About Angela Eagle
Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs since 2026. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Born in Bridlington, Eagle was educated at Formby High School. She studied philosophy, politics and economics at St John's College, Oxford and then worked in the economic directorate of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Eagle was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election for the seat of Wallasey. Following the 1997 general election, Eagle joined the government frontbench under Tony Blair as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, moving to the Department of Social Security in 1998. Eagle was again re-elected at the 2001 general election, and then was appointed an Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office. She was dismissed from the government in 2002. Eagle returned to the frontbench under Gordon Brown as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in 2007. She then served as Minister of State for Pensions and Ageing Society from 2009 until Labour lost the 2010 general election. Eagle was elected to the Shadow Cabinet in October 2010 and was appointed by Ed Miliband as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. In October 2011, she was promoted to Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. After Labour's defeat at the 2015 general election, she stood in the 2015 deputy leadership election but finished fourth. After Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader in September 2015, Eagle was appointed Shadow First Secretary of State and Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. She resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in June 2016 in protest against Corbyn's leadership. Eagle announced a leadership challenge to Corbyn the following month, but eight days later she withdrew leaving Owen Smith to challenge Corbyn for the leadership. She then served on the backbenches for eight years between 2016 and 2024. Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Eagle returned to government as Minister of State for Border Security and Asylum under Keir Starmer. She was appointed Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs in September 2025 and then Minister of State for Security in June 2026. After Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July 2026, Eagle was promoted to Cabinet as Environment Secretary. Eagle came fourth to eventual winner Tom Watson, with 16.2% in the first round, and was eliminated in the second round on 17.9% of the vote. In May 2012, Eagle became chair of the Labour Party's National Policy Forum and served as chair of the party's National Executive Committee 2013–14. In the October 2011 reshuffle, Eagle became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
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