Early Life
Margaret Beckett was born Margaret Jackson in 1943, in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire into a working-class family. She had two sisters, one a nun, the other a doctor and mother of 3. She was educated at the Notre Dame High School for Girls in Norwich (a Roman Catholic direct grant grammar school which subsequently became a voluntary aided Catholic comprehensive in 1979), then at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, where she qualified as a metallurgist. She was an active member of the Student Union and served on its Council as Associate Member rep.
In 1961, Beckett joined Associated Electrical Industries as a student apprentice in metallurgy. She joined the Transport and General Workers Union in 1964 and remains a member to this day. She joined the University of Manchester in 1966 as an experiment officer in its metallurgy department. In 1970 Beckett went to work for the Labour Party as a researcher in industrial policy.
She married the chairman of her local Constituency Labour Party, Lionel "Leo" Beckett in 1979. Leo works as Beckett's agent and aide, travelling with her and working in her private office. He is paid from Margaret Beckett's staff allowance, one of the largest staff expenses. Leo has two sons from a previous marriage, and three grandchildren.
Beckett and her husband enjoy caravan holidays and have continued to do so throughout her political career.
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