Chess Champions as Cabinet Ministers

[Roger de Coverly]

With the promotion of Angela Eagle, the Cabinet now contains a former British Chess Champion.
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/angela-eagle

U18 Girls 1976

[John Upham]

The Eagle has landed!

[Andrew Smith]

And Ellie Reeves is now the Attorney General. As Shadow Prisons Minister in 2023, she visited the Bronzefield Prison Chess Club and played a full game, lasting about 20 minutes, with a resident. I tried to attach a photograph here ( probably unsuccessfully!)

[Mike Gunn]

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

[John Upham]

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

[Nick Ivell]

I am not one to get hung up on language - and indeed there should be more important things to worry about, like opening, middlegame and endgame - but I can imagine Angela found 'ladies' overly genteel. On a similar principle perhaps, I note Wimbledon umpires now call female players by their surname, omitting their title.

[Mike Gunn]

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

Leftist feminism.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

Leftist feminism.

Oh dear. Dare I ask how that differs from just "feminism"?

Maybe we should talk about the chess instead? I forget where the threads are that went over the chess exploits of the Eagle sisters in great detail.

EDIT: The current AI-assisted chess-related search summaries for the Eagles and the Reeves are... interesting!

[Nick Ivell]

The Eagle sisters were always on the left. They were never outstandingly strong at chess, certainly not by the standards of a modern prodigy like Bodhana.

I have fond memories of them. This is because I stayed several times with them at their house in Formby, in order to take part in the biennial junior jamborees at the Bluecoat school.

[Paul Habershon]

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

I think it was at the Liverpool 2008 prizegiving that I was impressed by Angela Eagle's impromptu speech in place of the Mayor, who was unexpectedly absent/late after getting soaked by a rainstorm at a previous engagement. She was part of the official party (as MP for the Wallasey constituency?) but I am fairly sure she wasn't scheduled to speak.

[Matt Mackenzie]

The Eagle sisters were always on the left. They were never outstandingly strong at chess, certainly not by the standards of a modern prodigy like Bodhana.

Not many are as good as Bodhana, mind you.

Their father Andre Eagle was also a regular at tournaments though not a terribly good player.

Fair to say he played a big part in their politics too.

[Nick Ivell]

Indeed I played Andre in my first ever Open at Preston; I can vouch for the fact that he wasn't very good. Great guy to talk to though.

I have to say I am not a big fan of 'inherited politics', but I won't say more than that.

[Matt Mackenzie]

My late father was a lifelong Labour voter, just like me. That doesn't mean we agreed on everything, though - anything but.

(same with football, despite supporting the same team)

[JustinHorton]

Is it A Kind of Loving where two guys from the same family (maybe the narrator's father and uncle, but it's been forty-five years since I read it) have a short conversation but they're both Labour and both Huddersfield so they haven't got anything to disagree about?

[John Clarke]

I can imagine Angela found 'ladies' overly genteel.

That's my view too - unlike Mike G, I don't see anything particularly "feminist" about the change. "Ladies" for me somehow always conjures up a mental image of the players sipping tea daintily from bone china cups (never mugs). Pinky fingers extended, of course.