Anna Turley

Turley was born in Dartford, Kent,^[2] and was privately educated at the independent Ashford School.^[3] She went on to read History at Greyfriars, Oxford.

From 2001 to 2005, Turley was a fast-stream civil servant at the Home Office, initially working on youth crime issues, and later moved to the Department for Work and Pensions, specialising in child poverty issues.^[4]

In 2007, Turley worked for public relations agency The Ledbury Group.^[5] In April 2008, she became deputy director of the local government research organisation the New Local Government Network,^[5] and in 2010 co-founded the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network designed to enable local authorities to work in partnership with local communities.^[4][6]

In 2011, Turley founded a consultancy and online forum ProgLoc (Progressive Localism) for progressive debate of key issues affecting local government,^[7][8][9] and became an associate researcher for the NGO Future of London.^[10][11] In 2013, Turley became a senior research fellow at IPPR North.^[12]

In 2005, Turley became a special adviser in the Department for Work and Pensions under David Blunkett, then in 2006 for the Cabinet Office under Hilary Armstrong.^[4][13]

In the 2006 Wandsworth London Borough Council election, Turley stood unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate for Wandsworth Common ward.^[14][15]

Turley was shortlisted for the North West Durham seat for the 2010 general election but lost out to Pat Glass.^[16] In 2012 Turley was listed as a speaker for the New Labour pressure group Progress.^[17]

In 2013, Turley was selected to stand in the Redcar constituency from an all-women shortlist,^[13] in a contentious selection process that was ultimately associated with the resignation of ten Labour councillors.^[18][19]

On 19 December 2019, following a six-day trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, Turley won a libel claim against Unite the Union and Stephen Walker (editor of The Skwawkbox); the court upheld that her reputation had been damaged by Walker and Unite during the election.^[51][52][53]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Turley helped run the local foodbank, and set up a charity to distribute books to disadvantaged children.^[54] She is a School Governor for Whale Hill Primary School in Eston.^[55] From May 2022 to July 2023, she served as chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC), an organisation campaigning to end child poverty in the North East.^[56][57]

She worked as a sports consultant for the Betting and Gaming Council, an organisation which represents the gambling industry, and in April 2021 wrote a paid advertorial in the New Statesman for the organisation opposing limits on betting, suggesting that they would alienate red wall voters.^[58] In May 2022, Turley was appointed as an associate director at Arden Strategies, a political lobbying firm founded by former Labour cabinet minister Jim Murphy.^[59]

Turley has lived in Redcar since 2012.^[13] Previously she lived in Islington, London.^[4]

In the second half of 2017, Turley required five operations to alleviate problems with infected cysts;^[68] the emergency surgery caused her to suspend parliamentary work for over a month.^[69] She became a vocal campaigner on endometriosis, and launched an inquiry into women's experiences through the APPG on Endometriosis.^[70][71]