Margaret Woodhall

Margaret Woodhall (born 22 August 1960) is an English Conservative Party politician who has been Member of Parliament for Kensington since 1998.

Early life
Margaret Cricklow was born to William and Jacqueline Cricklow (neé Duvalle) in Notting Hill, London (near her present constituency of Kensington) on 22 August 1960. She grew up in a a lower middle class family, and was the third of four children, Daniel and Alice, twins born in 1957, herself, and Hugh, born in 1964.

Educated at a number of local schools and never showing academic ability until the last years of secondary school, Cricklow went on to graduate from Oxford with a double degree in history and political science, and then studied law at University College London, graduating in 1984. She married Matthew Woodhall in 1986. After graduating, she worked for a decade at British law firm, Allen & Overy.

Political career
In 1994, ahead of the general election at the beginning of the following year, Woodhall tried to be preselected by the Conservative Party to stand for election in Kensington, but, unsurprisingly, was defeated by the Conservative incumbent, Dudley Fishburn, who went onto lose his seat to Labour's Rima Horton. She returned to Allen & Overy.

In 1997, Woodhall tried again, this time winning Conservative preselection for the same seat. At the beginning of the next year, with a swing of 7.6%, she unseated the incumbent by a 5.6% margin and was elected to Parliament. She gave her maiden speech in reply to Her Majesty's Address at the opening of Parliament, breaking the convention of new members making relatively uncontroversial maiden speeches.

Shortly after entering Parliament in early 1998, Woodhall was unexpectedly elevated to the front-bench by Conservative leader Chesney Lewis, who appointed her Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, shadowing Adeola Onikoyi.

Personal life
Woodhall is married to Matthew Woodhall (born 10 May 1958), a microbiologist whom she first met in 1982 at University College London. They married in February 1986, and have two children, Christopher (born 15 Jun 1988) and Jeremy (born 29 September 1991).