Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles

The Right Honourable The Baroness Lestor of Eccles
Shadow Minister for Overseas Development
In office 20 October 1994 – 25 July 1996
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Tom Clarke
Succeeded by	Clare Short
Shadow Spokesperson for Children and Families
In office 2 November 1989 – 20 October 1994
Leader	Neil Kinnock John Smith
Chair of the Labour Party
In office 7 October 1977 – 6 October 1978
Leader	James Callaghan
Preceded by	John Chalmers
Succeeded by	Frank Allaun
Member of Parliament for Eccles
In office 11 June 1987 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Lewis Carter-Jones
Succeeded by	Ian Stewart
Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough
In office 31 March 1966 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Anthony Meyer
Succeeded by	Constituency Abolished
Personal details
Born	13 November 1931
Died	27 March 1998 (aged 66)
Political party	Labour
Other political affiliations	Socialist Party
Alma mater	University of London

Joan Lestor, Baroness Lestor of Eccles (13 November 1931 – 27 March 1998) was a British Labour politician.

Lestor was educated at Blaenavon Secondary School, Monmouth; William Morris High School, Walthamstow and the University of London. She became a nursery school teacher and a member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, but resigned from the latter over the Turner Controversy. She became a councillor in 1958 on the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth and later the London Borough of Wandsworth. She served on London County Council (1962–64).

Lestor contested Lewisham West in 1964 and was elected Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough in 1966.

She was briefly a junior minister from 1969–70 with responsibility for nursery education. In March 1974 she became the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and in June 1975 moved back to Education as Under-Secretary of State, for Education and Science. In March 1976 she resigned over cuts.

Lestor was one of the founding editors of anti-fascist monthly, Searchlight, though that magazine had only a tenuous connection to the current publication.

After boundary changes in 1983, Lestor contested the new constituency of Slough but was defeated by the Conservative candidate John Watts. Neil Kinnock, who would become leader of the Labour Party shortly after the election said he was "heartbroken" by Lestor's defeat. Lestor blamed the SDP for her defeat. No longer an MP, Lestor worked for the World Development Movement, campaigning for child welfare and setting up a unit to investigate child abuse, including sexual abuse, an area neglected by mainstream politicians at the time.

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