Jacqueline Margaret Ballard (née Mackenzie; born 4 January 1953) has been a charity senior manager, politician and journalist in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Her former roles include Director General of the

RSPCA The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. The RSPCA is funded primarily by voluntary donations. Founded in 1824, it is the oldest and largest a ...

, Chief Executive of

RNID The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), known as Action on Hearing Loss from 2011 to 2020, is a charitable organization working on behalf of the UK's 9 million people who are deaf or have hearing loss. History The Royal National I ...

and Chief Executive of

Womankind Worldwide Womankind Worldwide is a UK-based, feminist global women's rights organisation that works in solidarity with women's movements around the world to bring about lasting change in women's lives. Founded in 1989, Womankind partners with women's movemen ...

Early career

Jacqueline Margaret Mackenzie was born in

Dunoon Dunoon (; gd, Dùn Omhain) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well ...

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 ...

. Her family moved, when she was 10, to South Wales, where she studied at

Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls is an independent school in Monmouth, Wales. The school was established by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in 1892, and continues to enjoy their support. It is part of a family of schools known as ...

. She then read

social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. She was recruited into the then

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...

and was elected a Councillor for both the

South Somerset District Council South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

(1987–1991) and

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

(1993–1997). She stood as the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

in the 1992 general election, coming second, before winning the seat in 1997.

MP for Taunton

Ballard was elected the

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

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

, at the 1997 general election, beating the incumbent MP David Nicholson (

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

) by 2,443 votes and a swing of 4.6%. During her time as an MP, Ballard was a vocal and prominent campaigner against

blood sport A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities char ...

s, in particular

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and stag hunting. Ballard came under considerable pressure due to her stance, once having to receive

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

protection during a constituency surgery which was lobbied by hunt supporters. It has been suggested that her work with regards to this ban contributed to her losing her seat, which prepared the way for her role as CEO of the RSPCA. In Parliament, she was spokesperson on Women's Issues and on Local Government from 1997–99, and from 1999 to 2001, was Deputy Home Affairs Spokesman. She was also co-sponsor of the first bill which attempted to ban fox hunting, which is widely seen as an important factor in her defeat at the 2001 election. She stood for the post of leader of the Liberal Democrats in 1999, but was defeated by

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...

, and came fourth out of five candidates. She lost her seat at the 2001 general election by 235 votes, to the Conservative candidate

Adrian Flook Adrian John Flook (born 9 July 1963) is a British Conservative politician, and a former Member of Parliament (MP). Early life Flook was educated at King Edward School, Bath and Mansfield College, Oxford where he studied (BA) Modern History. H ...

Iran

After losing her seat in 2001, Ballard spent some time studying in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

''"I was lucky enough to have £25,000 redundancy money and no dependants and I realised that for the first time in my life, at the age of 48, I was free. I am divorced, my daughter had just graduated and started work and my mother, although not always in the best of health, did not need me to look after her. I decided to combine two of my passions and to pursue something completely different....I am now on my fifth visit to the country
ran Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) * ...
researching and writing my thesis while learning the language, Farsi (referring to
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
)."''

She wrote about her experience of the

chador A chādor ( Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of I ...

as a western woman in Iran.

''"I wonder how the media might have treated
Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the E ...
or Blair's so called 'babes' if all women MPs here wore the uniform of the chador. Perhaps then the women in Parliament would be taken more seriously as professional politicians doing a job, not as fat or thin women in grey or pink suits. Maybe then I would not have been described by some witty journalist as having 'a good face for radio' or be told by the late
Auberon Waugh Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downside ...
that I was 'too fat to be an MP'."''

Career after Westminster

In September 2002, she was appointed Director General of the RSPCA. To solve the financial problems the RSPCA was facing, she made substantial changes including 300 job cuts. By 2004 the RSPCA had balanced its books and made £7 million savings. Ballard was appointed Chief Executive of the RNID in October 2007. She was appointed as the Chief Executive of Womankind Worldwide in September 2012 but stepped down from the role after only ten months in June 2013. In December 2009, Ballard was appointed to the

Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is a public body in the United Kingdom created by the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009, largely as a response to the parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009. It establishes and monitors the ...

which supervises MPs' expenses. She was one of four members of IPSA who announced in December 2012 that they would not seek reappointment, citing disputes with speaker

John Bercow John Simon Bercow (; born 19 January 1963) is a British former politician who was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2009 to 2019, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham between 1997 and 2019. A member of the Conservative Party prior to ...

. She was interviewed in 2014 as part of

The History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

's oral history project.

Personal life

She was married to Derek Ballard from 1975 to 1989.

References

External links

*
Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle - Jackie BallardTheyWorkForYou.com - Jackie BallardThe Public Whip - Jackie Ballard
voting record
RNID
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballard, Jackie Living people 1953 births People from Dunoon People educated at Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Somerset County Council Alumni of the London School of Economics Politicians from Somerset Councillors in South West England Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1997–2001 University of Tehran alumni 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Taunton 20th-century English women 20th-century English people 21st-century English women 21st-century English people Women councillors in England