Samantha Dixon

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Samantha Dixon
MBE MP
Official portrait, 2022
Member of Parliament
for City of Chester
Assumed office
1 December 2022
Preceded byChris Matheson
Majority10,974 (38.5%)
Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council
In office
21 May 2015 – 21 May 2019
Preceded byMike Jones
Succeeded byLouise Gittins
Member of Cheshire West and Chester Council
In office
5 May 2011 – 4 May 2023
WardChester City and the Garden Quarter
Personal details
Born
Samantha Kate Georgeson

Reading, Berkshire, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materUniversity of Sheffield (BA)
Websitesamantha-dixon.co.uk

Samantha Kate Dixon MBE (née Georgeson) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for the City of Chester since 2022.[1] A member of the Labour Party, she was Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council from 2015 to 2019.[2]

Early life[edit]

Samantha Kate Georgeson was born in Reading, Berkshire.[3] Her family moved to Chester when she was four-years-old, and she has lived Hoole and Upton-by-Chester. She was educated at Christleton High School.[4][5]

Dixon received a Batchelor of Arts in English literature from University of Sheffield in 1987. She worked for Sotheby's as a senior press officer from 1989 to 1997.[6]

Political career[edit]

Local government career[edit]

Dixon was first elected to Cheshire West and Chester Council in 2011, representing Chester City and the Garden Quarter ward.[7] She was re-elected in 2015 and 2019, but didn't seek election in 2023.

Labour won control of the council in 2015, and she was subsequently elected to become its first woman leader.[8][9][10][11] She stood down as leader after the 2019 local elections, when Labour retained council leadership but lost their majority.[10][12][13]

Dixon was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for 'political service'.[14][15]

Parliamentary career[edit]

In October 2022, Dixon was selected as the Labour candidate for the City of Chester by-election.[16] The by-election was triggered after the resignation of incumbent Labour MP Chris Matheson.[17] One of her campaign pledges was to make the historic Chester Rows a World Heritage Site.[18]

The by-election itself saw nine candidates, with 28,541 votes in total and a turnout of 41.2% of the local electorate. Dixon won with 60.8% of the vote, 17,309 votes, and a majority of 10,974.[19] After her victory she said she would "fight Chester's corner" in Westminster.[20]

She was sworn into the House of Commons on 5 December,[21] and was welcomed to Parliament on 7 December by Keir Starmer and Labour MPs.[22] She was also the first Member of Parliament to swear her Oath of Allegiance to Charles III.

Dixon was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, in February 2023.[23] She was promoted to become an opposition whip in September of the same year.[24] In April 2024, a man was found guilty of the stalking and harassment of Dixon.[25]

Dixon intends to contest the new constituency of Chester North and Neston in the next general election.[26]

Personal life[edit]

Dixon is married to Nicholas and has three children.[27] Her recreations include knitting.[5]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Labour's Samantha Dixon wins Chester by-election". Sky News. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  2. ^ Holmes, David (10 May 2019). "Louise Gittins will be next leader of Cheshire West council". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  3. ^ "GEORGESON SAMANTHA K". Free BMD. 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  4. ^ Neame, Katie. "Sam Dixon: City of Chester by-election is "our poll of polls on Rishi Sunak"". LabourList. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b Ferguson, Angela (30 November 2022). "From herding sheep to a pint at The Brewery Tap – meet the candidates". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Samantha Dixon MBE". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Samantha Dixon – Cheshire West Labour". Cheshire West Labour. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  8. ^ Unger, Paul (13 May 2015). "Dixon names Cheshire West executive". Place North West. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  9. ^ "Agenda for Council on Thursday, 21st May, 2015, 5.00 pm". cmttpublic.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  10. ^ a b Holmes, David (10 May 2019). "Louise Gittins will be next leader of Cheshire West council". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  11. ^ "Cheshire West Labour gets new group leader – Sam Dixon resigns". Northwich Guardian. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  12. ^ Green, Michael; Holmes, David (3 May 2019). "Cheshire West & Chester elections: Labour lose overall control". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  13. ^ "Agenda for Council on Tuesday, 21st May, 2019, 6.30 pm". cmttpublic.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  14. ^ "No. 63714". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 2022. p. B19.
  15. ^ Dowling, Mark (7 June 2022). "Queen's Birthday Honours: Chester stalwarts earn OBE and MBE honours". Chester Standard. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  16. ^ Pennington, Josh (30 October 2022). "Labour Party announce candidate for Chester by-election after MP resigns". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  17. ^ Bunting, Hannah (30 November 2022). "Chester: The first by-election since the pound crashed and Rishi Sunak became PM – what could result mean?". Sky News. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  18. ^ Ferguson, Angela (10 November 2022). "By-election candidate pledges to get World Heritage status for Chester Rows". CheshireLive. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  19. ^ "Labour's Samantha Dixon wins Chester by-election with increased 11,000 margin over Tories". Sky News. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  20. ^ "Newly elected MP vows to 'fight Chester's corner'". BBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  21. ^ "City of Chester: Cost of living and buses on new MP's agenda". BBC News. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Sir Keir Starmer welcomes new Chester MP Samantha Dixon to Parliament". uk.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  23. ^ Dixon, Samantha (8 February 2023). "Tweet announcing new role". X (formerly Twitter). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  24. ^ Dixon, Samantha (15 September 2023). ""Labour has a new top team."". Samantha Dixon MP. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  25. ^ "Man given jail sentence for stalking and harassing City of Chester MP Samantha Dixon". ITV Granada. 15 April 2024.
  26. ^ "Boundaries review: The ancient city of Chester being split in two". BBC News. 8 July 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  27. ^ "Councillor details – Councillor Samantha Dixon MBE – Cheshire West & Cheshire Council". Cheshire West and Chester Council. Retrieved 2 December 2022.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for City of Chester
2022– 		Incumbent
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