Pat Glass

Patricia Glass (born 14 February 1957) is an English Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 2010 to 2017. She was appointed Shadow Education Secretary on 27 June 2016 by Jeremy Corbyn, but resigned two days later after announcing that she would be standing down at the next United Kingdom general election.

Early life and career

She was born in Esh Winning, County Durham. Before becoming an MP, Glass worked in various positions with local education authorities, and became a Government Education Adviser specialising in Special Needs Education, and Assistant Director of Education in Sunderland and Greenwich.

Glass was elected as a councillor on Lanchester Parish Council in 2007. Subsequently she was selected as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, with the retirement of Hilary Armstrong at the 2010 general election.

Political career

Glass was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham. Her particular interest is education and she has sat on the Education Select Committee

In 2014, Glass accused rival politicians in Parliament of "orchestrated barracking" of women with regional accents, saying "I get the impression they think women who are northerners should not be there."

In September 2015, Glass was appointed as Shadow Education Minister with responsibility for childcare by the new Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. On 5 January 2016, she was named the Shadow Europe Minister after Corbyn had conducted the first reshuffle of his shadow cabinet.

Glass took a prominent role in Labour's campaign to remain in the EU in the June 2016 referendum campaign. On 19 May 2016, she apologised after calling a member of the public in Sawley, Derbyshire "a horrible racist", which was caught at the end of a radio interview recording and reported by the media. She also added "I'm never coming back to wherever this is".

At a Labour rally she suggested voters try to persuade their mothers and grandmothers to vote to stay in, but joked they didn't bother with their grandfathers because "the problem is older white men". She reported having received death threats during the referendum campaign, and on the advice of the police did not attend the referendum count.

In June 2016, Glass was appointed Shadow Education Secretary following the resignation of Lucy Powell and several other Cabinet ministers in protest at Corbyn's leadership during the EU referendum. The next day, Glass announced that she will not stand as the Labour candidate at the next General Election. The day after that, she resigned as Shadow Education Secretary, saying that the "situation is untenable", and making the statement:

While I had always intended to do more than two terms in Parliament I have found the last six months very, very difficult. The referendum has been incredibly divisive, it divided families and communities and I have found it bruising in many respects. It has had an impact on both me and my family as I am sure it has had on many others.

Glass has indicated her intention to stand down at the 2017 general election, citing the 'bruising referendum' as a major cause.