Helen Belcher


Helen Belcher is a British activist and Liberal Democrat politician. She has been featured in The Independent on Sunday’s Rainbow List for her work on LGBT issues, particularly those affecting the trans community. In 2010 she co-founded Trans Media Watch, a trans-awareness charity for which she appeared on Newsnight. Belcher unsuccessfully contested the Conservative seat in Chippenham during the 2017 general election, losing to the incumbent Michelle Donelan.

Early life

Belcher was born in Reading, where she attended a local grammar school before graduating from the University of Leeds in 1984. She worked initially as a maths teacher in Boston Spa but later moved into computer software, establishing her own software company in 2004.

Political career and activism

In 2012, Belcher gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry, an investigation into the culture, practices and ethics of the press. She gave evidence again in 2015 for the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s inquiry into trans equality, and in 2017 for the Joint Parliamentary Committee of Human Rights’ inquiry into free speech.
The Times withdrew from the 2018 Comments Awards when Belcher, a judge on the panel, asked for her name to be removed following the nomination of Janice Turner. It was claimed that Turner had contributed to a number of articles in the press that resisted the Government's proposed reform to the Gender Recognition Act, with Belcher suggesting that trans suicides had increased as a result.
Belcher ran as a Liberal Democrat in the local election for Wokingham Borough Council in 2016 but lost by 122 votes to the Conservative candidate. Later that year she was selected to replace Duncan Hames in his former seat of Chippenham, where she once again lost to her Conservative opponent in the 2017 general election.  
Belcher was re-selected as Chippenham's Liberal Democrat candidate for the 2019 general election.