Сара Титер: Британиялық саяхатшы және белімгер қызметкері

British Liberal Democrat politician

Sarah Louise Teather (born 1 June 1974) is the Director of Jesuit Refugee Service UK and a former British Member of Parliament and Minister. As a Liberal Democrat politician, she founded the All Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay and was chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. On stepping down as an MP, she joined the Jesuit Refugee Service as an advocacy adviser and was appointed as country director of JRS UK in December 2015. After serving in the Islington London Borough Council, she was first elected as an MP on 18 September 2003 at the Brent East by election and was re elected with an increased majority at the 2005 general election.

Teather was educated at the independent Leicester Grammar School and St John's College, Cambridge, where she gained a 2:1 degree in Natural Sciences specialising in pharmacology. Teather initially embarked on a PhD at University College London, but left the course at the end of her first year. She went on to work as a policy adviser for a number of prominent groups including the Royal Society and the charity Macmillan Cancer Relief. Teather first contested an election on 7 June 2001 in the seat of Finchley and Golders Green. On 3 May 2002 she was elected to Islington London Borough Council as one of the three councillors representing Hillrise Ward. She was then appointed by the council to serve as a school governor at Ashmount Primary School. Subsequent to her first election as an MP she resigned from Islington Council, resigned as a school governor at Ashmount Primary and withdrew as a candidate for the Greater London Assembly seat in North East London.

In parliament Teather became one of the highest profile Liberal Democrat MPs. Initially acting as her party's spokesperson on London, after the 2005 general election she was promoted to the front bench to serve as Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Community and Local Government. On 6 January 2006, 25 Liberal Democrat MPs signed a letter drafted by Teather and fellow frontbencher Ed Davey, indicating their unwillingness to continue working under party leader Charles Kennedy. The Guardian claimed the letter to be "the most damning" of the publicly expressed sentiments regarding Kennedy's position, and later that day Kennedy announced his resignation. Teather supported Sir Menzies Campbell in the subsequent leadership election. She was promoted again to Education spokesperson following Sir Menzies Campbell's election as leader on 2 March 2006. On 13 July 2011, Teather told the Family and Parenting Institute that she was extremely worried about the £26,000 Benefit Cap that the Coalition Government was introducing as part of the Welfare Reform Act 2012. Teather then failed to turn up to a number of key votes on the Welfare Reform Act despite there being a three line whip, which resulted in a number of Conservative backbench MPs publicly calling for her to be sacked. In April 2011, Teather was questioned on BBC Television's Question Time over replacing the Education Maintenance Allowance. Arguing against the claim that fewer poor pupils would be served by its replacement, Teather claimed that it would actually be targeted better at those who actually needed government support. On 6 February 2012 Teather was part of a ministerial working group together with Tim Loughton and justice minister Jonathan Djanogly that was asked to come up with proposals within two months on how the law should be changed regarding how to amend the Children Act of 1989. According to The Guardian of 3 February 2012, that working group is aimed to include in the new Children Act one "presumption of shared parenting" for children's fathers and mothers after cases of divorce or spousal break up. On 4 September 2012, she was sacked from her post, as part of a broad government reshuffle, and returned to the backbenches.

After leaving Government, Teather gave an interview to The Observer newspaper, in which she called the Benefit Cap "immoral and divisive". In late 2012, Teather chaired a Parliamentary inquiry into asylum support for children and young people, which was supported by The Children's Society. In February 2013, Teather voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its second reading. She later expressed regret for this vote, writing that she has since "thanked God that I was then in an irrelevant minority". On 7 September 2013, Teather released a statement through her website to announce she would not contest the 2015 general election, saying her decision was "to do with some aspects of government policy", adding that she "no longer feels that Nick Clegg's party fights sufficiently for social justice and liberal values on immigration". On 3 March 2015, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration published a report on the use of immigration detention. The inquiry panel, chaired by Sarah Teather, found that "the UK uses detention disproportionately and inappropriately" and recommended that a time limit of 28 days be introduced as the maximum length of time an individual can be held in an immigration removal centre.

Teather stood down as the MP for Brent Central at the 2015 general election and joined the International Advocacy team of the Jesuit Refugee Service in June 2015. As an advocacy advisor, she visited JRS projects all over the world, including: Lebanon, South Sudan, Uganda, North Macedonia and the southern coast of Italy where thousands of migrants were attempting dangerous overseas crossings to mainland Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. On 3 December 2015, it was announced that Teather had been appointed as the country director of JRS UK.

Teather is Catholic. At 4 feet (1 m), she has been the shortest woman member of Parliament in British history.