THE RT HON THE BARONESS ROYALL OF BLAISDON

On 3 October 2008 the Prime Minister announced the appointment of Baroness Royall of Blaisdon as the new Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council.

Biography

Jan Royall was Government Chief Whip and Captain of the Honourable Corps of the Gentleman-at-Arms from February to September 2008. Before that, she was a Government Whip and Government Spokesperson for Health, International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the House of Lords from 2005-08.

Jan was born in Gloucester and has lived in Blaisdon in the Forest of Dean for over 40 years.

From 1979-1985 she was Secretary General of the British Labour Group in the European Parliament, then policy adviser/PA to Neil Kinnock as Leader of the Opposition. She was a member of the Cabinet of Neil Kinnock when he was European Commissioner for Transport 1995-99 and Vice President of the Commission from 1999-2002. Jan was then responsible for the Commission's relationship with the European Parliament before becoming Head of the European Commission Office in Wales 2003-04.

In 2004 she was given a life peerage as Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. She became a Privy Counsellor in 2008.

She is a former Trustee of IPPR; the National Botanic Garden of Wales; and Generation Europe.