1. Virginia Bottomley was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1984 to 2005.
24 Facts About Virginia Bottomley
1. 2.
Virginia Bottomley became a member of the House of Lords in 2005.
3.
Virginia Bottomley met Peter Bottomley, her future husband, when she was 12 years old; they wed seven years later In 1967.
4.
Virginia Bottomley graduated again MSc at the London School of Economics.
5.
Virginia Bottomley began her working life as a social scientist and was a researcher for the Child Poverty Action Group.
6.
Virginia Bottomley was a psychiatric social worker with the Institute of Psychiatry, a magistrate, and she chaired an Inner London Juvenile Court.
7.
Virginia Bottomley was PPS to Chris Patten and then to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe.
8.
Virginia Bottomley received her first ministerial position in 1988 as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of the Environment and was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Health in 1989.
9.
Virginia Bottomley was appointed a member of the Privy Council upon joining John Major's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in 1992, becoming the ninth woman to serve in the British cabinet.
10.
Virginia Bottomley served as Secretary of State for National Heritage from 1995 to 1997.
11.
Virginia Bottomley stepped down from the House of Commons when the 2005 general election was called.
12.
Virginia Bottomley is involved with charitable and academic bodies in addition to business.
13.
Virginia Bottomley was on the founding Council of the University of the Arts, London.
14.
Virginia Bottomley was a Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation and was President of Farnham Castle, Centre for International Briefing.
15.
Virginia Bottomley was a non-executive director of Bupa, a healthcare company.
16.
Virginia Bottomley was on the Advisory Council of the International Chamber of Commerce UK and the Judge School of Management, Cambridge.
17.
Virginia Bottomley has been a trustee and is a fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust.
18.
Virginia Bottomley was National President of the Abbeyfield Society and a Vice-Patron of Carers and of Cruse Bereavement Care.
19.
Virginia Bottomley was a lay canon of Guildford Cathedral, and a Freeman of the City of London.
20.
Virginia Bottomley was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey on 22 March of that year and Sheriff of Hull since 2013.
21.
Virginia Bottomley is the longest serving trustee of The Economist newspaper.
22.
Virginia Garnett married Peter Bottomley in 1967, after the birth of their eldest child; he was an MP from 1975 until 2024.
23.
Virginia Bottomley's family includes many figures in politics and public life.
24.
Virginia Bottomley's cousins include Peter Jay, and Lord Hunt of Chesterton.