Edwina Currie

Edwina Currie
Currie in 2014
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
In office
10 September 1986 – 16 December 1988
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byJohn Major
Succeeded byRoger Freeman
Member of Parliament
for South Derbyshire
In office
9 June 1983 – 8 April 1997
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byMark Todd
Personal details
Born
Edwina Cohen

(1946-10-13) 13 October 1946 (age 77)
Liverpool, England
Political partyConservative
Spouses
  • Ray Currie
    (m. 1972; div. 2001)
  • John Jones
    (m. 2001; died 2020)
Children2, including Debbie
Residence(s)Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire, England
Alma mater

Edwina Currie (née Cohen; born 13 October 1946) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician, serving as Conservative Party Member of Parliament for South Derbyshire from 1983 until 1997. She was a Junior Health Minister for two years, resigning in 1988 during the salmonella-in-eggs controversy.

By the time Currie lost her seat as an MP in 1997, she had begun a new career as a novelist and broadcaster. She is the author of six novels, and has also written four works of non-fiction. In September 2002, the publication of Currie's Diaries (1987–92) caused a sensation, as they revealed a four-year affair with colleague (and later Prime Minister) John Major between 1984 and 1988. Currie's record as Junior Health Minister was heavily scrutinised in the 2010s, and to a lesser extent at the time, for her decision to hire Jimmy Savile as chairman of Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, where it is now known he molested and raped mentally unstable patients. Currie previously expressed her "full confidence" in him.[1][2][3]

Currie remains an outspoken public figure, with a reputation for being "highly opinionated,"[4] and currently earns her living as an author and media personality.

  1. ^ Davies, Caroline; Mason, Rowena (27 June 2014). "Jimmy Savile: detailed investigation reveals reign of abuse across NHS". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ The Earl of Dundee (7 November 1988). "Mentally Ill Offenders: Treatment". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). HL Deb 7 November 1988 vol 501 c525. Archived from the original on 18 January 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Edwina Currie – 'nothing to hide' on Savile". BBC News. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Currie: From Parliament to print" Archived 9 January 2006 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News Online, 28 September 2002.

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