Virginia Bottomley

The Right Honourable The Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone PC DL
Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 June 1997
Leader	John Major
Preceded by	Chris Smith (National Heritage)
Succeeded by	Francis Maude
Secretary of State for National Heritage
In office 5 July 1995 – 2 May 1997
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	Stephen Dorrell
Succeeded by	Chris Smith (Culture, Media and Sport)
Secretary of State for Health
In office 9 April 1992 – 5 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	William Waldegrave
Succeeded by	Stephen Dorrell
Member of Parliament for South West Surrey
In office 3 May 1984 – 5 May 2005
Preceded by	Maurice Macmillan
Succeeded by	Jeremy Hunt
Personal details
Born	(1948-03-12) 12 March 1948 Dunoon, Scotland
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	University of Essex London School of Economics
Religion	Anglican

	Virginia Bottomley's voice from the BBC programme Front Row, 25 April 2013[1]
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Virginia Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, PC, DL (née Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Garnett, born 12 March 1948, Dunoon, Scotland) is a British Conservative Party politician. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1984 to 2005. She was raised to the peerage in 2005. Considered to be a "One Nation Conservative", Bottomley is a Life Member of the Tory Reform Group.

She was a member of the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel NV from 2000-2012, an NED on BUPA 2007-2013 and currently Smith and Nephew and a Trustee of The Economist Newspaper. As part of her pro-bono activities, Virginia is Chancellor of the University of Hull and Governor of the London School of Economics. She is a member of the UK Advisory Council of the International Chamber of Commerce. She has been Chair of the Board Practice at executive head-hunting firm Odgers Berndtson since 2000.

Early life and career

Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Garnett was born in Dunoon to W. John Garnett, former director of what was then called The Industrial Society, and Barbara Rutherford-Smith, former pupil of the School of St Helen and St Katharine, teacher and elected Conservative member of the Inner London Education Authority. Her aunt on her father's side was Labour Greater London Council Member Peggy Jay. She first met Peter, now Sir Peter Bottomley her husband, when she was 12 and they married in 1967.

Bottomley was educated at Putney High School, an independent school for girls in Putney in south-west London, before going up to the University of Essex (BA). She later graduated from the London School of Economics with the degree of Master of Arts (MA). She began her working life as a social scientist, researcher for Child Poverty Action Group, social worker, magistrate (Justice of the Peace), and Chairman of the Inner London Juvenile Court.

Member of Parliament and in government

After unsuccessfully contesting the Isle of Wight in the 1983 General Election (34,904 votes), she was elected to Parliament with 21,545 votes in a by-election in 1984 (filling the seat left vacant by the death of Maurice Macmillan, son of former prime minister Harold Macmillan),^[2] as the Member for South West Surrey, was PPS to Chris Patten and then to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe, received her first ministerial position in 1988 as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of the Environment^[3][4] and was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Health in 1989.^[4] She was appointed a member of the Privy Council (PC) upon joining John Major's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in 1992^[5][6] and served until 1995.

She then served as Secretary of State for National Heritage from 1995 to 1997. After the 1997 general election, she returned to the backbenches, also becoming a headhunter in the charity and public sectors, now also leading the Odgers Board practice.

Retirement

She stepped down from the House of Commons when the 2005 General Election was called.^[2] On 24 June 2005 she was created a Life Peer with the title Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, of St Helens in the County of Isle of Wight, the parish where she was baptised and celebrated her marriage.

Personal life

Bottomley is involved with charitable and academic bodies in addition to business. She is a Governor of the London School of Economics and a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Surrey. She was on the founding Council of the University of the Arts, London. She is also a Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation and President of Farnham Castle Centre for International Briefing. From 2000 until May 2012 she has sat on the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel. She is a non-executive director of Bupa. She is on the Advisory Council of the International Chamber of Commerce UK (ICC UK) and the Judge School of Management, Cambridge. Bottomley has been a trustee and is a fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust. She was National President of the Abbeyfield Society^[7] and a Vice-Patron of Carers and of Cruse Bereavement Care. She is a lay Canon of Guildford Cathedral, and a Freeman of the City of London. In 2006, she was elected and installed as Chancellor of the University of Hull, succeeding Lord Armstrong of Ilminster in April 2006.^[6] She was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey in March of that year and Sheriff of Hull in 2013.^[8]

Virginia Garnett married Sir Peter Bottomley in 1967;^[9][10] since 1975 he has been an MP. They live in Milford, Surrey and also maintain residences in London and Worthing; they holiday on the Isle of Wight. They have three children, Cecilia, Adela and Joshua.

Her brother, Christopher Garnett, is a former chief executive of the GNER railway, and Peter Jay, the former British Ambassador to the United States, is a cousin, as are Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour), Lord Oakshott of Seagrove Bay (Lib-Dem) and Baron Jay of Ewelme, former British Ambassador to France. Her stepmother is Dame Julia Cleverdon who married Bottomley's father, John, late in his life.^[11] Her niece is Kitty Ussher (former Labour minister) and her other cousin is the Labour MP and historian Tristram Hunt and she is distantly related to Isabel Oakeshott, political editor of The Sunday Times.

References

External links

• Debrett's People of Today
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Virginia Bottomley

v t e Secretaries of State for Health Ministers of Health Christopher Addison Alfred Mond Arthur Griffith-Boscawen Neville Chamberlain William Joynson-Hicks John Wheatley Neville Chamberlain Arthur Greenwood Neville Chamberlain Edward Hilton Young Kingsley Wood Walter Elliot Malcolm MacDonald Ernest Brown Henry Willink Aneurin Bevan Hilary Marquand Harry Crookshank Iain Macleod Robin Turton Dennis Vosper Derek Walker-Smith Enoch Powell Anthony Barber Kenneth Robinson Secretaries of State for Social Services Richard Crossman Sir Keith Joseph Barbara Castle David Ennals Patrick Jenkin Norman Fowler John Moore Secretaries of State for Health Kenneth Clarke William Waldegrave Virginia Bottomley Stephen Dorrell Frank Dobson Alan Milburn John Reid Patricia Hewitt Alan Johnson Andy Burnham Andrew Lansley Jeremy Hunt

v t e Secretaries of State for Culture of the United Kingdom Secretary of State for National Heritage (1992–1997) Mellor Brooke Dorrell Bottomley Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1997–present) Smith Jowell Purnell Burnham Bradshaw Hunt Miller

v t e Major Cabinet Cabinet Members Jonathan Aitken Kenneth Baker Virginia Bottomley Peter Brooke Kenneth Clarke Viscount Cranborne Stephen Dorrell Michael Forsyth Roger Freeman John Gummer William Hague Jeremy Hanley Michael Heseltine Douglas Hogg Michael Howard David Hunt Douglas Hurd Tom King Norman Lamont Ian Lang Peter Lilley John MacGregor Lord Mackay John Major Brian Mawhinney Patrick Mayhew David Mellor Tony Newton Chris Patten John Patten Michael Portillo John Redwood Malcolm Rifkind Gillian Shephard Lord Waddington Lord Wakeham William Waldegrave George Young Also attended meetings Norman Fowler Alastair Goodlad Richard Ryder