Yvette Cooper

The Right Honourable Yvette Cooper MP
Official portrait, 2024
Home Secretary
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Keir Starmer
Preceded by	James Cleverly
Chair of the Home Affairs Committee
In office 19 October 2016 – 1 December 2021
Preceded by	Keith Vaz
Succeeded by	Diana Johnson
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	James Purnell
Succeeded by	Iain Duncan Smith
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 24 January 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Andy Burnham
Succeeded by	Liam Byrne
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State 2005–2008 Housing and Planning Under-Secretary of State 2003–2005 Regeneration and Regional Development 2002–2003 Lord Chancellor's Department 1999–2002 Public Health
Shadow cabinet portfolios 2021–2024 Home Secretary 2011–2015 Home Secretary 2010–2013 Women and Equalities 2010–2011 Foreign Secretary 2010–2010 Work and Pensions
Member of Parliament for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (2010–2024) Pontefract and Castleford (1997-2010)
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Geoffrey Lofthouse
Majority	6,630 (18.4%)
Personal details
Born	(1969-03-20) 20 March 1969 (age 55) Inverness, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Ed Balls ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	3
Parents	Tony Cooper (father)
Education	Balliol College, Oxford (BA) Harvard University London School of Economics (MSc)
Website	Official website
Yvette Cooper's voice Cooper delivering an Amnesty International lecture on the refugee crisis in 2016

Yvette Cooper (born 20 March 1969) is a British politician who is currently the Home Secretary since 5 July 2024.^[1]

Cooper is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford constituency in the United Kingdom. She is a member of the Labour Party. Her husband, Ed Balls, represents the neighbouring constituency of Morley and Outwood.

She served in the Cabinet between 2008 and 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. After Labour lost the 2010 general election, Cooper was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary, then in 2011 Shadow Home Secretary.^[2]

1. ↑ "David Lammy New UK Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper Interior Minister". Barron's. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
2. ↑ "Yvette Cooper says she won't rule out standing for Labour leader". The Guardian. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.