Edwina Cohen,was born in Liverpool, Lancashire,England,
is a former British Member of Parliament. First elected as a Conservative Party MP in 1983, she was a Junior Health Minister for two years, before resigning in 1988 during the salmonella in eggs controversy.
By the time Currie lost her seat as an MP in 1997, she had begun a new career as a novelist and broadcaster. She is the author of six novels and has also written four works of non-fiction. In 2002, publication of Currie's Diaries (1987–92) caused a sensation, as they revealed a four-year affair with John Major between 1984 and 1988.
Currie studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was taught by Gabriele Taylor, subsequently, she gained an MA in economic history from the London School of Economics.
From 1975 until 1986, she was a Birmingham City Councillor for Northfield. In 1983, she stood for parliament as a Conservative Party candidate, and was elected as the member for South Derbyshire. Frequently outspoken, she was described as "a virtually permanent fixture on the nation's TV screen saying something outrageous about just about anything and the most outspoken and sexually interested woman ,of her political generation."
In September 1986, she became a Junior Health Minister.
In 1988, Currie appointed television personality Jimmy Savile to head up a task force to run the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Savile was given extraordinary power and a set of keys with complete access to every part of the hospital. He mingled repeatedly with the 800 or so patients, many teenage girls, some severely disturbed and medicated.
,
