Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington
Encyclopedia
Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington, PC
(born 18 November 1939) is a British
politician for the Labour Party.
James Callaghan
, and she was educated at Blackheath High School
, Blackheath
and Somerville College, Oxford
.
Between 1965 and 1977 she held production posts within the BBC
, working on current affairs and further education
television programmes. She then became a journalist on the BBC's prestigious Panorama
programme, and Thames Television
's This Week. She went on to present the BBC 2 series Social History of Medicine, as well as being a contributor to Newsnight
, Any Questions, Question Time
and other current affairs
programmes. She has a strong interest in health issues, notably as a campaigner on HIV
and AIDS
. She was a founder director of the National Aids Trust
in 1987. She is also a patron of Help the Aged
.
in 1992 with the title of Baroness Jay of Paddington, of Paddington in the City of Westminster
, and acted as an opposition Whip
in the House of Lords
. In association with the shop workers' union, she led opposition to the liberalisation of Sunday trading hours.
After her party's election victory in 1997, she became Health Spokesman and Minister for Women 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. She retired from active politics in 2001.
A significant feature of her political career is that every office she held was an appointment; she was never elected to any public office.
Among numerous non-executive roles that she has taken on since retiring from politics, she was a non-executive director of BT Group
. She is currently 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
.
Before her resignation, Jay gave an interview in which she said she did not believe in private education; it was afterwards revealed that her three children had all attended private schools. On her own part, she said she attended a "pretty standard grammar school", which was actually Blackheath High School
, an independent school. She drew ridicule when she said she could understand the needs of rural voters because she had a "little cottage" in the country; this turned out to be a £500,000 house in Ireland, and she also had a large £300,000 house in the Chilterns though this had long belonged to her husband's family. She fought to end the voting rights of hereditary peers in the House of Lords.
, himself a child of political parents: Douglas Jay
, Labour MP and president of the Board of Trade
, and Margaret (Peggy) Jay
, member of the Greater London Council
. Peter Jay was appointed ambassador to the United States of America
by Dr. David Owen
, Foreign Secretary in her father's government.
While in the USA, she met journalist Carl Bernstein
, made famous by Watergate
, with whom she had a much-publicised extramarital
relationship in 1979. Bernstein's wife, Nora Ephron
, fictionalised the story in her novel, Heartburn
, 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. The Jays were divorced in 1986 after 25 years of marriage, and she lived for a while with Professor Robert Neild
, the Cambridge
economist
. In 1994, she married AIDS specialist Professor Michael Adler, who had been chair of the National AIDS
Trust when she was its director.
Baroness Jay has three children: Tamsin, Alice and Patrick.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
(born 18 November 1939) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
politician for the Labour Party.
Background
Her father was former Labour Prime MinisterPrime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...
, and she was educated at Blackheath High School
Blackheath High School
Blackheath High School is situated near Blackheath Village in southeast London, England. It was founded in 1880 as part of the Girls' Day School Trust. The Senior Department is located in Vanbrugh Park after moving from Blackheath in 1993/4. The school in Blackheath village then became the Junior...
, Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
and Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
.
Between 1965 and 1977 she held production posts within the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, working on current affairs and further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
television programmes. She then became a journalist on the BBC's prestigious Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
programme, and Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
's This Week. She went on to present the BBC 2 series Social History of Medicine, as well as being a contributor to Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
, Any Questions, Question Time
Question Time
Question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers , which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances...
and other current affairs
Current affairs (news format)
Current Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
programmes. She has a strong interest in health issues, notably as a campaigner on HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. She was a founder director of the National Aids Trust
National AIDS trust
NAT is a UK charity that campaigns on a range of issues related to HIV, primarily in a domestic context. The charity's key strategic goals are:* Effective prevention of HIV transmission...
in 1987. She is also a patron of Help the Aged
Help the Aged
Help the Aged was a United Kingdom based, international charity, founded in 1961 by Cecil Jackson-Cole, to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect. It merged with Age Concern in 2009 to form Age UK.-Organisation and campaigns:...
.
Political career
She was appointed a life peerLife peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
in 1992 with the title of Baroness Jay of Paddington, of Paddington in the City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
, and acted as an opposition Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In association with the shop workers' union, she led opposition to the liberalisation of Sunday trading hours.
After her party's election victory in 1997, she became Health Spokesman and Minister for Women in the House of Lords. From 1998 she was Leader of the House of Lords
Leader of the House of Lords
The Leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The role is always held in combination with a formal Cabinet position, usually one of the sinecure offices of Lord President of the Council,...
, playing a pivotal role in the major reform that led to the removal of most of its hereditary members. She retired from active politics in 2001.
A significant feature of her political career is that every office she held was an appointment; she was never elected to any public office.
Among numerous non-executive roles that she has taken on since retiring from politics, she was a non-executive director of BT Group
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
. She is currently co-chair of the cross-party Iraq Commission (along with Tom King
Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater
Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC , is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983–92, and was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970-2001...
and Paddy Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
) which was established by the Foreign Policy Centre
Foreign Policy Centre
The Foreign Policy Centre is a British think tank specialising in foreign policy. It was formed in 1998 and launched by Tony Blair with the aim of developing a "vision of a fair and rule-based world order". It is pro-European. It has its origins on the centre-left of British politics, but works...
think-tank and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
.
Before her resignation, Jay gave an interview in which she said she did not believe in private education; it was afterwards revealed that her three children had all attended private schools. On her own part, she said she attended a "pretty standard grammar school", which was actually Blackheath High School
Blackheath High School
Blackheath High School is situated near Blackheath Village in southeast London, England. It was founded in 1880 as part of the Girls' Day School Trust. The Senior Department is located in Vanbrugh Park after moving from Blackheath in 1993/4. The school in Blackheath village then became the Junior...
, an independent school. She drew ridicule when she said she could understand the needs of rural voters because she had a "little cottage" in the country; this turned out to be a £500,000 house in Ireland, and she also had a large £300,000 house in the Chilterns though this had long belonged to her husband's family. She fought to end the voting rights of hereditary peers in the House of Lords.
Personal life
In 1961, she married fellow journalist Peter JayPeter Jay
Peter Jay is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat.-Background:Peter Jay is the son of Douglas and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians...
, himself a child of political parents: Douglas Jay
Douglas Jay, Baron Jay
Douglas Patrick Thomas Jay, Baron Jay, PC was a British Labour Party politician.Educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford, Jay became a Fellow of All Souls between 1930 and 1937...
, Labour MP and president of the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
, and Margaret (Peggy) Jay
Peggy Jay
Margaret Christian "Peggy" Garnett Jay was an English Labour councillor.As a young girl, Peggy Garnett attended St Paul's Girls' School in London, where she befriended Shiela Grant Duff. In 1931, she went up to Somerville College, Oxford, but she left two years later to marry Douglas Jay...
, member of the Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
. Peter Jay was appointed ambassador to the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Dr. David Owen
David Owen
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FRCP is a British politician.Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post; he co-authored the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War...
, Foreign Secretary in her father's government.
While in the USA, she met journalist Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist who, at The Washington Post, teamed up with Bob Woodward; the two did the majority of the most important news reporting on the Watergate scandal. These scandals led to numerous government investigations, the indictment of a vast number of...
, made famous by Watergate
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
, with whom she had a much-publicised extramarital
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
relationship in 1979. Bernstein's wife, Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, playwright, journalist, author, and blogger.She is best known for her romantic comedies and is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in...
, fictionalised the story in her novel, Heartburn
Heartburn (novel)
Heartburn is an autobiographical novel based on Nora Ephron's life story about her second marriage to Carl Bernstein. It especially focuses on his affair with Margaret Jay, daughter of James Callaghan. Ephron also wrote the screenplay for the film based on the novel starring Meryl Streep and Jack...
, 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. The Jays were divorced in 1986 after 25 years of marriage, and she lived for a while with Professor Robert Neild
Robert Neild
Robert Ralph Neild is Emeritus Professor of Economics at Cambridge University.Elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge in 1971, he has also served on the Secretariat of the UN Economic Commission for Europe and has held posts in the UK Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and at the MIT Center for...
, the Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
. In 1994, she married AIDS specialist Professor Michael Adler, who had been chair of the National AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
Trust when she was its director.
Baroness Jay has three children: Tamsin, Alice and Patrick.