Karen Buck

Karen Buck - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Karen Buck

Dame Karen Patricia Buck (born 30 August 1958) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Westminster North, and previously Regent's Park and Kensington North, from 1997 to 2024. She also served on Westminster City Council from 1990 to 1997. As of 2025, she chairs the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC).

This profile of Karen Buck covers Early Life and Family Background, Career and Rise to Fame, Political Views and Public Life and Post-Parliament.

Early Life and Family Background of Karen Buck

Born in Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, in 1958, Buck was educated at the Chelmsford County High School for Girls and the London School of Economics, from where she was awarded a BSc and an MSc in Economics, and an MA in Social Policy and Administration. Buck was briefly a Young Liberal.

Career and Rise to Fame of Karen Buck

Buck joined the Labour Party in 1978. The following year, she became a research and development worker with Outset, a charity working with disabled people, before joining Hackney London Borough Council in 1983, initially working for them as a senior disability officer, and from 1986 as a public health officer.

Buck first ran for election in the 1982 Barnet London Borough Council election, aged 23, as one of the three unsuccessful Labour candidates in the borough's Mill Hill ward (based around the area of that name). In 1986 she stood in Westminster City Council's Cavendish ward, an area straddling Marylebone and the West End of London. Despite the large increase in the Labour vote, all three seats were narrowly retained by the Conservatives, in a tightly contested election which saw Labour come close to winning the council.

She began working for the Labour Party in 1987 as a health directorate researcher, becoming a campaign strategy coordinator in 1992, a role she held until 1996. From 1988 to 1990, she was chair of Westminster North Constituency Labour Party (CLP).

She was elected to Westminster City Council in 1990, representing Queen's Park ward (situated around the area of that name) in a safe seat for her party. Buck remained on the council until shortly after her election to parliament in 1997, when she stood down. Whilst a councillor, she was involved in exposing the fraudulent behaviour of council leader Shirley Porter and the homes for votes scandal.

Career and Rise to Fame

Buck was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist, in a seat which was based largely on the former Westminster North constituency, held narrowly at the 1992 general election by the former Conservative minister John Wheeler. He retired, and Buck was elected at the 1997 general election as the Labour MP for Regent's Park and Kensington North with a majority of 14,657 (31%), on a night which saw a historic Labour landslide win. She made her maiden speech on 17 June 1997, and would serve continuously as an MP for 27 years, in constituencies which included the ward she represented as a councillor. In a 2005 profile, Buck was described as "A bright and humorous centre-left feminist" who "has the perfect New Labour pedigree." From 1998 to 2005, she chaired the London Group of Labour MPs.

Following her election to Parliament, she joined the Social Security Select committee, remaining on it until the 2001 general election. Despite a small decline in the Labour vote, she comfortably held the seat, with a majority of over 10,000 votes (and a 27.7% lead over her nearest rival).

Buck later joined the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which she was a member of until 2005. In 2001, her appointment as an Assistant Government Whip was announced without her knowledge and consent; she declined to take up the post. But she did become a member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in the wake of the 2005 general election, as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport. Despite a 6.3% swing to the Conservatives, and her vote share falling to 44.7%, she retained her seat with a majority of 6,131 (15.1%). Buck sat on the Home Affairs Select Committee from 2006 to 2010.

At the 2010 general election, she was elected as the MP for the newly recreated marginal seat of Westminster North, with a majority of 2,126 (5.4%) over Joanne Cash, the Conservative candidate, in a high-profile race. Following Labour's election defeat, Buck nominated Ed Miliband to succeed Gordon Brown, who had replaced Blair as Labour leader and prime minister. Miliband later won the party's 2010 leadership contest. During his tenure as Labour leader, Buck served as Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform from 2010 to 2011 and Further Education from 2011 to 2013. She was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Miliband, alongside Wayne David, in 2013, and continued in the position until 2015.

At the 2015 election, she was re-elected with a slightly decreased majority of 1,977 (5.0%), while Labour remained in opposition. Miliband resigned as leader, and Buck nominated Yvette Cooper in the resulting leadership election. Cooper came third, with Jeremy Corbyn becoming party leader; Buck did not serve in any posts during his leadership tenure. In July 2015, she was appointed to the Work and Pensions Committee, remaining on it until 2017. From 2015 to 2017, she was also a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and the Panel of Chairs.

In the 2016 Labour leadership election, when Corbyn was unsuccessfully challenged by Owen Smith, Buck nominated Smith. At the 2017 general election, Buck increased her majority by 14.7%, to 11,512 (26.6%), representing a 10.8% swing to Labour in the constituency.

Buck campaigned for 'Remain' in the 2016 European Union membership referendum, and voted against the triggering of Article 50 in Parliament. In a message posted on her website in November 2018, she wrote, "Most of my constituents know that I have always believed that Brexit would be a disaster and that no possible deal could replicate the advantages of our remaining in the EU." She continued, "And while I respect the deeply held views of many people who voted to leave, the fact remains that the 'Leave' campaign was based on a raft of promises which could never realistically be delivered, and a false prospectus was put before the British people."

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Buck), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.