Barbara Keeley
MP
Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Social Care
Assumed office
7 October 2016
Leader Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Luciana Berger
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office
9 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Chris Bryant
Succeeded by David Heath
Member of Parliament
for Worsley and Eccles South
Worsley (2005–2010)
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded by Terry Lewis
Majority 5,946 (14.1%)
Personal details
Born (1952-03-26) 26 March 1952 (age 72)
Website Official website


Barbara Mary Keeley (born 26 March 1952) is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Worsley and Eccles South. She was Deputy Leader of the House of Commons]] from 2009 to 2010.

Parliamentary career

In the House of Commons, Keeley served as a member of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee and from February 2006, the Finance and Services Committee. On 8 February 2006, she was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Cabinet Office, working with the Cabinet Office Minister, Jim Murphy MP. In June 2006, she moved to be PPS to Jim Murphy as Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.

On 16 December 2006, she won the nomination to be the Labour Party candidate for the constituency of Worsley and Eccles South, following boundary changes affecting Worsley.

In 2007, she served as the Parliamentary Champion for Carers Week (11 June – 17 June). She introduced a Private Members Bill — The Carers (Identification and Support) Bill — into the House of Commons on 24 April 2007. The Bill would require health bodies to identify patients who are carers or who have a carer and would make provision in relation to the responsibilities of local authorities and schools for the needs of young carers.

In June 2007, Keeley was appointed as PPS to Harriet Harman as Secretary of State for Women and Equality and appointed by Gordon Brown to chair the Labour Party's manifesto group on Social Care. In October 2008 she became an Assistant Government Whip. Then in June 2009 she was promoted to Deputy Leader of the House of Commons. In June 2010, she was appointed as a member of the Shadow Health Team and as the Shadow Deputy Leader of the House.

She stood in the 2010 Shadow Cabinet elections, coming 23rd. She was shadow minister for the Department of Communities and Local Government until October 2011.

She was appointed a member of the shadow health team in September 2015 as Shadow Minister for Older People, Social Care and Carers.