Helen Clark

Helen Rosemary Clark (née Dyche; born 23 December 1954) is an English politician. She was the Labour Member of Parliament for the Peterborough constituency from 1997 until the 2005 general election, when she lost her seat to Conservative Stewart Jackson. She was elected to Parliament as Helen Brinton in the elections of 1997 and 2001, before taking her married name in the latter year. as the Labour candidate for Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. She was elected to parliament with a majority of 7,323, defeating; two future Members of the European Parliament; Jacqueline Foster and David Howarth.

Whilst in Parliament, Clark had an interest in wildlife issues and was a leading Labour voice in opposition to violent animal rights protests. She was a member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee and Broadcasting Select Committees; completed the NCVO parliamentary scheme with secondments to ASBAH and MIND and founded the All Party Wildlife Group. The Bill committees she sat on included Finance Bill, Water Bill and Countryside & Rights of Way Bill. but later opposed the Iraq War.

She was defeated for re-election in the 2005 general election by Conservative candidate Stewart Jackson. Three days after her defeat, she resigned from the Labour Party. In a letter to Labour Leader Tony Blair, she was critical of policies such as top-up fees and the Iraq War. Clark suggested that were Kenneth Clarke to win the Tory leadership she might be tempted to switch sides. However, it was subsequently reported she had not joined the Conservative Party, and did not intend to. She re-joined the Labour Party in 2010 and is a member of UNISON.

After parliament In April 2007, Clark was interviewed by The Observer. This was for an article about the female Labour MP's elected in the 1997 general election, known as Blair's Babes. She criticised the treatment of newly elected MPs by the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Since 2005 she has worked as Head of Policy & Campaigns for the Multiple Sclerosis Society; Interim Climate Change Advisor for the Association of British Insurers; Associate Consultant for the National Youth Agency and Assessor for the OCR examination board in addition to writing. Clark campaigns of availability of Alzheimers Drugs on the NHS. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Assessors.

Clark was involved in an incident in 2008 when video footage of her complaining to bar staff about their refusal to serve her was posted on YouTube. After Clark threatened legal action over the availability of the video, she was charged with public order offences. Clark was found guilty of using threatening words and behaviour. However, the conviction was quashed upon appeal.

Personal life She married Alan Clark, a political journalist with Meridian television, in August 2001. Clark has two children from her previous marriage.