Helen Goodman MP
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons

The Prime Minister appointed Helen Goodman MP as Deputy Leader of the House of Commons on 29 June 2007.

She was elected MP for Bishop Auckland Constituency in May 2005. Following the 2005 General Election, she served on the influential Public Accounts Committee until her appointment as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the new Ministry of Justice in April 2007.

Helen was born in Nottingham in 1958 and grew up in Derbyshire. After going to the local comprehensive school, she went to Somerville College, Oxford, where she read Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After leaving Oxford, Helen's first job was as a researcher for Philip Whitehead MP. She became a civil servant at the Treasury in 1980 and rose to become Head of the Central Strategy Unit in 1995. Her time at the Treasury also included a period working in the office of the Czechoslovak Prime Minister during the transition from communism in 1990 to 1991.

Having left the Treasury in 1997, Helen became Director of the Commission on the Future of Multi Ethnic Britain in 1998 and Head of Strategy at the Children's Society. From 2002 until entering Parliament, she was Chief Executive of the National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries.

Helen is a member of the GMB, Amnesty International and the Christian Socialist Movement. She has also been Chair of Camden Co-operative Party and a school governor. Helen's main political interests include the economy, the environment, children's issues and international development. She has written and published on these matters.

Helen is married and has two children. Outside of politics, she enjoys cooking, walking and being with her family.