This book describes Jenny Tonge’s journey from the pit banks and smoke of the Black Country in the post-war years, as a doctor working for thirty years in the NHS before she entered the House of Commons as MP for Richmond Park and became Spokesperson for International Development for the Liberal Democrats. In that role, she visited war zones in the Middle East, natural disasters in Africa and the Caribbean, and after a family tragedy, she went to the red leather benches of the House of Lords.
As the story unfolds, Jenny discovers the issues that she cares deeply about, remembering all those influences on her life that led her to her ultimate goals: fighting for women’s reproductive rights in developing countries; and defending human rights worldwide, most famously (and controversially) in Palestine.
Be warned. It is not a standard political memoir or autobiography.
‘From the Pit Banks to the Red Benches’ features a foreword by Lord David Steel, the last leader of the Liberal Party before it merged with the Social Democrats.
Зміст
Foreword by David Steel
Prologue African Mist
Chapter 1 Childhood
Chapter 2 Growing Up
Chapter 3 Origins
Chapter 4 Liberation
Chapter 5 Following My Man
Chapter 6 Into Politics
Chapter 7 Honourable Member
Chapter 8 International Development
Chapter 9 Montserrat
Chapter 10 Constituency Tales
Chapter 11 Into Africa
Chapter 12 Domes
Chapter 13 The Poorest People on Earth
Chapter 14 The Jewel in the Crown
Chapter 15 Off the SCID
Chapter 16 Big Smoke 9/11
Chapter 17 Return to Africa
Chapter 18 Drums of War
Chapter 19 The Unholy Land
Chapter 20 Darkness
Chapter 21 Lords and Ladies
Chapter 22 Coalition Blues
Chapter 23 Chair of Pop and Sex
Chapter 24 The Great Abortion Debate
Chapter 25 FGM and Child Marriage
Chapter 26 Better Off Dead
Chapter 27 Epilogue
Про автора
Jenny graduated as a medical doctor from University College London in 1964. Subsequently, she worked for over 30 years in the NHS, her speciality being sexual and reproductive health and women’s health care.
After eight years as a local councillor in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, she was elected to parliament in 1997 as MP for Richmond Park.
She stood down from the House of Commons in 2004 after her daughter was killed in an electrical accident, leaving two small boys. The following year, she was offered a life peerage in recognition of her work as the Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for International Development and entered the House of Lords as Baroness Tonge of Kew.
She continued her interest in international development in the Lords, in parallel with women’s health in developing countries.
As Chair of the all-party group for Population Development and Reproductive Health, she put pressure on the Department for International Development to make family planning a top priority, which it became.
She first became interested in the Palestine/Israel issue during a visit to Israel and the occupied territories of Palestine (including Gaza) in 2003, which she described as ‘a life-changing experience’.
Since then, she has been an outspoken and controversial figure for her continuing support of the Palestinian people and her frank criticism of the Israeli government.
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