Maureen Hicks
| Maureen Patricia Hicks | |
|---|---|
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Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton North East |
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In office 11 June 1987 – 8 April 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Renee Short |
| Succeeded by | Ken Purchase |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Maureen Patricia Cutler 23 February 1948 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Keith Hicks (m. 1973) |
| Children | Two, a son and a daughter |
Maureen Patricia Hicks, née Cutler, (born 23 February 1948) was the Conservative Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom for Wolverhampton North East from 1987 to 1992.
Hicks was educated at Furzedown College of Education.
From 1969 to 1970, as Maureen Cutler, she was a secondary school teacher of drama and English. She was also a lecturer. From 1970 to 1974 she was an assistant staff manager at Marks and Spencer. From 1974 to 1976, she was an assistant area education officer.
Maureen Hicks was heavily involved in local tourism at Stratford-upon-Avon, whilst realising the necessity to remain sensitive to the needs of the local residents. She was a former member of the Heart of England Tourist Board executive, and director of Stratford-upon-Avon Motor Museum from 1976 to 1982. In 1978 she helped to form Stratford-upon-Avon and District Marketing, which brought together hotels, retailers and attractions with District Council support.
She served as a councillor in Stratford upon Avon District Council from 1979 to 1984.
In the 1987 general election, Hicks stood as the Conservative candidate for the Wolverhampton North East constituency. It had been a Labour seat for many years but had become marginal in the 1983 Conservative landslide. The constituency's previous Labour MP, Renee Short, had retired and was replaced as Labour candidate by Ken Purchase. Despite the small overall national swing to Labour, Hicks gained the seat against the tide with a swing of 0.5% to the Conservatives, winning by just 204 votes (0.4% of the total).
Once a Member of Parliament, Hicks made her maiden speech on 1 December 1987, during a House of Commons debate on an Education Reform Bill. She was a member of the Conservative backbench tourism committee until 1990, and a member of the Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts. For the remainder of her time in the House of Commons, she was a parliamentary private secretary for the Earl of Caithness and for Mark Lennox-Boyd, Minister of State and Under Secretary of State respectively for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
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