Nicola Blackwood, Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford (born 16 October 1979) is a British politician of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. Baroness Blackwood was a Member of Parliament (MP) for

Oxford West and Abingdon Oxford West and Abingdon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat. History Creation The seat was created in 1983 as part of the reconfiguration of those in the coun ...

from 2010 to 2017. She has also been known by her married name Nicola Blackwood-Bate since 2016.

Early life

Blackwood was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, but has lived in the UK since she was two months old. She is the daughter of a medical doctor and a nurse. Blackwood was given a flute aged six, which led to a lifelong interest in music, later learning to sing and play the piano. At 14 she began studying at the Trinity School of Music, and eventually studied music at university. She studied Music at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

and

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, Ir ...

, and later studied for an

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

degree in Musicology at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

Parliamentary career

Blackwood was chosen as the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for

at an

open primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

on 13 November 2006. Boundary changes which came into effect in 2010 were thought to have favoured the Conservatives, with some 8,000 urban voters (including many students) being moved into the

Oxford East Oxford East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Anneliese Dodds of the Labour Party, who also serves as party chair. Created in 1983, the constituency covers the eastern and southern parts of Oxford ...

constituency and more rural voters added. Blackwood won the seat at the 2010 general election by 176 votes on a 6.9% swing to the Conservatives from the Liberal Democrats. In late 2010, she was elected to serve on the

Home Affairs Select Committee The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Departmental Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Remit The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select committees related to government departments: its ...

and was secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Overseas Development. She was a member of the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission,Oxford City Conservatives — Nicola Blackwood
as well as holding a position on the Council of Advisors for ZANE, a charity which seeks to support pensioners in Zimbabwe. She was elected Member of Parliament at the 2010 election with a majority of 176, defeating the Liberal Democrats, who had held the seat since 1997. She lost her seat to the Liberal Democrats at the 2017 election, who won it back with a majority of 816. During her time as Member of Parliament, she was chaired the Science and Technology Select Committee during the

second Cameron ministry David Cameron formed the second Cameron ministry, the first Conservative majority government since 1996, following the 2015 general election after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration. Prior to the election Cam ...

and served as a junior health minister during the

first May ministry Theresa May formed the first May ministry in the United Kingdom on 13 July 2016, after having been invited by Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration. Then the Home Secretary, May's appointment followed the resignation of ...

. On 10 January 2019, Blackwood was appointed to replace Lord O’Shaughnessy as a junior minister for innovation in the Department of Health and Social Care serving in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

with the formal title of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health and she would thus be 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 ...

. Blackwood resigned from her ministerial position in the

in February 2020 to Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

to pursue time with her family. Blackwood voted against the

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Background Civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom in 2004, allowi ...

in 2013 after indicating to many students and constituents that she would support the measure, for which she was criticised by

Oxford University Student Union The Oxford University Student Union is the official students' union of the University of Oxford. It is better known in Oxford under the branding Oxford SU or by its previous name of OUSU. It exists to represent Oxford University students in t ...

. Blackwood said she had voted against the final draft of the Bill because she was not satisfied with the protection afforded religious freedoms. At the 2015 general election, Blackwood retained her seat with a majority of 9,582, which was in part due to the national swing of voters against the Liberal Democrats. In 2015, student activists criticised Blackwood for her support of

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of ho ...

and she later confirmed pro-hunting group

Vote-OK __NOTOC__ Vote-OK is a group of political activists which were active on the topic of hunting animals during the 2005, 2010 and 2015 general election campaigns. Vote-OK came into being in 2005 through the efforts of Gloucestershire farmer Charles ...

assisted with her election campaign during the 2015 general election. In June 2015, Blackwood was elected to the chairmanship of the Science & Technology

Select Committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

. She was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (PUS) at the Department of Health from July 2016–May 2017. In the 2017 general election, she lost her seat to the Liberal Democrat candidate Layla Moran who won with a majority of 816. She has chaired the Human Tissue Authority since March 2018. On 1 February 2019, she was created a

as Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford, of North Oxford in the County of Oxfordshire. She was briefly the youngest member of the

until Lord Ravensdale became a member of the House in March 2019. Blackwood was appointed Chair of Genomics England in May 2020 which runs the

100,000 Genomes Project The 100,000 Genomes Project is a now-completed UK Government project managed by Genomics England that is sequencing whole genomes from National Health Service patients. The project is focusing on rare diseases, some common types of cancer, and ...

Personal life

Blackwood has been a member of the

Conservative Christian Fellowship The Conservative Christian Fellowship (CCF) is an organisation working within the British Conservative Party. Established in 1990 by Tim Montgomerie and David Burrowes, while they were students at Exeter University, the organisation supports ...

since 2005, and is a regular worshipper at the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

St Aldate's St Aldate's () is a street in central Oxford, England, named after Saint Aldate, but formerly known as Fish Street. The street runs south from the generally acknowledged centre of Oxford at Carfax. The Town Hall, which includes the Museum o ...

in Oxford. In March 2015, Blackwood said that she had been diagnosed with the genetic condition Ehlers–Danlos syndrome in 2013 and had later been diagnosed with the associated secondary condition of

postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is a condition characterized by an abnormally large increase in heart rate upon standing. Symptoms may include lightheadedness, brain fog, blurred vision, weakness, fatigue, headaches, heart ...

(POTS), which causes chronic

migraines Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

for which she is treated by having 32 injections in the head every 10–12 weeks. She also stated that her medical conditions had not affected her performance as a Member of Parliament. Her POTS was thought to be the cause of her fainting in the House of Lords whilst giving a statement at the despatch box on 17 June 2019, although she later said it was "no big deal". Blackwood married Paul Bate, founder, chief executive officer and portfolio manager at Matterhorn Investment Management LLP, in September 2016 at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

. Bate is a member of Oxford's

Vincent's Club Vincent's Club is a sports club predominantly but not exclusively for Oxford blues at Oxford University. The club was founded in 1863 by oarsman Walter Bradford Woodgate (1841–1920) of Brasenose College, Oxford, and he was the first presid ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwood, Nicola 1979 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 2010–2015 Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge English people of South African descent English Anglicans People with Ehlers–Danlos syndrome Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies People from Johannesburg South African Anglicans South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African people of English descent UK MPs 2015–2017 UK MPs who were granted peerages White South African people 21st-century British women politicians South African women in politics