Dame Angela Eagle DBE is the Labour MP for Wallasey, having first been elected at the 1992 general election.  

In the 2024 general election, Eagle received 24,674 votes, representing 57.7% of the vote share. The Reform UK candidate received 6,678 votes (15.6%), while the Conservative candidate secured 4,987 votes (11.7%). Eagle was duly elected with a majority of 17,996.  

The Wallasey constituency covers the northern tip of the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside, including the communities of Wallasey, Seacombe, New Brighton, Liscard, Leasowe, and Moreton. Although represented by the Conservative Party from 1918 until 1992, the seat is now considered safe for Labour. Dame Angela’s immediate predecessor was Dame Lynda Chalker of the Conservative Party.

Political Career

Eagle currently serves as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Eagle was appointed to this role in July 2026, following the Labour leadership contest and Andy Burnham’s elevation as prime minister.

Eagle served as security minister in the Home Office from June to July 2026. Her appointment to this role followed the resignation of John Healey as secretary of state for defence. She replaced Dan Jarvis as security minister, who succeeded Healey as defence secretary.

Eagle has extensive frontbench experience in both government and opposition.

Previously, Eagle served as a minister of state in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2025-2026). She was appointed to this role in the September 2025 ministerial reshuffle. Eagle served as minister of state for border security and asylum at the Home Office from July 2024 to September 2025.

Under the previous Labour governments, she served as minister of state for pensions and ageing society (2009-2010), exchequer secretary to the Treasury (2007-2009), and held parliamentary under-secretary of state roles at the Home Office (2001-2002), the Department of Social Security (1998-2001), and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1997-1998).

During Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as Labour leader, she was shadow first secretary of state (2015-2016) and shadow secretary of state for business, innovation and skills (2015-2016).

In June 2016, Dame Angela was among those to resign from the shadow frontbench in protest at Corbyn’s leadership and his approach to the EU referendum. In her resignation letter, Eagle said the Labour Party needed a leader who could “unite rather than divide”.

She wrote: “I was devastated by the result of the EU referendum. Too many of our supporters were taken in by right-wing arguments and I believe this happened, in part, because under your leadership the case to remain in the EU was made with half-hearted ambivalence rather than full-throated clarity.”

She added: “In such turbulent times, we need a Leader who can unite rather than divide the Labour Party. We need a leader who can hold the Tories to account, provide a genuine alternative, and who can convince the country that we understand their concerns and aspirations.

“We need a leader who can heal the deep divisions in our country, stand up for our communities, and ultimately to keep our United Kingdom together.”

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Eagle went on to launch her own bid for her party’s leadership after Corbyn lost the vote of no-confidence among Labour MPs that followed the June 2016 mass resignations.

Eagle officially launched a leadership challenge to Corbyn on 11 July 2016, vowing to unite the Labour Party. Eagle said she would not have stood for leader “if I did not think I could be a good prime minister for Britain.”

Eagle said she would “not stand back and allow Britain to become a one-party Tory state”.

“It’s about giving hope to people all over the country that Labour can be an alternative government, ready and equipped to serve.”

She added: “I will unite, I will not divide. I can bring our party together again.”

On 19 July 2016, Eagle withdrew from the race and declared her support for rival Corbyn-challenger Owen Smith, who had accumulated more support among Labour MPs. Smith was nominated by 88 MPs and two MEPs – around 20 more than Eagle – among them were prominent figures Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader; Dame Margaret Beckett, the former foreign secretary; and Rachel Reeves, another former frontbencher. Smith had sought to position himself slightly to the left of Eagle, stressing his anti-austerity standing and opposition to the Iraq War, which Eagle had backed.

Eagle said that her decision to stand aside and support Smith’s campaign was “in the best interests of the party”.

She said: “[Smith and I] are in lock-step together, arguing for a united Labour Party. We have a Labour Party at the moment that is not working, we’ve got a leader that doesn’t have the confidence of his MPs and isn’t reaching out to the country.

“We need to have a strong and united party so we can be a good opposition, take the fight to the Conservative government and heal our country. So I am announcing that I will be supporting Owen in that endeavour with all my enthusiasm and might.”

Neil Kinnock, the former Labour leader, praised Eagle for “a real leadership decision showing her courage, mature judgement and dedication to the party.”

Corbyn was ultimately re-elected as Labour leader with 61.8% of the party membership vote. Smith secured just 38.2%.

In late July 2016, Eagle accused Corbyn of contributing to a “permissive environment” whereby MPs opposed to the then-Labour leadership faced abuse. The comments came after Eagle was advised by the police to cancel constituency surgeries due to abuse. Meanwhile, the day after Eagle declared her leadership challenge, a brick was thrown through the window of her Wallasey constituency office.

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Eagle told the Daily Telegraph of the abuse she had received: “I think [Corbyn] has contributed to this. It’s all very well to condemn it, but there’s a permissive environment. You can make any number of ritual condemnations as you like but you have got to be judged by your actions, not just words.

“He has been stirring. He needs to be held to account. We have contacted the police and they have said we should cancel surgeries for safety reasons. I’m afraid for my staff. It’s them that have been up there, not me. It’s them that have had to field the calls.”

Eagle also stood in the 2015 Labour deputy leadership contest. She finished fourth out of five candidates. Eagle secured just 16.2% and 17.9% in the first and second rounds respectively.

Under Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour Party, Eagle served as shadow leader of the House of Commons (2011-2015) and shadow chief secretary to the Treasury (2010-2011).

In a 2011 session of prime minister’s questions, then-PM David Cameron infamously instructed Eagle to “calm down, dear” – a remark that sparked uproar within the Labour Party. At the time, a party spokesperson condemned the comment as “sexist, insulting and patronising.”

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Harriet Harman, then Labour’s deputy leader, commented: “David Cameron’s contemptuous response to Angela Eagle MP at prime minister’s questions today shows his patronising and outdated attitude to women.

“Women in Britain in the 21st century do not expect to be told to ‘calm down, dear’ by their prime minister.”

Eagle herself told BBC News of the incident: “I don’t think any modern man would have expressed himself in that way.

“The prime minister is responsible for what he says in the commons. I think if there is an apology to make, it should be for the dreadful growth figures we have seen today, which demonstrated that the economy has effectively flatlined for six months.”

Eagle also served as an opposition whip from June 1996 to May 1997 – the final year of Tony Blair’s tenure as leader of the opposition.

Dame Angela was a member of the House of Commons Treasury committee from January 2003 to November 2007, and again from March 2020 to May 2024. She served on the public accounts committee from November 1995 to November 1996, and again from November 2007 to October 2009.

Eagle was also a member of the panel of chairs from June 2020 to May 2024. The panel of chairs is made up of those MPs chosen by the House of Commons speaker, typically at the beginning of every parliament, to chair public bill committees and other commons general committees. In this capacity, Eagle also chaired debates in Westminster Hall.

Eagle is a patron of LGBT+ Labour – a socialist society formally affiliated with the Labour Party.

Eagle delivered her maiden speech on 11 May 1992 during a debate on the Queen’s speech. In it, she said: “It will not surprise Conservative [MPs] if I say that there are many aspects of the gracious speech with which I cannot agree.

“Of its proposals, the attempt to privatise British Rail and British Coal are among the most objectionable. Other [MPs] have spoken in more detail about their objections to those proposals and I intend to confine myself to a few comments about the principle of privatisation itself.

“I see little merit in it. Indeed, I believe it is driven by the ideological obsessions of the Conservatives and lacks a firm empirical or theoretical justification.”

Eagle was awarded a Damehood (DBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for parliamentary and political service.  

Political Views

Launching her bid for the Labour leadership in 2016, Eagle declared: “I’m not a Blairite. I’m not a Brownite. I’m not a Corbynista. I am my own woman.”

Diane Abbott, the then-shadow health secretary and close Corbyn ally, labelled Eagle the “Empire Strikes Back candidate” – a reference to the Star Wars film of the same name.

Abbott commented: “I think she’s the Empire Strikes Back candidate. She voted for [the Iraq War], she voted for tuition fees.”

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During her 2015 bid for the Labour deputy leadership, Eagle said her party must be willing to challenge “economic orthodoxies and trickle-down economics”.

She stated: “Labour must be the answer to a prosperous and successful economy in a 21st century world where past success is no guarantee of future fortune. This means the whole country being rich with opportunity north and south, east and west.

“We have to challenge current economic orthodoxies and trickle-down economics head on. We must never be against wealth creation but we can be against tax evasion and we can insist on fair rules for those at the top as well as those at the bottom of the income scale. Labour must also be at the forefront of building a new economic settlement rooted in rewarding innovation and skills. This new economy needs to be based on developing opportunities for all our people.”

In an interview with the New Statesman, published July 2014, Eagle said Labour needed a “decisive break” with neo-liberalism.

She said: “The need for a decisive break with the Thatcherite policies of the past is fairly obvious to anyone who looks at what happened to the neoliberal model of economics and politics. We are a progressive party, we don’t want things to stay the same in terms of people’s access to a fair society and social justice.

“We’ve seen social justice rolled back in the last four years, 60 years of progress under threat from some of the decisions that the Conservative-led government have made.”

Leadership elections and loyalty

Labour deputy leadership 2025: Eagle was one of 117 Labour MPs who nominated Lucy Powell for the party’s deputy leadership in September 2025. The election followed the resignation of Angela Rayner, who stepped down as deputy prime minister and deputy party leader after an investigation into her tax affairs. It marked the first time since 2007 that Labour had held a deputy leadership contest while in government.

Powell, the former leader of the House of Commons, was seen as a candidate representing the party’s “soft left”; she was support by leading soft left figures including Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham. She secured 117 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), above the 80 required, and went on to win the election – defeating Bridget Phillipson with 54.3% of the vote.

Labour leadership 2020: Eagle was one of 82 Labour MPs who nominated Keir Starmer for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.

Starmer’s 82 nominations were the highest of any candidate. The shadow Brexit secretary won a decisive victory in the first round with 56.2% of the vote, defeating Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy.

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Labour leadership 2015: Eagle was one of 26 Labour MPs who did not nominate any candidate for the party’s leadership in June 2015. The election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband following the 2015 general election defeat and was the first to be conducted under the “one member, one vote” system. The contest eventually saw Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran backbencher, win a landslide victory in the first round with 59.5% of the vote, defeating Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.

Corbyn loyalty list: In March 2016, Eagle was labelled as “neutral but not hostile” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty.

Labour leadership 2010: Eagle was one of 81 Labour MPs who nominated David Miliband for the party’s leadership in May 2010. The election followed the resignation of Gordon Brown, who stepped down as prime minister and Labour leader after the 2010 general election.

Miliband, the former foreign secretary, was seen as closely aligned with the New Labour project – a Blairite figure. He secured 81 nominations from the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), comfortably exceeding the 33 required to reach the final ballot, but was narrowly defeated by his brother, Ed Miliband, in the final round by 50.7% to 49.3%.

Brexit and Europe

Brexit referendum: Angela Eagle supported the Remain campaign in the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU), and therefore agreed with a majority of constituents, 50.1% of whom also voted to Remain.

Article 50: In February 2017, Eagle voted in favour of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading.

Welfare

Welfare vote (July 2025): Eagle voted in favour of the government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.

Assisted dying

Eagle in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Eagle voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Same-sex marriage (2013): In February 2013, Eagle voted in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. The landmark piece of legislation, which received its second reading by 400 votes to 175, legalised marriage for same-sex couples in England and Wales.

Foreign policy and security

Trident renewal (2016): Eagle voted in favour of a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons. Labour was split over the issue with 140 of its 230 MPs going against leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the motion.

Syria airstrikes (2015): Eagle voted in favour of a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a 10-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.

Syria airstrikes (2013): Eagle voted against the government’s motion on the principle of military intervention in Syria in August 2013. The government motion was defeated by 285 votes to 272, a move which effectively ruled out UK participation in any US-led military strikes.

Iraq War authorisation vote (2003): In March 2003, Eagle voted in favour of the government motion authorising military action against Iraq. The vote, one of the most contentious in recent parliamentary history, gave the prime minister, Tony Blair, the authority to join the US-led invasion.

Palestine

Palestinian recognition vote (2014): In October 2014, Eagle was one of 192 Labour MPs who voted in favour of recognising Palestine as a state. The motion, passed by 274 votes to 12, called on the government to “recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution”.

Before Politics

Born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, on 17 February 1961, Angela Eagle was educated at Formby High School.

She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at St John’s College, Oxford University, graduating in 1983. While at Oxford, she chaired the Oxford University Fabian Society.  

After graduating, she worked for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in its economic directorate from 1984. She later joined the Confederation of Health Service Employees (COHSE, now part of Unison), holding research, press, and parliamentary liaison roles until the late 1980s.  

Dame Angela was elected secretary for the Peckham Constituency Labour Party (CLP) in 1989.

Personal Life

Eagle’s identical twin sister, Maria Eagle, is also a Labour MP, first elected in 1997. They were the first set of female twins to be elected to the UK parliament.  

In 2024, PinkNews listed Eagle among a number of out LGBTQ+ parliamentarians.

Dame Angela came out as lesbian in a newspaper interview in 1997, becoming the second openly lesbian MP after Maureen Coloquahn in the 1970s.

Her domestic partner is Maria Exall, who is involved with Labour through the National Committee.

Trivia

Eagle is an accomplished chess player. She represented England at international level and was the joint winner of the British girls’ under-18 chess championship in 1976.

Upon her election in 1992, Eagle was the first Labour MP for her Wallasey constituency.