Introduction
Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician currently serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2020, and has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford East since 2017.
Dodds served in the Shadow Treasury Team of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell as Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2017 to 2020.
Dodds also served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South East England region from 2014 to 2017.
Early life
Dodds was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, was educated at the private co-educational day school Robert Gordon College, and moved to southeast England in 1996. She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford, graduating in 2001 with a first-class degree. She then read for a master's degree in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD degree in Government at the London School of Economics, which she completed in 2006.
She was a lecturer in Public Policy at King’s College London from 2007 to 2010, and a senior lecturer in Public Policy at Aston University from 2010 to 2014.
Political career
Dodds stood unsuccessfully for election in the constituency of Billericay at the 2005 general election and the constituency of Reading East at the 2010 general election. She was also unsuccessful in the 2006 Oxford City council elections for the ward of Holywell.
Dodds was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the South East England region in 2014. In the European Parliament, she sat on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
As of May 2017, she was a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Aston University, Birmingham.
Dodds was elected as the Member of Parliament for Oxford East at the 2017 snap general election, succeeding Andrew Smith.
On 3 July 2017, she was appointed as a Shadow Treasury Minister by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. On 5 April 2020, Dodds was appointed Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer by new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, becoming the first woman to hold this position.
Dodds is married and has a young son and daughter.