Phyllis Starkey

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. She had previously served as Leader of Oxford City Council. She was the daughter of Dr John Williams, a food chemist, and Catherine Hooson Williams. She attended the independent Perse School for Girls in Cambridge then did a BA in Biochemistry at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford in 1970. In 1974, she gained a PhD from Clare Hall, Cambridge. Before she entered Parliament, Starkey's career was in biomedical research. Her early work with Alan Barrett at the University of Cambridge was in the field of biochemistry, and included formulating the trap hypothesis of...