Rt. Hon Patricia Hewitt MP - Former Secretary of State for Health
Rt.Hon Patricia Hewitt MP has been the Labour MP for Leicester West since 1997. She served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 1998 to 1999, and then as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from 2001 to 2005. After the 2005 General Election, Patricia was appointed by Tony Blair as Secretary of State for Health, a position she held until she stepped down in June 2007.
During her time as Health Secretary, Patricia oversaw the introduction of a number of substantial and often controversial reforms, such as the complete smoking ban in public places in England from July 2007. Prior to her career as an MP, she was heavily involved with the Labour Party, serving as Press Secretary to then Leader of the Opposition Neil Kinnock. She helped to found the Institute of Public Policy Research and served as its Deputy Director from 1989 to 1993, and then became Head of Research at Andersen Consulting from 1994 until her election to Parliament in 1997.
