Dame Margaret Hodge was a Minister in the Governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, holding portfolios in the Departments for Education, Work and Pensions, Business, and Culture. She was the first Children's Minister from 2003 to 2005, Minister for Universities from 2001-2003 and Minister for the Arts and the Creative Industries for the last years of the Labour Government. In 2010 she became the first elected Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and was also its first female Chair. She held the post for the full parliamentary term, retiring in 2015.In December 2024, she was appointed as the UK's Anti-Corruption Champion.