Rachel Reeves and Yvette Cooper Chaired by Matthew Stadlen

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Labour Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and former Labour cabinet minister Yvette Cooper look back at the women MPs elected in Britain in the 100 years since Nancy Astor became the first in 1919 and at the role that the voices of women have played in the wider world.

Reeves says in her new book,  Women of Westminster: The MPs who Changed Politics, that the achievements of women MPs have been remarkable – from Astor’s election only a year after women won the right to vote to the appointment of two women prime ministers, Barbara Cartland’s fight for equal pay and Harriet Harman’s legislation on the gender pay gap. In her book, She Speaks: Women’s Speeches That Changed the World, from Boudica to Greta, Cooper looks at brave and bold women who have used their voices to inspire change, including Boudica, Greta Thunberg, Margaret Thatcher and Malala.

Reeves successfully defended her Leeds West seat for Labour in the 2019 general election. She was also a member of Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet from 2013-2015. Cooper has been an MP since 1997. She was Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Brown administration and is currently chair of the home affairs select committee.