Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, (née Callaghan; born 18 November 1939), is a British politician for the Labour Party and former

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television producer and presenter.

Early life

Her father was

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

, a Labour politician and

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, and she was educated at Blackheath High School, Blackheath and Somerville College, Oxford. Between 1965 and 1977 she held production posts within the

, working on current affairs and

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

television programmes. She then became a journalist on the BBC's prestigious '' Panorama'' programme, and Thames Television's '' This Week'' and presented the BBC 2 series ''Social History of Medicine''. She has a strong interest in health issues, notably as a campaigner on HIV and

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. She was a founder director of the National AIDS Trust in 1987 and is also a patron of Help the Aged. Between 1994 and 1997, Baroness Jay was the chairman of the charity Attend (then National Association of Hospital and Community Friends). In 2003, she was elected vice-president of Attend.

Political career

Jay was appointed 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. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 29 July 1992 with the title of Baroness Jay of Paddington, of Paddington in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

, and acted as an opposition Whip in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. Her status as the daughter of a former Prime Minister led to her being nicknamed 'Posh Spice' after her ennoblement. As a peer, in association with the shop workers' union, she led opposition to the liberalisation of Sunday trading hours. After her party's election victory in May 1997, she became Minister of State for Health in the House of Lords. From 1998 she was Leader of the House of Lords, playing a pivotal role in the major reform that led to the removal of most of its hereditary members. On 11 November 1999 the government's reform bill ( House of Lords Act 1999) was given Royal Assent and more than 660 hereditary peers lost their right to sit and vote in the Lords. She retired from active politics in 2001. Among numerous non-executive roles that she has taken on since retiring from politics, she was a non-executive director of BT Group. She was co-chair of the cross-party Iraq Commission (along with Tom King and Paddy Ashdown) which was established by the Foreign Policy Centre think-tank and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Before her resignation, Jay gave an interview in which she said she attended a "pretty standard

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

", which was actually Blackheath High School, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

. (Although, as Jay herself pointed out, during the period when she attended it was a direct-grant school – that is to say, a state-funded direct grant grammar school.) She drew ridicule when she said she could understand the needs of rural voters because she had a "little cottage" in the country, which turned out to be a £500,000 house in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and she also had a "substantial property" in the Chilterns.

Personal life

In 1961, Callaghan married fellow journalist Peter Jay, a child of political parents: Douglas Jay, Labour MP and president of the Board of Trade, and Margaret Garnett, member of the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

. Peter Jay was appointed ambassador to the United States by his friend David Owen, Foreign Secretary in her father's government, leading to accusations of nepotism. While in the United States, she met journalist Carl Bernstein, with whom she had a much-publicised extramarital affair in 1979. Bernstein's then-wife Nora Ephron fictionalised the story in her novel, ''

Heartburn Heartburn is a burning sensation felt behind the breastbone. It is a symptom that is commonly linked to acid reflux and is often triggered by food, particularly fatty, sugary, spicy, chocolate, citrus, onion-based and tomato-based products. Ly ...

'', in which the character of Thelma is a thinly disguised representation of Jay. Peter Jay then had an affair with their nanny, fathering a child in the process (he originally denied paternity). The Jays divorced in 1986 after 25 years of marriage. In 1994, she married AIDS specialist Michael Adler, who had been chair of the National AIDS Trust when she was its director. She retained her surname from her first marriage. She has three children: Tamsin, Alice and Patrick.

Arms

References

External links

biographical article, NZ Herald 2005BBC profile 2001
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Jay of Paddington, Margaret Jay, Baroness 1939 births Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford BBC television presenters BBC television producers English people of Irish descent English people of Jewish descent Children of prime ministers of the United Kingdom Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) life peers Leaders of the House of Lords Living people Lords Privy Seal Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Blackheath High School Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford British women television producers Daughters of life peers Women's ministers of the United Kingdom Jay New Labour

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...