Kitty - house trained

Kitty Ussher , 36 was elected as MP for Burnley in 2005 with a majority of 5,778.

She was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Margaret Hodge , the Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry until 29 June 2007. In Gordon Brown's first reshuffle she was appointed as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, succeeding Ed Balls. From 2005 - 2006 she was a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

Kitty was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School (Paulinas include Harriett Harman, Susan Kramer, Stephanie Flanders, Shirley Williams, Rachael Johnson (Boris's sister)) , Balliol College, Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, and Birkbeck College, London, where she took a Master's in Economics (in the evenings).

Prior to her election she worked as chief economist for Britain in Europe and as an economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Centre for European Reform. In addition she has worked as secretary to Paul Boateng and as researcher to MPs Martin O’Neill, Kim Howells and Adam Ingram. In 2001 she was appointed as special adviser to Patricia Hewitt in the Department of Trade and Industry.

She served as a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth for Vassall ward from 1998 to 2002.

She is married to Pete Colle an accountant ; they have one daughter. Thye live in LOndon but have a home in Burnley where her first daughter was born 1 month after the 2005 election.

Ussher is niece of Peter Bottomley, MP, and (many generations back) a descendant of Archbishop James Ussher. Burnley elected her cousin Gerald Archibald Arbuthnot as MP in 1910.

Kitty likes walking the moors of Burnley and supporting (as does / did Alastair Campbell) Burnley Football Club. Ho.Ho.Ho.

“The previous City Minister, Ed Balls, was a great champion of the City. I intend to be the same. The financial services industry in London, Edinburgh or Leeds faces many challenges as the pace of globalisation accelerates. My role is to work with the industry to ensure the competitiveness of the City is increased as these challenges are met and that it builds on its existing position as the world’s leading international financial centre.” Times

More later ....