Phyllis Margaret Starkey (née Williams; born 4 January 1947) is a British Labour party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Milton Keynes South West from 1997 to 2010.
[6] As a female entrant to Parliament after the 1997 general election, Starkey was part of the intake dubbed 'The Blair Babes' by the UK media following a photoshoot by the Labour Party to show off how many women MPs were in the new government.
Such were her Blairite credentials that Ken Livingstone, Labour's Mayor of London, dubbed her "Phyllis Stasi"[7][8] Starkey was a Member of the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House of Commons between 1997 and 1999,[4] during which time significant changes to parliamentary procedures were introduced, including the establishment of the Westminster Hall debating chamber and the beginning of alterations to sitting hours of Parliament to make them more 'family friendly'.
[9] In 1998 Starkey highlighted the need for a national register for door supervisors (bouncers) to protect young people's safety while clubbing, and introduced a Private Members Bill to Parliament to establish one.
In March she used a tough line of questioning during PMQs regarding the tensions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,[12] and in July during a Liaison Committee session with the PM she raised concerns in relation to the Government's work on education and employment for the Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities of Britain.
[13] In 2007 Starkey along with Jeffrey Donaldson MP called for an investigation into the private security and military services firm ArmorGroup, who held contracts with the British Government for police training in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[16] In a pop quiz of MPs involved in Middle East issues run by The Sunday Times newspaper in 2007, Starkey was commended along with Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell for getting the highest score, with all but one answer correct.