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 and Lord President of the Council. She is the principal of Somerville College, Oxford.
Royall grew up in GloucestershireinHucclecote and Newnham on Severn, where her parents ran a shop.[1]
Royall was educated at the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar School and Westfield College, University of London, where she gained a BA in Spanish and French in 1977.
Royall was a special advisertoNeil Kinnock, 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. In 2003 she became head of the European Commission office in Wales.[2]
On 25 June 2004, she was created a life peerasBaroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire.[3] She spoke for the 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 cabinetbyGordon Brown, as Leader of the unelected 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.[4] She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber.
In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed badger cull.[5]
She announced in May 2015 that she would not seek re-election as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords.[6]
In 2016, she chaired an investigation into allegations of antisemitisminOxford University Labour Club and was subsequently one of two Vice-Chairs of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into antisemitism in the UK Labour Party.[7]
In February 2017, Somerville College, Oxford, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal.[8] She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017.[8]
She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has a daughter, Charlie, and two sons, Ned and Harry.[9]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Chief Whip in the House of Lords 2007–2008 |
Succeeded by |
| Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms 2007–2008 | ||
| Preceded by | Lord President of the Council 2008–2009 |
Succeeded by |
| Leader of the House of Lords 2008–2010 |
Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 2009–2010 | |
| Preceded by | Shadow Leader of the House of Lords 2010–2015 |
Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader of the Labour Party in the House of Lords 2008–2015 |
Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Principal of Somerville College, Oxford 2017– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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