Marsha de Cordova

Marsha Chantal de Cordova (born 23 January 1976) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Battersea since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she was a Member of Lambeth London Borough Council from 2014 to 2018.

De Cordova served in the Shadow Cabinet of Keir Starmer as Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities from 2020 to 2021.

Early life and education
Marsha Chantal de Cordova was born on 23 January 1976 in Bristol, England. She has five siblings, one of whom is professional footballer Bobby Decordova-Reid. She was born with nystagmus and is registered blind. De Cordova attended Hanham High School (now Hanham Woods Academy).

De Cordova studied Law and European Policy Studies at London South Bank University. After graduating she worked at a number of charities including Action for Blind People before founding the charity South East London Vision in 2014.

Prior to becoming an MP, she was the engagement and advocacy director at the charity, Thomas Pocklington Trust.

Political career
De Cordova was elected as a Labour Party councillor for the Larkhall ward on Lambeth Council in 2014.

She was elected as MP for Battersea in the 2017 general election. It was previously held by Conservative politician Jane Ellison since 2010.

De Cordova was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Disabled People on 9 October 2017, replacing Marie Rimmer. She was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities by new Labour leader, Keir Starmer, replacing Dawn Butler.

As an MP, she has been involved in campaigning to make the Parliamentary Estate more accessible for disabled people.

In May 2021, alongside celebrities and other public figures, de Cordova was a signatory to an open letter from the magazine Stylist, which called on the government to address what it described as an "epidemic of male violence" by funding an "ongoing, high-profile, expert-informed awareness campaign on men's violence against women and girls".

In August 2021, de Cordova was criticised for not attending an annual Stonewall event about the Labour Party and LGBT+ rights due to 'diary clashes'. She was the first shadow equalities secretary to not attend the event since it was created.

De Cordova resigned from her post as shadow equalities secretary in September 2021 in order to focus on her marginal constituency of Battersea.