Rosie Barnes
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Rosie Barnes OBE |
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|---|---|
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Member of Parliament for Greenwich |
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In office 26 February 1987 – 9 April 1992 |
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| Preceded by | Guy Barnett |
| Succeeded by | Nick Raynsford |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
16 May 1946 Nottingham, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Independent Social Democrat 1990 – 1992 |
| Other political affiliations |
'continuing' SDP 1987 – 1990; Social Democratic Party 1981 – 1987 |
Rosemary Susan Barnes, OBE (née Allen; born 16 May 1946) is an English charity organiser and former politician. She became nationally known when she won a by-election in 1987 for the Social Democratic Party.
Rosemary Allen was born in Nottingham and educated at Bilborough Grammar School there, and at the University of Birmingham, where she graduated in Social Sciences and History in 1967. The same year she married Graham Barnes, an old school friend, who later became an accountant and investment company director. They have two sons and one daughter. After briefly becoming a teacher, she worked as a freelance market research consultant.
Having been a Labour voter, although never a member, when the Social Democratic Party was formed in 1981 Barnes and her husband joined it as founder members because they were opposed to the Labour Party's leftward move. She served on the Council for Social Democracy from 1982 as the delegate from Greenwich, and was an SDP candidate in Woolwich in the Inner London Education Authority elections in May 1986.
Barnes was selected as SDP candidate for Greenwich in December 1986 after the previous candidate stood down, saying he did not want to be a "paper candidate" because the local SDP had decided to concentrate its efforts on keeping John Cartwright's seat in Woolwich. On Christmas Eve 1986, the Labour MP for the constituency (Guy Barnett) died, precipitating a by-election. The local Labour Party selected a left-wing candidate, and the Greenwich by-election held in February 1987 saw a deluge of canvassers, including many members of the Liberal Party, come from near and far to help her win the seat. Her husband, who in 1986 had become an SDP local councillor in Greenwich, acted as her agent at the subsequent 1987 general election four months later when she was returned.
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