Board

Rt. Hon Lord Foulkes of Cumnock M.S.P.

George Foulkes is a Labourlife peer and an elected Member of the Scottish
Parliament for the Lothians. From 1979 to 2005, he was an MP for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley in Ayrshire. From 1983 to 1997, he was successively a Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Overseas Development.

When Labour won in 1997 he was appointed Under Secretary of State for International Development and in 2001 as Minister of State for Scotland. In 2002 he was appointed to the Privy Council and from 2004-05 was Chairman of Heart of Midlothian Football Club. He is currently a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee, appointed by the Prime Minister.

Eleanor Laing MP
Shadow Minister for Justice

Eleanor was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for the Epping Forest constituency in May 1997 and re-elected with an increased majority in June 2001.

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. From June to November 2003, she was made Shadow Minister for Children.

In March 2004, she was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Women & Equality. She has also previously been the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland. In July 2007, Eleanor was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Justice.

Rt. Hon Hilary Armstrong MP

As a Member of Parliament Hilary has served as an opposition frontbench spokesperson on Education (1988–1992). In 1994 she was appointed the Treasury Affairs Team. In 1995 she was made Opposition spokesperson on the Environment and London, with responsibility for Local Government.

After Labour's 1997 general election victory, she was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions with responsibility for Local Government and Housing.

As Minister for Regions she advanced the government's regional policy helping areas such as the North East of England. She also had special responsibility for Social Exclusion and oversaw the creation of the government’s Social Exclusion Unit.

In 1999, Hilary was made a member of the Privy Council. Following the 2001 General Election Hilary was promoted to the Cabinet and given the cabinet position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Government Chief Whip. Only the second woman to hold the position. She was re–appointed as Government Chief Whip following the 2005 General Election.

In 2006, Hilary was appointed to the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Social Exclusion. In June 2007, Hilary announced her decision to step down from the Government and return to the backbenches after 18 years as a Party spokesperson and Government Minister.

Lord Archy Kirkwood of Kirkhope

Archy Kirkwood was MP for Roxburgh and Berwickshire for 22 years, standing down at the May 2005 General Election. First elected in June 1983, he became the Liberal Party’s spokesman on Health, Social Services and Social Security. In 1992, he became the Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party. In 1997 Archy became Chair of the Social Security Select Committee (now Work & Pension Committee).

He served on the House of Commons Audit Committee and on the House of Commons Commission and was knighted in 2003 for services to Parliament. Archy was made a life peer in 2005. He is currently head of external relations at the office of the Liberal Democrat Leader.

Sir Robert Worcester KBE, DL

In 2005, Sir Robert Worcester was appointed by Her Majesty the Queen a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in recognition of the "outstanding services rendered to political, social and economic research and for contribution to government policy and programmes".

Sir Robert is the Founder of MORI (Market & Opinion Research International), London. He is a Past President of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR).

Sir Robert is Chancellor of the University of Kent and a Member of Council. He is Visiting Professor of Government and a Governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Long an advocate of Corporate Social Responsibility, he was responsible for introducing the modern methodology of measuring corporate reputations into Britain, and for this work, summed up in his phrase 'Familiarity breeds favourability, not contempt', was awarded the IPR President's Gold Medal in 1994.

He writes monthly columns for Profile, the monthly magazine for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations.