Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton

Dorothea Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton (born 16 October 1952), known as Glenys Thornton, is a Labour and Co-operative member of the House of Lords. She was previously Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health.[1]


The Baroness Thornton
Shadow Spokesperson for Health
Assumed office
1 November 2017
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Sir Keir Starmer
In office
8 October 2010  6 September 2012
LeaderEd Miliband
Shadow Spokesperson for Equalities and Women's Issues
In office
17 October 2011  1 July 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
In office
19 February 2010  11 May 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byThe Lord Darzi of Denham
Succeeded byThe Earl Howe
Baroness-in-Waiting
Government Whip
In office
25 January 2008  25 March 2010
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byThe Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Succeeded byThe Baroness Garden of Frognal
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
23 July 1998
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1952-10-16) October 16, 1952
Political partyLabour Co-operative

Career

Thornton was raised in Bradford, and graduated from the London School of Economics. She was Political Secretary of the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society from 1981, joining the public affairs team of the Co-operative Wholesale Society upon their merger in 1985 and working there until 1992. She was General Secretary of the Fabian Society from 1993 to 1996. Since June 2015 she has been Chief Executive of the Young Foundation.

On 23 July 1998 Thornton was created a Life peer by Tony Blair, with the title Baroness Thornton, of Manningham in the County of West Yorkshire.[2] She chaired the Social Enterprise Coalition until January 2008, when she was appointed a junior minister of the House of Lords. In September 2007, she was made chair of the advisory group that trains public sector staff to work with the voluntary sector.[3] In May 2012, her role in Labour was moved from health to equalities, with her role on the health portfolio being taken over by Lord Hunt.[4]

In 2019, she welcomed the Equality and Human Rights Commission response to complaints by the Jewish Labour Movement and Campaign Against Antisemitism about alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party in a tweet to Kate Osamor MP, confusing her with another female black MP, Dawn Butler, the Shadow Women & Equalities Secretary.[5]

Personal life

Thornton lives in Gospel Oak, North London, and is married to internet safety expert John Carr. They have two adult children.

She is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society [6]

She was reported[7] to be claiming £22,000 a year in expenses by saying that her mother's bungalow in Yorkshire is her main home, amounting to around £130,000 between 2002 and 2009. She was later cleared of any wrongdoing by Michael Pownall, the Clerk of Parliaments, after it was determined that she spent much of her time there while caring for her mother.[8]

References

  1. "Ministerial appointment: Department of Health". Number10.gov.uk. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  2. "No. 55210". The London Gazette. 30 July 1998. p. 8287.
  3. "Baroness Thornton to chair training group". Third Sector. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  4. Jowit, Juliette (16 May 2012). "Labour reshuffles top jobs in House of Lords". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  5. Rodgers, Siena (7 March 2019). "Shadow ministers welcome EHRC probe into Labour's handling of antisemitism". Labour List. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  6. "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019
  7. MPs' expenses: Tax officials to investigate capital gains evasion. The Guardian 10 May 2009.
  8. Watson, Roland (10 February 2010). "Nine peers cleared over expenses claims". The Times. London. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
Party political offices
Preceded by
Arthur Latham
Chair of the London Labour Party
1986 1991
Succeeded by
Jim Fitzpatrick
Preceded by
Simon Crine
Acting General Secretary of the Fabian Society
1993 1994
Succeeded by
Simon Crine
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Baroness Buscombe
Gentlemen
Baroness Thornton
Followed by
The Baroness Crawley
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