Women’s Parliamentary Radio election features for 2010

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Women’s Parliamentary Radio

For immediate release

May 14^th 2010

Women’s Parliamentary Radio election features for 2010

Women’s Parliamentary Radio has completed its profile of the General Election of 2010 with three new features interviewing the newly elected women to Westminster, across party, and those in charge of election night itself.

This follows our profile of the four women PPCs who fought for one seat Brighton Pavilion – eventually won by Caroline Lucas of the Green Party! And our “exclusive” coverage of the Liberal Democrats hustings in Cambridge at the beginning of the year when the party selected a new candidate Julia Huppert from a gender balanced short-list. Julian went on to win Cambridge for his party.

The new faces on the block!

Helen Grant MP Conservative and Rushanara Ali MP Labour.

Helen Grant the Conservative MP for Maidstone & The Weald and Rushanara Ali the Labour MP for Bethnal Green & Bow are two of the new faces at Westminster. Helen is the first black female MP for the Conservative Party and Rushanara Ali is the first Bangladeshi MP.

They are two of the 142 women MPs in Westminster, an increase of 16, just 22 per cent of the total, and both have already compiled a “list” of the issues they will champion on behalf of other women and their constituencies. Boni Sones OBE, Executive Producer, spoke to them shortly after they attended a photocall in Westminster Hall of all the new faces.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party and the 2010 Election result for women

Congratulations to Caroline Lucas the first Green MP to be elected to Westminster for Brighton Pavilion and the only woman leader of a party in Britain.

Caroline is interviewed here by Anne Garvey and Boni Sones OBE for a special feature on her work.

There are now 142 women MPs in Westminster, 22 per cent of the total of 649, an increase of 16. The number of female Conservative MPs went from 18 to 48. Labour now has 81 women MPs, down 13, and the Lib Dems have 7, down 2. Congratulations to Labour’s first three Muslim women Shabana Mahmood, Yasmin Qureshi and Rushanara Ali and Chi Onwurah the first woman of African descent to win a seat. For the Conservative’s Helen Grant is the first black female MP, and congratulations too to Priti Patel, the daughter of a Ugandan refugee.

A Day in the Life of a CEO and Town Clerk on Election day

They’re off. It’s the day of the General Election and Antoinette Jackson is the Chief Executive of Cambridge City Council, one of a few women who run councils in Britain. She’s spent months planning the fine detail of getting voters registered, staffing the 42 polling booths and getting volunteers to count the votes after the polls close at 10 pm. The results will be declared about 2.30 to 3am in the morning. Accuracy, says Ms Jackson, is essential. And there’s local elections too. She spoke to our Executive Producer of wpradio.co.uk, Boni Sones OBE.

And eight-year-old Imogen Rodgers, has managed to read ALL the election literature that has come through her door. Boni caught up with Imogen at the Good Shepherd Church Hall.

The candidates in Cambridge were: Martin Booth, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition; Peter Burkinshaw, UK Independence Party; Nick Hillman, Conservative; Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat; Tony Juniper, Green Party; Holborn Old, Independent; Daniel Zeichner, Labour.