Margaret Beryl Jones, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch (born 22 May 1955)Dod's Parliamentary Companion - Google Books
/ref> is a British Labour Peer and previously a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

official and

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 ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. She was

Chair of the Labour Party The Chair of the Labour Party is a position in the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. The Chair is responsible for administration of the party and overseeing general election campaigns, and is typically held concurrently with another position ...

from 2000 to 2001.

Early life

Jones was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

to Bill and Audrey Jones, and was educated at

Whitchurch High School , established = , closed = , type = , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Head teacher , head = Mark Powell , ad ...

. She then studied at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, gaining a BA in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. She now lives in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

Non-political positions

Jones was Director of Policy and Public Affairs of the trade union

UNISON In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or per ...

until 2006. In 1979 she became a regional official of

National Union of Public Employees The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) was a British trade union which existed between 1908 and 1993. It represented public sector workers in local government, the Health Service, universities, and water authorities. History The union w ...

(NUPE), which merged into UNISON. She has a background as a housing campaigner and environmentalist as well as fighting low pay and discrimination at work. She was previously a trustee of

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locatio ...

and the

Waste & Resources Action Programme WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a British registered charity. It works with businesses, individuals and communities to achieve a circular economy, by helping them reduce waste, develop sustainable products and use resources in an effi ...

as well as being on the board of the

Circle 33 Housing Trust Clarion Housing Group is the largest housing association in the United Kingdom with 125,000 properties across more than 170 local authorities. Clarion Provides a home to over 350,000 people. Clarion is based in Southwark and was formed in ...

. She has been a Development Board member of

ClientEarth ClientEarth is an environmental law charity, with offices in London, Brussels, Warsaw, Berlin, Beijing, Madrid and Los Angeles. It was founded in 2008 by James Thornton and the organisation's CEO is Laura Clarke. As lawyers and environmental exp ...

, board member of Ombudsman Services, Chair of Rothamsted Enterprises, and President of Friends of the South Downs.

Labour Party positions

Jones was a member of the Labour Party's

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

(NEC) within the trade union section from 1993 to 2005. She was elected Chair of the Labour Party in 2000, the year the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

controversially appointed

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life Th ...

to be the similarly named Party Chairman. She was co-convener, along with Tony Blair, of the NEC

Joint Policy Committee The Joint Policy Committee of the British Labour Party was part of the policy-making system of the party, set up by leader Tony Blair in 1997 as part of the Partnership in Power process. It has strategic oversight of policy development by overse ...

for much of her time on the NEC.

Parliamentary candidate for Blaenau Gwent

Jones was the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for the constituency of

Blaenau Gwent Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...

at the 2005 general election, the safest Labour seat in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and fifth safest in the UK. She was selected from a

women-only shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

which was controversially imposed upon the local party; subsequently eight of twelve members of the local executive resigned in protest. The retiring MP

Llew Smith Llewellyn Thomas Smith (16 April 1944 – 26 May 2021) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life and education According to Smith, his father was born in England and moved to Wales as a child. He began working at the local colliery ( Ne ...

also criticised the selection method.

Peter Law Peter John Law (1 April 1948 – 25 April 2006) was a Welsh politician. For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member (AM) for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent membe ...

, the Labour Welsh Assembly Member for the constituency, resigned from the party and stood against her as an Independent. Prior to the announcement of Law's rumoured candidacy, Jones stated that Law would be "very foolish" to stand against her. She argued "Blaenau Gwent is solidly Labour and I don't think people will vote for anyone else." Law won the seat with a majority of 9,121 votes, creating one of the media highlights of the election. The

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

described Jones' defeat as "one of the most spectacular general election results of modern times".

Peerage and Shadow Minister

Following her election defeat, Jones was nominated for a

Life Peerage 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 Ac ...

in 2005 by the Labour Party, according to a list leaked to ''

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'' (fou ...

''. This leaked list eventually led to the

Cash for Peerages The Cash-for-Honours scandal (also known as Cash for Peerages, Loans for Lordships, Loans for Honours or Loans for Peerages) was a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations an ...

scandal in which Jones was not implicated. On 10 April 2006, her nomination for a peerage was officially announced, and she was gazetted as Baroness Jones of Whitchurch, of Whitchurch in the County of

South Glamorgan , Government= South Glamorgan County Council , Status= Non-metropolitan county (1974–1996) Preserved county (1996–) , Start= 1974 , End= 1996 , Arms= , HQ= ...

on 5 June 2006. Jones' peerage was widely criticised, with Law stating "That is the way

New Labour New Labour was a period in the history of the British Labour Party from the mid to late 1990s until 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The name dates from a conference slogan first used by the party in 1994, later seen ...

works. It's a poor example of patronage and power." Labour MP Paul Flynn was also critical, he argued: "This is standing democracy on its head. The House of Lords shouldn't be used to reward a candidate who has been emphatically rejected by the electorate."Losing candidate tipped for peerage , South Wales Argus
/ref> In June 2010 Jones joined Labour's Shadow Ministerial Team, as Labour's House of Lords spokeswoman on Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport. She was then promoted to the Shadow Education Minister. Since 2015 she has been Labour's Shadow Environment Minister in the Lords. In 2020, Lady Jones was appointed as a member of the

South Downs National Park Authority The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamps ...

References

External links

Labour Party profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Maggie, Baroness Jones Of Whitchurch 1955 births Living people Welsh trade unionists Labour Party (UK) officials Jones of Whitchurch Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Alumni of the University of Sussex People educated at Whitchurch Grammar School, Cardiff Chairs of the Labour Party (UK) Women trade unionists Politicians from Cardiff