Barbara Lilian Janke, Baroness Janke (born 5 June 1947) is a British former teacher and politician. She was the

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

leader of

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 wards ...

from 2005 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2012. She was first elected councillor for

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia * Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada *Clifton, Nova Scotia ...

ward in 1995. She became leader of the

group in 1997, with a break from 2007 to 2008. In August 2014 Cllr Janke was named as one of six new Liberal Democrat working peers.

Early life

Janke was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 5 June 1947.

Career

Janke formerly taught economics and modern languages in London.

Political career

She first became active in politics while in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, before becoming a councillor and then deputy Leader in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

Council in the early '90s. Janke stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Surbiton Constituency at the 1992 General Election, losing to the Conservative Party candidate

Richard Tracey Richard Patrick Tracey, (8 February 1943 – 19 March 2020), was a British Conservative Party politician, journalist and news presenter. He was the Member of Parliament for Surbiton from 1983 to 1997, and served as Minister for Sport between ...

. In 1995, she was elected councillor for

ward in

. She succeeded Stephen Williams as leader of the

group in 1997. In 2007, she was replaced by Steve Comer. However, she replaced him as leader in 2008. Janke became the first non-

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

leader of

for many decades after the 2003 elections when she led an all-party administration after the Council went into ''no overall control''. This arrangement collapsed in late 2004 when the

group withdrew and took minority control as the largest party. At the 2005 elections the

party became the largest party and took minority control of the Council under Janke as Leader until 2007, when a combined vote of Labour and Conservatives voted them out. In February 2009, she returned to the position of leader of Bristol City Council, following the resignation of the Labour cabinet. She stood down as leader in May 2012 as she approached her 65th birthday, but remained a member of the council. On 24 September 2014 Janke was created a

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

taking the title Baroness Janke, of

in the

City and County of Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

References

External links

Bristol City CouncilBristol Liberal Democrats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Janke, Barbara 1947 births Living people Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Bristol Councillors in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Politicians from Liverpool Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Leaders of local authorities of England Women councillors in England