Janet Anne Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, PC (born 20 August 1955), is a British Labour Co-operative Party politician. She was Leader of the House of Lords for the last eighteen months of Gordon Brown's premiership, and currently serves as the principal of Somerville College, Oxford. [2]
Royall grew up in Gloucestershire in Hucclecote and Newnham on Severn and was educated at the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar School and Westfield College, London, where she gained a BA degree in Spanish and French in 1977. [3]
Royall was a special adviser to Neil Kinnock, [4] 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. [5] In 2003 she became head of the European Commission office in Wales; her appointment was criticised at the time as "an inappropriate political appointment". [6]
On 25 June 2004, she was created a life peer as Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. [7] She spoke for the Labour party on Health, International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
On 24 January 2008 Royall was appointed government chief whip in the House of Lords, on the resignation of Lord Grocott. She was appointed a Privy Counsellor later in the year. On 3 October 2008, she was appointed to the cabinet by Gordon Brown, as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. On 5 June 2009, Royall was succeeded as Lord President by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
She voted for a 100% elected House, on the last occasion that the House of Lords voted on Reform of the House of Lords in March 2007. [8] She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber.
In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed badger cull. [9]
She announced in May 2015 that she would not seek re-election as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. [10]
In 2016, she chaired an investigation into allegations of antisemitism in Oxford University Labour Club and was subsequently one of two Vice-Chairs of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into antisemitism in the UK Labour Party. [11]
In February 2017, Somerville College, Oxford, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal. [12] She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017. [12] In 2019, Royall attracted media attention following her decision to remove octopus from the college menu [13] and supported the introduction of gender-neutral toilets. [14] As Principal, Royall implemented mandatory unconscious bias training, leading to criticism from Toby Young of the Free Speech Union. [15] She also oversaw an expansion of scholarship provision at Somerville College and initiated outreach to local primary schools. Royall served as Chair of Conference of Colleges [16] from 2020-23, and for two years prior as Deputy Chair. [17] In 2021, Royall led a campaign for Somerville to become a College of Sanctuary, offering a pathway to Oxford for students displaced by war or internal unrest. [18] The University of Oxford has now adopted this campaign, forming a Community of Sanctuary. In May 2024 Royall instructed Thames Valley Police, who were monitoring pro-Palestine protests, to leave the grounds of Somerville College. [19]
Baroness Royall is co-chair of Oxford Inclusive Economy Paternership [20] . She was previously Chair of the Oxford Strategic Partnership [21] . Baroness Royall is currently serving as a trustee of Full Fact [22] , a team of independent fact checkers.
She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has a daughter, Charlie, and two sons, Ned and Harry. [23]
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, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot, Vera Brittain and Dorothy L. Sayers. It began admitting men in 1994. Its library is one of Oxford's largest college libraries. The college's liberal tone derives from its founding by social liberals, as Oxford's first non-denominational college for women, unlike the Anglican Lady Margaret Hall, the other to open that year. In 1964, it was among the first to cease locking up at night to stop students staying out late. No gowns are worn at formal halls.
Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, is a British Labour Party politician and diplomat who served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a life peer in 1997, serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council from 2003 to 2007.
Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington,, is a British politician for the Labour Party and former BBC television producer and presenter.
Winifred Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, is a British politician and life peer who served in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolton West from 1974 to 1983, and Dewsbury from 1987 to 2005.
Glenys Elizabeth Kinnock, Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead,, was a British politician and teacher who served as Minister of State for Europe from June to October 2009 and Minister of State for Africa and the United Nations from 2009 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, she was previously a member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales, formerly South Wales East, from 1994 to 2009.
Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws,, is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. A Bencher of Gray's Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 Honorary Degrees from many universities including those of Glasgow and Edinburgh in recognition of work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She is President of Justice, the law reform think tank, and is also director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Human Rights.
Dorothea Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton, known as Glenys Thornton, is a British politician serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 1998. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was a Government Whip and Health Minister between 2008 and 2010.
Onora Sylvia O'Neill, Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve, is a British philosopher and a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Oxford University Labour Club (OULC), currently known as the Oxford Labour Club (OLC), was founded in 1919 to promote democratic socialism and is today the home of the Labour Party and of social democracy at Oxford University. OULC is the largest and oldest university Labour club in the country and has a particular reputation as an active campaigning force.
Royal Forest of Dean College was a college of further education located close to the town of Coleford, in the Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire. It was dissolved by government order as of 31 January 2011 in order to be merged to Gloucestershire College. Together with its secondary site at Mitcheldean, and around 30 further outreach sites, the college served a mainly rural area. The college offered a range of courses from A-levels and was associated with University of Gloucestershire for higher education to Master's degrees.
SharmishtaChakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.
Parry Andrew Mitchell, Baron Mitchell is a British businessman and Labour member of the House of Lords. On 10 May 2000, Mitchell was created a life peer as Baron Mitchell, of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, and introduced in the House of Lords on 24 May 2000. He sat on the Labour benches until he resigned from the party in September 2016. He rejoined the party in June 2020.
Nicola Claire Blackwood, Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford is a British politician of the Conservative Party. Baroness Blackwood was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon from 2010 to 2017. She has also been known by her married name Nicola Blackwood-Bate since 2016.
Ed Miliband became Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition upon being elected to the former post on 25 September 2010. The election was triggered by Gordon Brown's resignation following the party's fall from power at the 2010 general election, which yielded a Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition. Miliband appointed his first Shadow Cabinet in October 2010, following the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet elections. These elections were the last such elections before they were abolished in 2011.
Tina Wendy Stowell, Baroness Stowell of Beeston, is a British Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords.
All-Party Groups (APGs) within United Kingdom politics are informal, cross-party, interest groups of the UK Parliament. APGs have at least 20 members who are all Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. The All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG) is a subject group of the APG whose purpose is to bring together non-religious humanist, atheist and agnostic MPs and peers to discuss matters of shared interest.
Harriet Harman's second Shadow Cabinet was formed by Harriet Harman in 2015 during her second period as Acting Leader of the Labour Party. She assumed this role after Ed Miliband resigned as party leader and announced she would continue until a new leader was elected on 12 September 2015. Miliband's resignation followed the party's defeat at the 2015 general election.
The Chakrabarti Inquiry was a 2016 investigation into allegations of antisemitism and other forms of racism in the United Kingdom's Labour Party. Chaired by barrister Shami Chakrabarti, the inquiry was launched following comments made by two high-profile Labour figures, Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone, that some asserted were antisemitic in nature; Shah, a Member of parliament, and Livingstone, the former mayor of London, were subsequently suspended from the party pending an investigation. The inquiry presented its findings on 30 June 2016, stating that although antisemitism and other types of racism were not endemic within Labour, there was an "occasionally toxic atmosphere".
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