ANN Keen MP represents Brentford and Isleworth constituency, the West London seat she won from the Conservatives in May 1997 and successfully held in 2001 and 2005. She is married to Alan Keen MP, who is the Member of Parliament for neighbouring Feltham and Heston. The couple have three children.

Ann is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for health services and was appointed to her ministerial post by Gordon Brown when he became Prime Minister in 2007 (to see Ann's Ministerial page, click here).

Before taking on her health role, Ann was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Frank Dobson MP when he was Secretary of State for Health. Between 2001 and 2007, when he became Prime Minister, she was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP.

Before entering politics, Ann was a nurse at the West Middlesex Hospital, a large acute hospital in the Isleworth part of her constituency. Her experience of working as a tutor nurse and a local district nurse there have provided Ann with a full knowledge of the health needs of her constituency. She was a General Secretary of the Community and District Nursing Association (CDNA) and, before taking on her Ministerial role, she served on the Health Select Committee.

Her interest and knowledge of health issues led her to run a high-profile campaign to ensure equality of treatment for women with ovarian cancer, a role that saw her win the Public Figure of the Year award from the national cancer charity “CancerBACUP”.

Ann is proud of her work in Parliament on a wide range of issues. As secretary to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer before becoming a Minister, she worked closely with health organisations, charities and unions on health issues. She was a member of the Select Committee which introduced the National Minimum Wage, and she has successfully campaigned for employees’ rights to paid holiday and union representation at work. Ann has also actively supported the introduction of better protection from verbal and physical assualt for emergency workers.
 
In a campaign against domestic violence, she brought together her nursing contacts and the Metropolitan Police to provide focused training for both services. She was also a committed supporter of the successful Jubilee 2000 Campaign to cancel world debt, and continues to work with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown on this issue as well as through her colleagues in the All-Party Group on Third World Debt.

Ann lives in Brentford and has worked on many campaigns in the constituency, including a successful fight against secret proposals to build luxury homes on Gunnersbury Park, and her campaign with Alan to hold on to flight alternation at Heathrow Airport.