Jane Ellison
Ellison in 2015
Financial Secretary to the Treasury
In office
15 July 2016 – 8 June 2017
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byDavid Gauke
Succeeded byMel Stride
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health
In office
7 October 2013 – 15 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byAnna Soubry
Succeeded byDavid Mowat
Member of Parliament
for Battersea
In office
7 May 2010 – 3 May 2017
Preceded byMartin Linton
Succeeded byMarsha de Cordova
Personal details
Born (1964-08-15) 15 August 1964 (age 59)
Bradford, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materSt Hilda's College, Oxford
WebsiteOfficial website

Jane Elizabeth Ellison[1] (born 15 August 1964)[2] is a former British Conservative Party politician and UN Civil servant. She was first elected at the 2010 general election as the Member of Parliament for Battersea. On 7 May 2015, she was re-elected with an increased margin of 3.4%. She lost the seat to Marsha de Cordova of the Labour Party at the 2017 snap general election. In November 2017 she joined the senior leadership team[3] of the World Health Organization serving until November 2022.

Early life and career

Ellison was born in Bradford, attending St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, then a girls' grammar school. She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics[4] at St Hilda's College, Oxford. After university, she worked at the John Lewis Partnership, where she held many positions up until her election to the House of Commons some 23 years later.[5]

A former Barnet London Borough Councillor, she contested the 1996 Barnsley East by-election and the 2000 Tottenham by-election, in both cases finishing in third place, and contested Barnsley East and Mexborough in 1997 and Pendle in the 2005 general election.[6] Labour retained the seat, although she almost halved the majority of sitting MP Gordon Prentice from 4,275 to 2,180.

She was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Battersea in September 2006,[7] following an open primary held at the Battersea Arts Centre.

Parliamentary career

Ellison was elected at the 2010 general election, with a majority of 5,977.[8] In Parliament, she served on the Backbench Business Committee and Work and Pensions Committee.[8]  In 2011 she founded the first All Party Parliamentary Group on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM),[9] speaking regularly on the issue in Parliament.

Ellison speaks at the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London on 1 December 2015.

Ellison was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health in October 2013.[6][8] She continued her interest in FGM, bringing forward a number of measures aimed at ending the practise during her time as a Minister.[10][11] She described providing political direction to the National Health Service (NHS) as "a bit like being on a high wire without a net at times, it can be quite exciting" in a meeting with the Tory Reform Group in 2014.[12]

According to The Observer, she also said: "I don't know how much any of you realise that with the Lansley act we pretty much gave away control of the NHS… we have some important strategic mechanisms but we don't really have day-to-day control", which was seized upon by critics as evidence that the government's NHS reforms had not succeeded.[12]

In January 2015, Ellison announced the government was proposing introducing a ban on advertising on cigarette packaging before the next election, and the standardised packaging of cigarettes legislation passed the House of Commons in March 2015.[13] After a Parliamentary debate in February 2015,[14] Ellison signed the Mitochondrial Donation Regulations on 4 March making the UK the first country in the world to legislate for the procedure.[15]

Following the EU Referendum in which she campaigned for Remain [16] Ellison was appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury in July 2016[17] and in August 2016 she announced that the Government would be proceeding with the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, also known as the sugar tax.[18]

After politics

In October 2017 Ellison was appointed as Deputy Director-General for Corporate Operations at the World Health Organization under the leadership of Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. On 6 March 2019 as part of a wider programme of reorganization she became the Executive Director for External Relations and Governance at WHO.[19] She left the WHO in November 2022 when there were a number of changes in the senior leadership team.[20]

Other activities

Personal life

Ellison lives in Balham with her partner John, and enjoys music and walking.[6]

References

  1. ^ "No. 61230". The London Gazette. 18 May 2015. p. 9117.
  2. ^ "By-elections 1997–2000 Results and Candidates' Biographies (see Tottenham)". UK Election Results. Archived from the original on 12 July 2010. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. ^ "New WHO leadership team announced". www.who.int. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  4. ^ Yearbook, Parliamentary. "Ellison, Jane". Archived from the original on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  5. ^ "The Conservative Party | People | Members of Parliament | Jane Ellison MP". Archived from the original on 11 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  6. ^ a b c "About Jane - Jane Ellison - Parliamentary Candidate for Battersea". www.janeellison.net. Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  7. ^ "ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog: Where are the original A-Listers now? The 27 who have been selected for target seats". conservativehome.blogs.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  8. ^ a b c "Jane Ellison MP". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  9. ^ Davies, Madlen (7 October 2013). "Jane Ellison appointed health minister". Pulse Today. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  10. ^ "New government measures to end FGM". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Female genital mutilation prevention week of action". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  12. ^ a b Helm, Toby (21 June 2014). "NHS is out of control, says Tory health minister". Observer. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  13. ^ "MPs back standardised cigarette packaging". BBC News. 11 March 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  14. ^ "MPs say yes to three-person babies". BBC News. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  15. ^ "Mitochondrial Donation - The Lily Foundation". www.thelilyfoundation.org.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  16. ^ "Wandsworth's three MPs back Britain to remain in EU as referendum draws near". Wandsworth Times. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Jane Ellison". GOV.UK. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  18. ^ "Britain launches soft drinks sugar tax to fight obesity". Reuters. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  19. ^ "WHO unveils sweeping reforms in drive towards "triple billion" targets". www.who.int. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  20. ^ Jenny Lei Ravelo (22 November 2022), Exclusive: Here's everyone who is leaving WHO leadership Devex.
  21. ^ Leadership World Health Summit (WHS).

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