Elizabeth Kendall was born on 11 June 1971 in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. She attended Watford Grammar School for Girls, alongside Geri Halliwell. Her father, Richard, left school at 16 and studied finance before going on to be a senior official at the Bank of England. Her mother was a primary school teacher. As children, Kendall and her brother were encouraged to talk about politics and to get involved in community activism. Having originally been a Labour voter, her father became a Liberal councillor in 1979. Her mother was a school governor and Kendall's first political campaign was for a local zebra crossing. After leaving school, she attended Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with first class honours in history in 1993.[6][7]
In 1998, when Harman was sacked from the government, Kendall resigned and was awarded a fellowship by the King's Fund, a health charity. She also wrote a series of research papers for the IPPR and was appointed as the Director of the Maternity Alliance, a charity for pregnant women.[6] She was unsuccessful in an attempt to be selected as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Chesterfield at the 2001 general election, following the retirement of Tony Benn.[8]
In Ed Miliband's first reshuffle in October 2010, she joined the Opposition frontbench as Shadow Junior Health Minister where she served under John Healey. In 2011, she contributed along with other Labour MPs and former Labour ministers to The Purple Book, in which she wrote a chapter on the early years and health and social care where she proposed a "Teach Early Years First" scheme. Later that year, she was appointed to the new role of Shadow Minister for Care and Older People and became an attending member of the shadow cabinet.[3][14]
Kendall was re-elected as MP for Leicester West at the 2015 general election with an increased vote share of 46.5% and an increased majority of 7,203.[15]
In June 2015, Kendall's leadership bid received praise from The Sun, who said that she is the "only prayer they [the Labour Party] have". The Sun also praised her for saying "the country comes first" in response to Andy Burnham who said "the Labour Party always comes first" in the Newsnight Labour leadership hustings.[28] Commentators from across the political spectrum said that Kendall was the leadership candidate the Conservatives would "fear the most".[29][30][31] This claim was even re-stated by some Conservative politicians including George Osborne, Boris Johnson, Ruth Davidson, Anna Soubry and Philip Davies.[32][33][34][35]
Ultimately, Kendall finished 4th in the election, obtaining 4.5% (18,857) of the vote.[36]
At the snap 2017 general election, Kendall was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 60.8% and an increased majority of 11,060.[39]
In August 2017, James Chapman, former Director of Communications at HM Treasury under George Osborne, said, "We really need Liz Kendall to be the leader of [a] new centre party".[40] Chapman had already tweeted his proposals for a new centrist political party opposed to Brexit, 'The Democrats'.[41] After stepping down from frontline politics, Kendall was a regular guest on BBC current affairs programme This Week until its cancellation in July 2019.
Kendall was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 49.7% and a decreased majority of 4,212.[42]
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (2024-present)
At the 2024 general election, Kendall was again re-elected, with a decreased vote share of 44.6% and an increased majority of 8,777.[45] In the aftermath of the election, Kendall was appointed as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.[46] She was appointed to the Privy Council and sworn into ministerial office on 6 July.[47]
Political views
Economic and fiscal policy
During her leadership campaign in 2015, Kendall committed herself to the living wage and said the Low Pay Commission's remit should be extended to encourage more firms to pay it.[48] She also said she would end the exploitation of care workers by preventing firms from docking the cost of uniform and travel time from their wages. She has also come out in support of worker representation on company boards as part of her plans for economic reform. After the Budget, Kendall commissioned the former minister Margaret Hodge, to undertake a review into the £100bn tax reliefs that firms are entitled to.[48]
Kendall has spoken about education as a way of tackling inequality. She has spoken in support of expanding the academies programme and keeping the free schools initiative saying that focus should be on the quality of education rather than structures and that investment in the early years should be a priority over cutting university tuition fees.[48][52] Kendall also said that more effort was needed in the education system to raise aspiration for the 'white working class young'.[53] Kendall has also said that as Prime Minister, she would order a review of National Lottery Funding to free up funds for early years services.[54]
Health and welfare
Kendall has advocated increased patient choice in the NHS,[55] arguing "there will remain a role for the private and voluntary sectors where they can add extra capacity to the NHS or challenges to the system" and with healthcare providers "what matters is what works".[16][17] In 2015, Kendall supported the £23,000 benefit cap.[56]
Immigration
Kendall gave some support to David Cameron's proposal that the right of EU migrants to claim tax credits and benefits should be withdrawn, or delayed for a number of years.[57] She supports the current points-based immigration system and backed tough rules on abuse of the immigration system but has pledged not to try and "out-UKIP UKIP" and spoke of the benefits of immigration in her own constituency.[58]
Devolution
Kendall has supported "radical devolution" to England to deal with the West Lothian Question and appointed Tristram Hunt to look at what powers ought to be devolved to England. In July 2015, Kendall came out in favour of English Votes for English Laws. Her leadership rivals favoured the formation of a constitutional convention to consider the issue.[59][60] Kendall has also said that Labour must oppose the 'tyranny of the bureaucratic state' but must also share power at every level so that powers are devolved to communities and individuals too.[61]
Trade unions
Kendall has supported Labour's links with the trade union movement but has said that both the trade unions and the Labour Party have to change. Kendall said that if she became Prime Minister, she would reverse any changes to trade union and employment rights made by the previous Conservative government.[62] Kendall also criticised Len McCluskey for threatening to withdraw funding from the Labour Party were his choice of candidate not to be elected.[62]
Social issues
Kendall is a supporter of LGBT rights and voted for same sex marriage in 2013. Kendall said under her leadership the Labour Party would have worked with other centre-left parties to end the criminalisation of homosexuality across the world and spoke in favour of Michael Cashman becoming the UK's special envoy on LGBTI issues.[63]
Personal life
Kendall was previously in a relationship with the actor and comedian Greg Davies. They ended their relationship a few months before the 2015 general election.[64][65] In November 2021 Kendall announced she would take maternity leave in 2022 as she would be having a baby through surrogacy.[66] Her son Henry was born in January 2022.[67]