The Jacqui Smith Edition
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Jacqui Smith was born in Malvern, where she joined the Labour party aged 16. After graduating from Oxford, Jacqui moved to London and worked briefly as a parliamentary researcher but trained to be a teacher and became head of economics. The temptation to electoral politics eventually pulled her back. Having failed the first time, Jacqui became the MP for Redditch in 1997 \\u2013 labeled one of \\u2018Blair\\u2019s babes\\u2019.\\xa0
\\nWithin two years, Jacqui joined the government, and under Gordon Brown, she became the first female Home Secretary, a post she later described as a \\u2019poisoned chalice\\u2019 to her successor. She resigned over a dispute related to parliamentary expenses, spending a few years as backbench MP. Since leaving politics Jacqui has served as Chair on several public and private posts. Now she co-hosts the LBC weekly show with Iain Dale and chairs two NHS trusts.
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\\nWithin two years, Jacqui joined the government, and under Gordon Brown, she became the first female Home Secretary, a post she later described as a \\u2019poisoned chalice\\u2019 to her successor. She resigned over a dispute related to parliamentary expenses, spending a few years as backbench MP. Since leaving politics Jacqui has served as Chair on several public and private posts. Now she co-hosts the LBC weekly show with Iain Dale and chairs two NHS trusts.