Janet Anne Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, (born 20 August 1955), is a British

Labour Co-operative Party Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

politician. She was

Leader of the House of Lords The leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The post is also the leader of the majority party in the House of Lords who acts as ...

and

Lord President of the Council The lord president of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lord ...

. She is the principal of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, I ...

Education and early political career

Royall grew up in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

Hucclecote Hucclecote is a suburb in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, comprising a ward (population 8,826) in the City of Gloucester. It is located on the periphery of the city, between Barnwood and Brockworth, along Ermin Way, an old Roman road connectin ...

and

Newnham on Severn Newnham or Newnham on Severn is a village in west Gloucestershire, England. It lies in the Royal Forest of Dean, on the west bank of the River Severn, approximately 10 miles south-west of Gloucester and three miles southeast of Cinderford. It is ...

, where her parents ran a shop. Royall was educated at the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar School and

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, where she gained a BA in Spanish and French in 1977. Royall was a special adviser to

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader of ...

, the leader of the Labour Party, in the 1980s, and she has remained a close ally of his ever since. She sought selection as Labour's candidate for Ogmore in a 2002 by-election, losing to Huw Irranca-Davies. In 2003 she became head of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

office in Wales.

House of Lords

On 25 June 2004, she 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 ...

as Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. She spoke for the

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

International Development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classificatio ...

and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. On 24 January 2008 Royall was appointed government

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

in the House of Lords, on the resignation of Lord Grocott. She was appointed a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...

later in the year. On 3 October 2008, she was appointed to the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony ...

, as Leader of the House of Lords and

. On 5 June 2009, Royall was succeeded as Lord President by

Lord Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

, the Business Secretary, and was appointed

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

. She voted for a 100% elected House, on the last occasion that the House of Lords voted on

Reform of the House of Lords Certain governments in the United Kingdom have, for more than a century, attempted to find a way to reform the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This process was started by the Parliament Act 1911 introdu ...

in March 2007. She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber. In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed

badger cull Badger culling in the United Kingdom is permitted under licence, within a set area and timescale, as a way to reduce badger numbers in the hope of controlling the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Humans can catch bTB, but public health cont ...

. She announced in May 2015 that she would not seek re-election as the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the House of Lords. In 2016, she chaired an investigation into allegations of

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

in Oxford University Labour Club and was subsequently one of two Vice-Chairs of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into

antisemitism in the UK Labour Party Allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) have been made since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the party in September 2015. After comments by Naz Shah in 2014 and Ken Livingstone in 2016 resulted in t ...

Principal of Somerville College

In February 2017,

, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal.Announcement of new Principal at Somerville College
Somerville College, 9 Feb 2017. She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017.

Personal life

She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has a daughter, Charlie, and two sons, Ned and Harry.

References

External links

Profile
at www.parliament.uk
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
from Dod Online
The Rt Hon the Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, PC
at Debrett's ''People of Today'' , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Royall of Blaisdon, Janet 1955 births Alumni of Westfield College Alumni of the University of London Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Labour Co-operative life peers Leaders of the House of Lords Living people Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Members of the Fabian Society Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Newnham on Severn People from the Borough of Tewkesbury Principals of Somerville College, Oxford