{{Short description|British politician (born 1950)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2012}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Rosie Cooper | honorific_suffix = | image = Rosie Cooper MP (right) (7486282656) (cropped).jpg | caption = Cooper in 2012 | office = Chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust | term_start = 30 November 2022 | term_end = | predecessor = Beatrice Fraenkel | successor = | office1 = Member of Parliament <br /> for West Lancashire | parliament1 = | predecessor1 = Colin Pickthall | successor1 = Ashley Dalton | term_start1 = 5 May 2005 | term_end1 = 30 November 2022 | office2 = Lord Mayor of Liverpool | term_start2 = 1992 | term_end2 = 1993 | predecessor2 = Trevor Smith<ref name = Mayor>{{cite web|url = https://www.liverpooltownhall.co.uk/former-mayors-lord-mayors-city-liverpool/|title = Former Mayors and Lord Mayors|website = Liverpool Town Hall|accessdate = 9 February 2023}}</ref> | successor2 = Michael Black<ref name = Mayor/> | office3 = Member of the Liverpool City Council | term_start3 = 1973 | term_end3 = 2000 | constituency3 = {{ubl|Broadgreen (1973–1996)|Allerton (1996–2000)}} | birth_name = Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|09|5|df=yes}} | birth_place = Liverpool, England | party = Labour (1999–present) | other_party = {{ublist|Liberal Democrats (1988–1999)|Liberal (until 1988)}} | alma_mater = University of Liverpool | website = {{Official website|https://www.rosiecooper.net/}} | footnotes = }} '''Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper''' (born 5 September 1950) is a British health official and former politician. Cooper was a Liberal and later Liberal Democrat member of the Liverpool City Council from 1973 until 1999, when she joined the Labour Party. After leaving the council the following year, she was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for West Lancashire from 2005 until her resignation in 2022, when she was named chair of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. In 2018, she was the target of a plot to murder her involving Jack Renshaw.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-06-12 |title=Jack Renshaw admits planning to murder MP Rosie Cooper |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-44452529 |access-date=2024-08-10 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Early life and career== Cooper was born in Liverpool, the daughter of deaf parents.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pattinson |first1=Rob |title=MP Rosie Cooper made honorary alderman at Liverpool town hall ceremony |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/mp-rosie-cooper-made-honorary-3371399 |access-date=2 April 2019 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=7 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=West Lancashire: Labour party candidate Rosie Cooper |url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/local-news/west-lancashire-labour-party-candidate-3427146 |access-date=2 April 2019 |work=Liverpool Echo |date=13 March 2010}}</ref> She was educated at St Oswald's Roman Catholic Primary School, Old Swan, Bellerive Convent Grammar School, and the University of Liverpool.
Cooper originally worked for a company called W. Cooper Ltd from 1973 to 1980, before joining Littlewoods initially as a buyer when, in 1994, she became the public relations manager and then, in 1995, the group corporate communications manager. She became a project coordinator in 1999, before she left Littlewoods in 2001, when she was appointed director at the Merseyside Centre for the Deaf.
She was a member of the Liverpool Health Authority and held the position of vice chair between 1994 and 1996. In 1996, she became chair of Liverpool Women's Hospital.<ref name="health">{{cite web|title=Rosie Cooper|url=http://www.healthinparliament.org.uk/people/rosie-cooper-mp|website=Health Select Committee|access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref>
She has also acted as a trustee of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.<ref name="health" />
==Liberal Democrats to Labour== Cooper was elected, aged 22, to the Liverpool City Council as a Liberal councillor in 1973 and, in 1992, became the Lord Mayor of Liverpool. She remained on the council until 2000.<ref>{{cite Hansard |jurisdiction= United Kingdom|title= Local Government Funding|url= https://hansard.parliament.uk//commons/2016-02-03/debates/16020361000001/LocalGovernmentFunding#contribution-16020361000132|house= House of Commons|date= 3 February 2016|column= 429WH|speaker= Rosie Cooper}}</ref>
She fought her first Westminster campaign at the 1983 general election when she was selected to contest the Conservative-held seat of Liverpool Garston as a Liberal. She finished in third place, more than 14,000 votes behind the winner, Labour's Eddie Loyden.
Next, Cooper contested the 1986 Knowsley North by-election, caused by the resignation of the Labour MP Robert Kilroy-Silk to become a television presenter. At the by-election, Labour retained the seat with George Howarth gaining a comfortable margin of 6,724 votes; when Cooper contested the seat again a few months later at the 1987 general election she finished 21,098 votes behind Howarth.
At the 1992 general election, now a Liberal Democrat, she was back in her native Liverpool, coming second at Liverpool Broadgreen 7,027 votes behind Labour's Jane Kennedy, but ahead of the former deselected Labour MP Terry Fields.
From 1973 to 1996, Cooper was councillor for the Broadgreen ward. From 1996 to 2000, Cooper represented the Allerton ward, before in 1999 she switched to the Labour Party, becoming a partymate to former general election opponents Loyden, Howarth and Kennedy, and stood in the Netherley ward in 2000, though she did not win and left the council that year. She contested the European Parliament elections in 2004 for Labour in the North West.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/2004/2004-election-candidates|title=2004 Election candidates|work=UK Office of the European Parliament|access-date=4 June 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004091828/http://www.europarl.org.uk/section/2004/2004-election-candidates|archive-date=4 October 2009}}</ref>
==Parliamentary career== Cooper became the Labour Party's candidate from an all-female short list, in the constituency of West Lancashire at the 2005 general election, following the retirement of the sitting MP Colin Pickthall. Cooper was first elected to the House of Commons at her fifth attempt and third party with a majority of 6,084. She made her maiden speech on 24 May 2005.<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm050524/debtext/50524-15.htm#50524-15_spnew1 Hansard], 24 May 2005</ref> In September 2005, Cooper, as part of the Labour Friends of Israel, made an official research visit to Israel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=11667|title=Changes to the Register of Members' Interests: Rosie Cooper|publisher=They Work For You|date=10 April 2018}}</ref> In September 2020, she was appointed a vice-chair of Labour Friends of Israel.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/labour-friends-of-israel-announces-six-new-vice-chairs-1.506332|title=Labour Friends of Israel announces six new vice-chairs|last=Harpin|first=Lee|date=9 September 2020|access-date=9 September 2020|work=The jewish Chronicle}}</ref>
Following her election in 2005, she became a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, and was part of the successful campaign that stopped the merger of the Southport and Ormskirk hospitals. In June 2006, she became parliamentary private secretary to <!-- Ennobled after standing down at the 2001 election. -->Lord Rooker, a Minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}
On 9 August 2006, ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote that Cooper had written to the Prime Minister's office reporting the viewpoint of some of her constituents expressed to her, that they would be appalled if Baroness Thatcher were to be given a state funeral, as a leader more politically divisive than others of the late twentieth century.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060822200226/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/09/nthatch09.xml "Blair attacked over veto on state funeral for Lady Thatcher"]. ''The Daily Telegraph''. London. 9 August 2006.</ref>
In 2007, she became parliamentary private secretary to Ben Bradshaw, initially when he was Minister of State in the Department of Health until 2009, when she remained his PPS when he was made Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. She is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Health Select Committee.<ref name="health" />
In February 2013, Cooper voted against the second reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-02-05 |title=MP-by-MP: Gay marriage vote |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-21346694 |access-date=2024-05-02 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Subsequently, in May 2013, the MP voted against the bill’s third and final reading,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Public Whip — Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill — Third Reading - 21 May 2013 at 18:59 |url=https://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2013-05-21&number=11&display=allpossible&sort=vote |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=www.publicwhip.org.uk}}</ref> opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.
On 26 October 2017, a 31-year-old man, Christopher Lythgoe, associated with the proscribed neo-Nazi terror group National Action, was charged with encouragement to murder Cooper, and was also charged along with six other men with being members of a proscribed organisation, contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.<ref>{{cite news |last=Perraudin |first=Frances |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/26/men-charged-members-banned-neo-nazi-group-national-action |title=Man charged with encouragement to murder an MP |work=The Guardian |location= London |date=26 October 2017|access-date=27 October 2017}}</ref> On 12 June 2018, Jack Renshaw, 23, of Skelmersdale, Lancashire, admitted in a guilty plea to buying a 48 cm (19 in) replica Roman Gladius sword (often wrongly referred to in the media as a machete) to kill Rosie Cooper the previous summer.<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/12/man-pleads-guilty-to-plot-to-labour-mp-rosie-cooper |title=Alleged neo-Nazi admits plotting murder of MP Rosie Cooper |last=Khomami |first=Nadia |date=12 June 2018 |newspaper=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=19 June 2018}}</ref> In July 2018, Lythgoe was jailed for eight years for being a member of the group and his part in the plot to murder Cooper.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/18/neo-nazi-group-national-action-members-jailed Two members of banned neo-Nazi group National Action jailed] Nadia Khomami, ''The Guardian'', 18 July 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2018.</ref>
Cooper was re-elected at the 2019 general election with a reduced majority.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 December 2019 |publication-date=22 November 2019 |title=General Election 2019: Results from the West Lancashire count |url=https://www.lep.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-2019-results-west-lancashire-count-1319776 |access-date=21 September 2022 |website=Lancashire Post |language=en}}</ref>
In 2020, Cooper called for the Nursing and Midwifery Council to be "replaced with a body which can instil confidence" after a nurse, who was found guilty of bullying, was only handed a 12-month suspension.<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 February 2020|title=NMC should be 'replaced with a body which can instil confidence', says MP|url=https://nursingnotes.co.uk/news/professional/nmc-replaced-body-instil-confidencemp/|access-date=27 May 2021|website=NursingNotes|language=en-GB}}</ref>
Cooper supported Lisa Nandy in the 2020 Labour leadership election.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wigantoday.net/news/politics/here-are-the-23-mps-backing-wigan-s-lisa-nandy-in-the-labour-party-leadership-contest-1-10193818|title=Here are the 23 MPs backing Wigan's Lisa Nandy in the Labour Party leadership contest|website=Wigan Today|language=en|access-date=9 February 2020}}</ref>
In June 2021, Cooper introduced a private members' bill which would give British Sign Language legal recognition and enhance its use in public services.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pyper |first1=Douglas |last2=Loft |first2=Philip |title=British Sign Language Bill |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9446/ |website=House of Commons Library |access-date=26 March 2022}}</ref> The bill was backed by the government in January 2022.<ref>{{cite news |title=Government pledges to make British Sign Language recognised language after bill by Lancashire MP |url=https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2022-01-28/pledge-to-make-british-sign-language-recognised-language |access-date=26 March 2022 |work=ITV News |date=28 January 2022}}</ref>
===Resignation=== In September 2022, Cooper announced she accepted a new role as chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and would resign as MP for West Lancashire triggering a by-election.<ref>{{cite news |title=Campaigning MP to chair foundation trust |url=https://www.hsjjobs.com/article/campaigning-mp-to-chair-foundation-trust |access-date=20 September 2022 |work=HSJJobs.com |date=20 September 2022}}</ref> She would be the first woman MP to vacate a seat for an actual paid office under the Crown and the first MP to do so since 1981, when Warrington's Thomas Williams was appointed a circuit judge.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/p11.pdf |archive-url=http://webarchive.parliament.uk/20150804144821/http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/p11.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-08-04 |title=The Chiltern Hundreds |publisher=House of Commons Information Office |page=3}}</ref>
In November, ''The Times'' reported that Cooper was delaying her resignation in order to secure a peerage,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Al-Othman |first1=Hannah |last2=Yorke |first2=Harry |title=Labour MP Rosie Cooper hangs on to seek peerage |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/labour-mp-rosie-cooper-hangs-on-to-seek-peerage-wds3bbj58 |work=The Times}}</ref> which prompted criticism from several figures such as Adrian Owens, leader of the Our West Lancashire party and former Conservative rival to Cooper in the 2010 general election who suggested that she was "inexcusably" absent from key votes in Parliament.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rosie Cooper MP must quit now after missing votes, councillor says |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-63621897 |website=BBC |date=14 November 2022 |access-date=15 November 2022}}</ref>
Cooper was appointed Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds on 30 November<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chancellor of the Exchequer |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/4227426 |access-date=6 December 2022 |website=The Gazette |date=30 November 2022}}</ref> and formally succeeded Beatrice Fraenkel as chair of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, stating that "representing West Lancashire in Parliament has been the greatest honour of my lifetime".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cooper |first1=Rosie |title=Rosie Cooper – 2022 Statement Standing Down as MP for West Lancashire |url=https://www.ukpol.co.uk/rosie-cooper-2022-statement-standing-down-as-mp-for-west-lancashire/ |website=ukpol.co.uk |access-date=1 December 2022 |date=30 November 2022 |publication-date=30 November 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{UK MP links |parliament=rosie-cooper/1538 |publicwhip=Rosie_Cooper |theywork=rosie_cooper}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050606224009/http://www.labour.org.uk/maps/locinfo.phtml?ctid=2354 The Labour Party – Rosie Cooper] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050508154924/http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-8760,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics – Rosie Cooper] * [https://archive.today/20060528215757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/mpdb/html/354.stm BBC Politics page] * {{C-SPAN|107372}}
===News items=== * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4775101.stm Thatcher's future funeral irks her in August 2006]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Colin Pickthall}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament for West Lancashire|years=2005–2022}} {{s-aft|after = Ashley Dalton}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Rosie}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century English women politicians Category:21st-century English women politicians Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool Category:English public relations people Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:Labour Friends of Israel Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors in Liverpool Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors in Liverpool Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) mayors Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Liberal Party (UK) councillors in Liverpool Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Mayors of Liverpool Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Lancashire Category:People from Old Swan Category:Politicians from Liverpool Category:Politics of the Borough of West Lancashire Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010–2015 Category:UK MPs 2015–2017 Category:UK MPs 2017–2019 Category:UK MPs 2019–2024 Category:Women councillors in England Category:Women mayors of places in England