Peta Jane Buscombe, Baroness Buscombe (née O'Flynn,[1] born 12 March 1954) is an English barrister, regulator and politician. She is a Conservative member of the House of Lords. Lady Buscombe is a former Chairwoman of the Press Complaints Commission serving from April 2009[2] until 16 October 2011.[3]
Previously, she was Chief Executive of the Advertising Association, where she was described as "the right leader at the right time". Concerned at the perception of the industry as fuelling obesity and alcohol abuse, she set out to influence politicians as well as communicating better with the public. Her term was seen as successful in getting the government to think of advertising in a broader context.[4]
She was educated at Rosebery Grammar School, Epsom, and the Inns of Court School of Law. She was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1977 and worked as a Legal Advisor for the Dairy Trade Federation from 1979 to 1980. She then worked for Barclays Bank International and Barclays Bank plc until 1984, after which she was Assistant Secretary for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising until 1987.
She stood as the Conservative candidate in Slough at the 1997 General Election.
She is presently a Director of Three Valleys Water and was formerly joint managing partner of Buscombe and Fiala, an International Art Business, and Legal Counsel for Barclays Bank.
In 1998 she was made a Life peer as Baroness Buscombe, of Goring in the County of Oxfordshire. She has been a Conservative front bench spokesman in the House of Lords on several briefs including Trade and Industry, Social Security, Legal Affairs, Cabinet Office Affairs, Home Office and Culture, Media and Sport.
Her voting record has been summarised from Public Whip.[5] She has voted moderately against introducing ID cards, more EU integration, a stricter asylum system and the hunting ban. She has voted against equal gay rights. She has voted a mixture of for and against laws to stop climate change. She voted moderately for greater autonomy for schools. She has never voted on allowing ministers to intervene in inquests.
She announced her resignation as PCC chair following criticism of its handling of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.[6] In November 2010, the Commission formally apologised and paid an undisclosed sum in damages for misleading remarks made by her about a lawyer involved in the case.[7]
She married Philip John Buscombe in 1980.
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| Preceded by Christopher Meyer |
Chair of the Press Complaints Commission 2009–2011 |
Succeeded by David Hunt |