Blears, Hazel (1956– )

British Labour politician, secretary of state for communities and local government from June 2007, member of Parliament for Salford (Manchester) from 1997. She was minister without portfolio and Labour Party chair within the cabinet 2006–07, and from 1997 she also served on several House of Commons backbench committees and on party groups including Labour's National Executive Committee from 2004.

Born and brought up in Salford, Blears had previously pursued a career as a solicitor and as a councillor for Salford City Council, while contesting elections unsuccessfully for the parliamentary seats of Tatton in 1987 and Bury South in 1992. Following her election to the House of Commons in 1997 she progressed steadily through the ministerial ranks of government.

Having been a parliamentary private secretary from 1998, she was appointed undersecretary of state at the Department of Health in June 2001 following her re-election to Parliament and was subsequently promoted within that department to minister for public health in May 2002. From June 2003 to May 2006 she was a minister of state at the Home Office with responsibility for crime reduction, policing, community safety, and counter-terrorism. In the government reshuffle of May 2006, she was elevated to minister without portfolio and chair of the Labour Party, and in June 2007 took over the Department for Communities and Local Government.