1. Gillian Joanna Merron, Baroness Merron was born on 12 April 1959 and is a British politician and life peer serving as Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews since 2014.
19 Facts About Gillian Merron
1. 2.
Gillian Merron served as the shadow spokesperson for Health and Social Care from 2021 to 2024.
3.
Gillian Merron was previously Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1997 till 2010 and held several ministerial offices in the Blair and Brown governments.
4.
Gillian Merron attended Lancaster University Management School, gaining a BSc in Management Sciences.
5.
Gillian Merron worked in local government and as a NUPE union official.
6.
Gillian Merron coordinated the shadow cabinet central region campaign in the 1992 general election and the 1994 European Parliament election.
7.
Gillian Merron was made a prospective parliamentary candidate through an all-women shortlist, and was elected to the House of Commons in May 1997 with a majority of 11,130.
8.
From June 2001 to October 2002, Gillian Merron served as PPS to John Reid as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
9.
Gillian Merron was appointed to the Department for Transport in May 2006, where she worked until the reshuffle on 29 June 2007, when she became Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office and the first ever minister of the East Midlands.
10.
Gillian Merron followed the party whip in votes on equal gay rights, the hunting ban, foundation hospitals, a ban on smoking in public places, the Iraq war, preventative laws to stop climate change, and The Digital Economy Bill.
11.
Gillian Merron lost her seat to the Conservative candidate Karl McCartney in the 2010 general election.
12.
Gillian Merron is one of 98 MPs who voted to support Conservative MP David Maclean's bill to keep their expenses and correspondence secret.
13.
Gillian Merron received criticism for purchasing a television, television stand, home theatre kit, and numerous other goods.
14.
Since her defeat at the 2010 general election, Gillian Merron has become Chair of Bus Users UK.
15.
In May 2014, it was announced that Gillian Merron would become Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews the following July.
16.
Gillian Merron served as external affairs officer on the board of Liberal Judaism from July 2012 to May 2014.
17.
In December 2020, it was announced Gillian Merron would be conferred a life peerage after a nomination by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.
18.
Gillian Merron took her seat on 8 February 2021, and made her maiden speech on 13 May during that year's Queen's Speech debate.
19.
Gillian Merron, who is Vice-President of Liberal Judaism, is a member of the South London Liberal Synagogue and of the Lincolnshire Jewish Community.