THE latest Second Church Estates Commissioner is Marsha de Cordova MP, who succeeds Andrew Selous, it was announced on Monday.
Ms de Cordova, the Labour MP for Battersea since 2017, is the second woman to carry the post (the primary was Caroline Spelman, from 2015 to 2019) and the primary person of color. A protracted-time campaigner for disability rights, she served as a Shadow Minister for Disabled People from 2017 to 2020, before taking over the post of Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities until 2021.
Born with nystagmus (an involuntary movement of the attention) and registered severely sight-impaired, she worked for several charities before her election to the House of Commons in 2017; at Action for Blind People; because the founding father of South East Vision; and latterly because the engagement and advocacy director of the Thomas Pocklington Trust.
Raised by her mother in Bristol as one in every of six children, Ms Cordova has described how a book about Nelson Mandela — a present for her tenth birthday from a cousin — served as an inspiration for her political profession. She has also described herself as “passionate” in regards to the rights of Palestinians, speaking often on the difficulty since her election in 2017.
Other themes of her contributions include structural and institutional racism, constructing safety, disability rights, and eye health. She has spoken ceaselessly about her mother’s insistence that she remain within the mainstream education system as an important moment in determining her future.
Ms de Cordova’s grandparents arrived from Jamaica with HMS Windrush, to be joined by her mother within the Sixties. In the wake of the Windrush scandal, she observed during a parliamentary debate that “the racism and discrimination they experienced after they arrived here stays today.”
In an interview with the Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron, on Premier Radio in 2021, she described discovering Christian faith during her twenties after being invited to a church. It was the account of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples that had proved pivotal, she said. She considered her election in a seat deemed unwinnable in 2017 to be “God-breathed”: “That was my calling to public service by the Lord, and I’ll accomplish that for so long as he wants me in that position.”
She has attended Holy Trinity, Clapham, a church within the Holy Trinity, Brompton, network, for quite a lot of years.
Supported by sighted assistance, Ms de Cordova has spoken in regards to the challenges of navigating Westminster as a partially sighted person. She told The Times that she could see “blurry outlines of faces and a few colors, nothing after just a few feet”, and that the previous Education Secretary Lord Blunkett had served as an inspiration.
“My faith really does anchor me,” she told GB News two years ago.
The announcement of her appointment this week ends the longest wait for a Second Church Estates Commissioner for the reason that office was established in 1948 (News, 6 September). More than three months have passed for the reason that General Election. It is known, nonetheless, that her appointment was decided in July.
The post has typically been held by a more senior member of the House of Commons, with MPs taking over the position as a final responsibility before retirement. Mr Selous had served as an MP for 19 years on his appointment. In 1974, nonetheless, Terence Walker was appointed just nine months after becoming the Labour MP for Kingswood. He was 39 on the time; Ms de Cordova is 48. She is scheduled to reply oral questions within the House of Commons next Monday.
