Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Yvette Cooper was appointed as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in January 2008 after serving in a number of Ministerial posts in the Department for Communities and Local Government, previously the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. She was appointed Housing Minister in June 2007 and has attended Cabinet since then.
From May 2002 to June 2003 she was Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department and from October 1999 she was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health.
She has been Member of Parliament for Pontefract and Castleford since 1 May 1997. Before being appointed as Health Minister, Ms Cooper was a Member of the Education and Employment Select Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Ms Cooper was previously economics columnist and leader writer for the Independent. She worked as policy advisor to Labour's Treasury Team in opposition between 1990-94 and as policy advisor to the Bill Clinton Presidential Campaign in 1992.
She was educated at Eggars Comprehensive, Alton Sixth Form College, Oxford University, Harvard University and the London School of Economics.
She is married to Ed Balls MP, and they have three children.
Internal links
Index of speeches by the Chief Secretary
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