Long-serving Labour MP Margaret Hodge to step down at next election

The long-serving Labour MP Margaret Hodge has said she intends to step down prior to the next general election.

She told party members via video message, due to the cancellation of the in-person meeting, that her proudest moment in the constituency was defeating the British National Party & telling them to “pack their bags and go”.

“That is absolutely still stamped on my heart,” she explained.

Hodge was first elected as the Labour Party MP for Barking after a 1994 by-election being reelected in 2019 with a majority of 15,427.

Hodge served in the lower ranks of the Blair and Brown government between 1998 and 2010, variously as Minister for Children, Minister for Universities, and Minister of State for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism.

Between 2010 and 2015, Hodge was Chair of the powerful Commons Public Accounts Select Committee.  She was made a Dame in 2015.

Born in 1944, Hodge was educated at the London School of Economics.  She worked as a consultant for Price Waterhouse before becoming an MP.

Prior to entering Westminster, Hodge was also the high profile Labour Leader of Islington Council in the 1990s.

Hodge was highly critical of Jeremy Corbyn during his time as Labour leader and in particular of the party’s problems with antisemitism.  She survived an attempt to deselect her as a Labour MP in 2019.  She backed Jess Phillips in the 2020 Labour leadership election.

Margaret Hodge is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Anti-Corruption and Responsible Tax. She is Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on War Crimes; and Antisemitism.

Hodge is Chair of Royal Holloway’s College Council, at the University of London.