Early Political Career
Primarolo joined the Labour Party in 1973 and was first elected to Parliament at the 1987 general election, after the constituency party de-selected Michael Cocks, the sitting MP.
At the time of her election, she was regarded as a hard left-winger and is still often referred to by the media as "Red Dawn", but became a New Labour loyalist and "absolutely loyal to New Labour", leading Andrew Roth of The Guardian to say she has "changed from 'Red Dawn' to 'Rosy Pink'"; as part of this change, she has moved from support of CND, the rise of which originally encouraged her into politics, to voting for the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear defence. She also unsuccessfully lobbied the Soviet government of Mikhail Gorbachev to rehabilitate Leon Trotsky. She is a former member of Avon County Council.
Read more about this topic: Dawn Primarolo
Famous quotes containing the words political career, early, political and/or career:
“No wonder that, when a political career is so precarious, men of worth and capacity hesitate to embrace it. They cannot afford to be thrown out of their life’s course by a mere accident.”
—James Bryce (1838–1922)
“In early times, before the floods swept across the world, there was life, albeit odd, as one can see from the fossils of mammoth bones, and there was the regime of Prince Metternich.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“From the beginning, the placement of [Clarence] Thomas on the high court was seen as a political end justifying almost any means. The full story of his confirmation raises questions not only about who lied and why, but, more important, about what happens when politics becomes total war and the truth—and those who tell it—are merely unfortunate sacrifices on the way to winning.”
—Jane Mayer, U.S. journalist, and Jill Abramson b. 1954, U.S. journalist. Strange Justice, p. 8, Houghton Mifflin (1994)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)