British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley from 1997 to 2019.
Flint was one of the 101 female Labour MPs elected at the 1997 United Kingdom general election. She served in the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Minister for Public Health from 2005 to 2007, Minister for Employment from 2007 to 2008 and as Minister for Housing and Planning in 2008. Flint then served as Minister for Europe during the time of the introduction of the Treaty of Lisbon into UK law before resigning, citing disagreement with the leadership of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In 2010, she was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and Ed Miliband appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. From 2011 to 2015, she was Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. After coming third in the running for her party’s deputy leader in 2015, Flint returned to the backbenches after not being reappointed to the Shadow Cabinet by Jeremy Corbyn.
After campaigning for remain in the 2016 referendum on membership of the European Union, Flint accepted the result of the vote in order to “allow the voices of her constituents to be heard”. Flint supported Brexit as her constituents voted heavily to leave. She lost her seat to Conservative candidate Nick Fletcher in Boris Johnson’s victory at the 2019 general election. Flint had served as the constituency’s MP for 22 years. The Don Valley had been represented by Labour members of parliament since 1922. Flint blamed her defeat on “Corbynistas and Uber Remainers”.
Flint has married twice and has a son and a daughter from her first marriage.
Link to Wikipedia biography