Ruth Turner (born 1970 in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as ''Caitriona Ruth Turner'') was formerly Director of Government Relations within

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 ...

Downing Street Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...

office.

Biography

As daughter of leading

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

writer and academic

Denys Turner Denys Alan Turner (born 5 August 1942) is a British-born American philosopher and theologian. He is Horace Tracy Pitkin Professor of Historical Theology emeritus at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris� ...

, Turner spent her childhood moving between university towns as her father's career gathered pace. Turner left home in the late 1980s to study at the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

, graduating with a BA in English & History in 1991 and followed by a sabbatical year as the Students Union's Deputy President for Communications, elected as the Labour Students candidate.

''Big Issue'' in the North

Turner came to prominence as co-founder and former chairperson of the ''

Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or indivi ...

'' in the North, which she started in 1992, before leaving in 2000. Turner subsequently co-founded with

Simon Danczuk Simon Christopher Danczuk (; born 24 October 1966) is a British author and former Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the constituency of Rochdale between 2010 and 2017. He has co-written two books, ''Smile for the Camera: The Double Life ...

Urban Visions Limited, trading as Vision Twentyone, a research, public affairs and communications consultancy.

Labour Party

Rising through the Labour Party's ranks, she stood as a Labour candidate for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

elections in North-West England constituency in 1999, before becoming a member of its

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 ...

in 2000. In 2005 she was placed in the key post of Head of Government Relations by Tony Blair, replacing Lady Morgan of Huyton, the Prime Minister's long-time adviser, who first recommended her. She worked directly for Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell.

Tony Blair Faith Foundation

She followed Tony Blair on his exit from Downing Street, and was employed by the

Tony Blair Faith Foundation The Tony Blair Faith Foundation was an interfaith charitable foundation established in May 2008 by former British prime minister Tony Blair. Since December 2016 its work has been continued by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Launch ...

. She served as the Foundation's Chief Executive from 2007 until April 2013 when she became its Director of Policy working part-time after maternity leave.

Controversy

In September 2006, it was reported that Turner had been interviewed under police caution under

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

's ongoing

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 ...

inquiry, but was found innocent of alleged charges after being questioned four times by police.

References

External links

BBC profile of Ruth Turner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Ruth Living people Alumni of the University of Salford Labour Party (UK) officials 1970 births