Our Patron
Mrs Eleanor Laing has been the Member of Parliament for Epping Forest since 1997. She lives near Epping with her son, Matthew, who was born one week after the 2001 General Election.
Eleanor graduated BA LLB from Edinburgh University. She was the first woman to be elected President of Edinburgh University Union. She has practised law in Edinburgh, in the City of London and in industry.
Having been the Conservative candidate in the safe Labour seat of Paisley North in the 1987 General Election, she became Special Adviser to the Rt Hon John MacGregor MP in 1989 when he was Secretary of State for Education and remained his Special Adviser when he was Leader of the House of Commons (1990-92) and Secretary of State for Transport (1992-94).
Her particular political interests are education, transport, the economy and the constitution.
In February 1999, she was promoted to the post of Opposition Whip and in July 2000 she became a Frontbench Spokesman for Constitutional Affairs.
After the 2001 General Election, she was appointed as Frontbench Spokesman for Education and Skills and in 2003 was made Shadow Minister for Children. In March 2004, she became Shadow Minister for Women. After successfully increasing her majority at the 2005 General Election, she was promoted to be Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland and also remained Shadow Minister for Women and Equality. From 2007 – 2010 she was Shadow Minister for Justice. In 2013 she was elected Deputy Speaker.
The constituency of Epping Forest comprises Loughton, Epping, Waltham Abbey, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill, Theydon Bois, North Weald, the surrounding villages and the ancient Forest itself.
Our Ambassador
Mary Macleod has been appointed as London Women’s Forum Ambassador in 2017, and prior to that she served as LWF Patron for two years.
Ms. Macleod is a Senior Client Partner in the Board Practice and Head of the Public Services Practice, Executive Search at Korn Ferry in London.
Prior to joining Korn Ferry Ms. Macleod was a Member of Parliament and worked within six government departments advising Government Ministers. Her roles included being the Prime Minister’s Small Business Ambassador for London, on the No10 Policy Board and a member of the Women’s Ministerial Task Force.
Whilst in Parliament, Ms. Macleod was the founder of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Women in Parliament and chaired a cross-Party committee which led to the creation of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, represented the UK Parliament at the UN Commission for Women. She was a member of the Royal Air Force in the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, a Trustee of the Industry Parliament Trust and launched the new ‘Jane Austen’ £10 note with the Governor of the Bank of England.
Prior to her parliamentary work, Ms. Macleod worked for twenty years in financial services -both as a management consultant with Accenture, and in various global roles within banking. During this time, Mary also held a senior policy role for The Queen and The Royal Household at Buckingham Palace, advising Her Majesty on strategic change and key areas of national life.
Ms. Macleod currently holds a number of external roles, including the Advisory Board of Career Ready (formerly Career Academies UK under Sir Win Bischoff). Ambassador of the London Women’s Forum in the City. She is also a Trustee of The Shelter Project Hounslow helping the homeless in west London.
