FORMER MP Angela Smith is to be made a member of the House of Lords.

The former Labour minister of state is to be made a life peer after being recommended by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the Queen.

Mrs Smith grew up in Basildon and is a former Pitsea Junior School and Chalvedon School pupil.

She served as Basildon's MP from 1997 and worked closely with Mr Brown as a Parliamentary Private Secretary, until being ousted by Tory Stephen Metcalfe in this year's general election.

Meanwhile, Sue Nye, originally from Southend, who worked as a close aide for Mr Brown, is also to be made a working peer for the House of Lords.

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