Barbara Maureen Roche (née Margolis; born 13 April 1954)[1] is a British Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green from 1992 until 2005, when she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats, despite having enjoyed a majority of over 10,000 in the 2001 general election.
[2][3] Born to Polish-Ashkenazi father and a Sephardi Jewish mother,[4] the daughter of Barnet and Hanna Margolis,[5] Roche was educated at the Jews Free School, Camden Town and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE).
[7] This was followed by an unsuccessful candidacy for the marginal seat of Hornsey and Wood Green at the 1987 general election, when she failed to unset the incumbent MP Hugh Rossi.
[1] At the 2005 general election, Roche unexpectedly lost her seat on another large 14.6% swing (14.6%) to the Liberal Democrats, with Featherstone succeeding her as the constituency's MP.
[17] In September 2000, she gave a speech outlining her desires to liberalize the United Kingdom's immigration policy, calling for what the government termed as 'managed migration'.