Speaker: Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley

Estelle Morris was born in Manchester into a political family: her uncle, Alf Morris, was Labour MP for Manchester Wythenshawe (1964–97) and her father, Charles, was Labour MP for Manchester Openshaw (1963–83).

A graduate of the Coventry College of Education, Estelle was a PE and Humanities teacher at the inner-city Sidney Stringer School in Coventry from 1974–92, becoming Head of Sixth Form Studies, and was a member of Warwick District Council from 1979 to 1991.

She was elected to Parliament in 1992 for Birmingham Yardley, became a minister in the Department for Education and Employment in 1997 and was promoted to Secretary of State for Education and Skills in 2001. She was the first former comprehensive school teacher to have the position. She resigned her post in October 2002. Estelle rejoined the Government in 2003 as Minister for the Arts in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. In 2005 she was created a life peer.

Between 2005 and 2009 she was Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sunderland. In May 2005, she was appointed chair of the Children’s Workforce Development Council. In September 2005, it was announced that she would succeed Lady Kennedy as President of the National Children's Bureau. Since 2007 she has been chair of the Executive Group of the Institute for Effective Education at the University of York.