Tessa Blackstone, Baroness Blackstone

Tessa Ann Vosper Blackstone, Baroness Blackstone PC ( born September 27, 1942) is a British politician ( Labour Party ).

Life and career

Blackstone attended the goods Grammar School for Girls and the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she graduated with a doctorate. Her academic career began at the former Enfield College (now Middlesex University), before she became a lecturer at the LSE and professor at the Institute of Education, University of London.

Blackstone was appointed in 1987 to the Life peer as Baroness Blackstone, of Stoke Newington in the County of Greater London. She was 1987-1991 chairman of the BBC General Advisory Council. She was a founding member and from 1988 to 1997 chairman of the Institute for Public Policy Research.

She directed the Birkbeck College, University of London for over a decade as Rector ( 1987-1997 ) until her appointment to the Labour government.

Baroness Blackstone was from 1988 to 1996 Opposition Spokesperson on Education and Science and from 1990 to 1991 for financial issues. From 1990 to 1992 she served as Chief Opposition Spokesperson for Education and Science. 1992-1996 she was opposition spokesperson on trade and industry. From 1992 to 1997 she held the position of Chief Opposition Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs counterpart characteristics. 1997 to 2001 she was Minister of State for Education and Employment. She was also Minister of State for Arts in 2001 and 2003.

Publications

• Disadvantage and Education with Jo Mortimore ( Heinemann, 1982)
• Race Relations in Britain with Bhikhu Parekh and Peter Saunders ( Routledge, 1997)
• Tessa Blackstone: The Boy Who Threw at Inkwell: Bevan and Education. In: Goodman, Geoffrey (ed. ) (ed. ): The State of the Nation: The Political Legacy of Aneurin Bevan. Gollancz, London 1997, ISBN 0-575-06308-4, pp. 156-178.