| Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox |
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Information AboutCaroline Cox, Baroness Cox |
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BACKGROUND Cox, the daughter of a surgeon from Hertford , was educated at Channing School in Highgate , London. She became a State Registered Nurse at London Hospital from 1958, and a Staff Nurse at Edgware General Hospital from 1960. She married Dr Murray Newall Cox in 1959, remaining with him until he died in 1997. The couple had three children, two sons and one daughter. In the late 1960s she studied for a degree at London University where she graduated with a First class honours degree in sociology in 1967; as a research assistant at the University Of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , she upgraded to a Masters Degree in Economics. ACADEMIC CAREER On leaving, Cox became a Sociology Lecturer at the Polytechnic Of North London rising to become Principal Lecturer. From 1974 she was Head of the Department of Sociology. In 1977 she moved to become Director of the Nursing Education Research Unit at Chelsea College of the University of London. She was also made a Honorary Fellow of the Royal College Of Surgeons . She was also concerned with education and backed the reforms to reduce powers of Local Education Authorities in 1993, arguing for a more strongly religious element to teaching. Her sociology background led her to write books about the subject for nurses, and she also wrote a book attacking Corruption at the Polytechnic of North London in 1975. She was founder Chancellor of the University of Bournemouth. She is also a member of the Standing Conference on Women's Organisations, a Vice-President of the of the Andrei Sakarov Foundation, an International Representative for Elam Ministries, and Hon Vice-Chairman International Islamic Christian Organisation for Reconciliation and Reconstruction. HOUSE OF LORDS Her peerage was announced on December 15 , 1982 on a list of "working peers", on the recommendation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher , and she took the title Baroness Cox, of Queensbury in Greater London. Cox initially sat as a Conservative and served briefly as a Baroness-in-Waiting (the junior rung of government) in 1985, but disliked the job and instead became a Deputy Speaker of the House Of Lords from 1986. During the debates over the Education Reform Bill, Cox worked together with in September 1992 Letter to ''The Times'', September 8, 1992, and also highlighted the actions of the Azeri government in Nagorno-Karabakh Letter to ''The Independent'', January 26, 1994. The issue of contemporary Slavery has been at the forefront of her concerns. In June 2002 Cox hosted a launch event for "Great Britain has Fallen!", a book written by "was God's punishment for sexual scandal". Labour MP Tom Watson called on the Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith to discipline Cox for her actions supporting the bookChris McLaughlin, "TORIES' COX-UP: Baroness praises book on Diana's 'punishment'", ''Sunday Mirror'', September 15, 2002, p. 23 Cox is a Eurosceptic. She rebelled over the Maastricht Treaty , supporting an amendment to require a nationwide referendum on ratification on July 14 , 1993 House of Lords Hansard. In May 2004 she joined three other Conservative peers in signing a letter published by the UK Independence Party urging voters to support it in the elections to the European Parliament. The Leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard , immediately withdrew the Conservative whip from the four Gaby Hinsliff, "Tories throw out rebel peers for backing UKIP", ''The Observer'', May 30, 2004, p. 2. Cox now sits in the Lords as a Crossbencher . REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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