</ref> She had been a key proponent of a public art project to celebrate the women of Leeds, which culminated in the unveiling of ''Ribbons''.<ref name="auto"/>
==Electoral history== {| class="wikitable" |+UK local elections |- ! Date of election ! Ward ! colspan="2" |Party ! Votes ! % of votes ! Result |- |1996 Leeds City Council election |Weetwood | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |2,569 |40.2 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2000 Leeds City Council election |Weetwood | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |2,023 |36.3 |{{cross}} Not Elected |- |2002 Leeds City Council election |Hunslet | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |1,535 |68.2 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2004 Leeds City Council election |Middleton Park | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |2,111 |40.9 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2007 Leeds City Council election |Middleton Park | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |2,467 |46.7 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2011 Leeds City Council election |Middleton Park | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |3,313 |64.5 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2015 Leeds City Council election |Middleton Park | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |4,974 |51.2 |{{tick}} Elected |- |2018 Leeds City Council election |Middleton Park | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |2,747 |61.1 |{{tick}} Elected |- |}
{| class="wikitable" |+UK parliamentary elections |- ! Date of election ! Constituency ! colspan="2" |Party ! Votes ! % of votes ! Result |- |2005 general election |Leeds North West | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |14,735 |33.0 |{{cross}} Not Elected |- |2010 general election |Leeds North West | style="background-color: {{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}" | |Labour |9,132 |21.0 |{{cross}} Not Elected |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://democracy.leeds.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=107 Judith Blake] page at Leeds City Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Judith}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Kent Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Councillors in Leeds Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Leaders of local authorities of England Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Labour Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Category:People educated at Leeds Girls' High School Category:Women councillors in England