Elizabeth Conway Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (born 14 April 1951) is a British politician and trade unionist. A member of the Labour Party, she was Minister of State for the Middle East from 2001 to 2005. She is former General Secretary of the FDA Trade Union and has served as the Chair of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) since 2010.

Early life

The daughter of

Ernest Symons Ernest Vize Symons CB (19 June 1913 – 5 November 1990) was a British Civil Servant who became Director General of the Board of Inland Revenue. He was educated at the Stationers' Company's School and University College London (UCL), servin ...

, Chairman of HM Board of

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

, Symons was educated at Putney High School for Girls and

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status ...

. She was an administration trainee at the

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

from 1974 to 1977. She then worked for the

Inland Revenue Staff Federation The Inland Revenue Staff Federation (IRSF) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The Union was born in the late 19th century, when a group of tax clerks met together to fight for higher pay, higher status and better conditions. At t ...

from 1977 to 1989 and was General Secretary of the Association of First Division Civil Servants from 1989 to 1997. She resigned from this post following her appointment as a working peer.

Political life

Symons was created a Labour

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 A ...

as Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, ''of Vernham Dean in the County of Hampshire'', on 7 October 1996. From May 1997 to June 1999, she took her first government post, serving as a junior Foreign Office Minister. From 1999 until 2001, she was Minister of State for Defence Procurement and, from 2001 until 2003,

Minister of State for Trade The Minister of State for Trade Policy is a mid-level role at the Department for International Trade in the Government of the United Kingdom. It is currently held by Greg Hands, who took the office on 9 October 2022. The minister deputizes for ...

. From 2001 until 2005, she was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs with responsibility for the Middle East, International Security, Consular and Personal Affairs, and Deputy Leader of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in ...

. Symons was or remains a member of the British-American Project (BAP). It has a membership of 600 leaders and opinion formers, drawn equally from both countries, according to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the G ...

'', and holds an annual conference at which everything that is said is officially off-the-record. also serves on the board of governors of the

Ditchley Foundation The Ditchley Foundation is a foundation that holds conferences, with a primary focus on British-American relations. It is based at Ditchley Park near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. It was established as a privately funded charity in 1958 by phila ...

. In 2001, she married her long-standing partner, Phil Bassett, a former writer at ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fo ...

''. They have a son, James, born in 1985. In October 2002, Bassett was appointed to the Strategic Communications Unit in

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

, leaving in September 2003 to become special adviser to

Lord Falconer of Thoroton Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, (born 19 November 1951) is a British Labour peer and barrister who served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 2003 to 2007. Born in ...

, the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. She is a Senior Network Member at the

European Leadership Network European Leadership Network (ELN) is a pan-European think-tank focusing on European foreign, defence and security issues based in London, United Kingdom. The ELN's Director is Sir Adam Thomson, former UK Permanent Representative to NATO. Histo ...

(ELN).

Corporate career

Symons was not given a job in the re-shuffle after the general election of 5 May 2005, and became a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of th ...

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ca ...

. Symons sits on the board of trustees of the John Smith Memorial Trust, an NGO set up in 1995 in memory of the late Labour party leader John Smith.

Conflict of interest allegations

''The Guardian'' alleged in its issue of 9 January 2005 that Symons may have used her office to give "special treatment" to David Mills, husband of Culture Secretary

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 1 ...

. Mills was seeking her assistance in sidestepping a U.S. trade embargo against Iran in order to sell $200 million worth of

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

jets to that country. On 9 February 2006, ''The Guardian'' mentioned her as one several former government ministers who had accepted lucrative positions as company directors and consultants. In the case of Symons, the companies involved were

, law firm

DLA Piper DLA Piper is a Multinational corporation, multinational law firm with offices in over 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In 2021, it had a total revenue of US$3.47 billion, an average prof ...

, and the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World c ...

(P&O).From Brussels to the boardroom: what George Robertson did next , Business , The Guardian
/ref> In 2009 similar allegations were made when she took a lucrative post with UK investment bank MerchantBridge, which made millions from contracts in post-war Iraq, and also when she became a member of the National Economic Development Board of

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

shortly before the release of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, who was convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. Symons resigned from the National Economic Development Board in 2011 in the midst of a popular uprising against the government of

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spelling ...

, one day after she had made remarks which appeared to praise Gaddafi's ‘sound ideology’. Symons said the remarks had been made facetiously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Symons of Vernham Dean, Elizabeth Conway, Baroness 1951 births Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom General Secretaries of the FDA (trade union) Civil servants in the Department of the Environment Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Labour Party (UK) life peers Living people Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Women trade unionists