Theresa Stewart (née Raisman; 24 August 1930[2] – 11 November 2020[3][4]) was a British Labour Party politician and the first (and as of 2024, only) female leader of Birmingham City Council,[5] a position which she attained in October 1993, succeeding Dick Knowles,[2] and in competition for which she was beaten by Sir Albert Bore in May 1999.
She exposed failings in the hospital system including a ward kept locked for the use of the family and friends of consultants.
[citation needed] She was a founder of BPAS (then the Birmingham Pregnancy Advisory Group), campaigned for CND, for women's right to choose, for the family allowance to be paid to the mother as well as hosting striking miners and steelworkers in her home.
[citation needed] She also hosted G8 in 1998, welcoming Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin to the city.
After their marriage in 1953 Theresa trained to teach maths in Edinburgh where John was a graduate trainee in the National Coal Board.
[6] Her husband had been appointed as a senior lecturer a INLOGOV (Institute of Local Government Studies) at the University of Birmingham,.