Hewitt, Patricia (1948- )

British Labour party politician, secretary of state for health from 2005. She played an important role in Labour's remoulding as a centre-left force under Neil Kinnock, serving as the leader's press secretary 1983-87, as policy coordinator 1987-89, and as deputy director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank 1989-94. Her early career was in the charitable sector, serving as general secretary of the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL) 1974-83. She was secretary of state for trade and industry 2001-05.

Hewitt was educated at Canberra Girls' Grammar School, Australia, and Cambridge and Oxford universities in England. One of her early jobs was as public relations officer for Age Concern 1971-73. She failed in her bid to become member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East at the 1983 general election, but became MP for Leicester West in May 1997. She served as economic secretary to the Treasury 1998-99 and minister for small business and e-commerce at the Department for Trade and Industry 1999-2001. She was deputy chair of the Commission for Social Justice 1992-94 and director of research for Andersen Consulting 1994-97.