Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Bottomley, Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Garnett, born 12 March 1948) is a British Conservative Party politician and headhunter. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1984 to 2005. She became a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

in 2005.

Early life and career

Virginia Hilda Brunette Maxwell Garnett was born in Dunoon, Scotland, to Barbara Rutherford-Smith, Jarrow hunger marcher, a teacher and elected Conservative member of the

Inner London Education Authority The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. From 1965 to 1986 it was an ad hoc committee of the Greater London Co ...

and W. John Garnett CBE, former director of what was then called The Industrial Society, grandson of Cambridge physicist and educational adviser William Garnett and of Sir Edward Poulton, Hope professor of zoology at Oxford. Her paternal aunt was Labour

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

member Peggy Jay. She met Peter Bottomley, her future husband, when she was 12 years old; they wed seven years later In 1967. Bottomley was at Putney High School, in southwest London, before studying sociology at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. She graduated again MSc at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. She began her working life as a social scientist and was a researcher for the Child Poverty Action Group. She was a psychiatric social worker with the Institute of Psychiatry, a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

( Justice of the Peace), and she chaired an Inner London Juvenile Court.

Member of Parliament and in government

After unsuccessfully contesting the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

in the 1983 general election (34,904 votes), she was elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

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 Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

), as the Member for South West Surrey. She was PPS to Chris Patten and then to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe. She received her first ministerial position in 1988 as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of the Environment and was appointed

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

at the Department of Health in 1989. She was appointed a member of the Privy Council (PC) upon joining

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

's Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health in 1992, becoming the ninth woman to serve in the British cabinet. She served as Health Secretary until 1995. Bottomley and Ann Widdecombe have been listed as co-founders of Lady Olga Maitland’s pro-nuclear Women and Families for Defence group. She served as Secretary of State for National Heritage from 1995 to 1997. During this period, she appeared in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, wishing luck to the United Kingdom's entrant, Gina G, in her postcard. After the 1997 general election, she returned to the backbenches, and became a headhunter at Odgers, where she headed and now chairs the company's Board & CEO Practice.

Retirement

She stepped down from the House of Commons when the 2005 general election was called. On 24 June 2005 she was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

with the title Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone, ''of St Helens in the County of

'', 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 was on the founding Council of the University of the Arts, London. She was a Council Member of the Ditchley Foundation and was President of Farnham Castle, Centre for International Briefing. From 2000 until May 2012 she sat on the Supervisory Board of Akzo Nobel, taking over Courtaulds and then ICI. She was a non-executive director of Bupa, a healthcare company. She was on the Advisory Council of the

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. ICC represents over 45 million businesses in over 170 countries who have interest ...

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 and a Vice-Patron of Carers and of Cruse Bereavement Care. She was a lay canon of

Guildford Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral in Guildford, Surrey, England. Richard Onslow, 5th Earl of Onslow, Earl Onslow donated the first of land on which the cathedral ...

, and a Freeman of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. In 2006, she was elected and installed as Chancellor of the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

, succeeding Lord Armstrong of Ilminster in April 2006. She was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on 22 March of that year and Sheriff of Hull since 2013. She is the longest serving trustee of The Economist newspaper. Virginia Garnett married Peter Bottomley in 1967, after the birth of their eldest child; he was an MP from 1975 until 2024. During her time in Prime Minister John Major's cabinet, the satirical puppet show '' Spitting Image'' often portrayed Major as having an unrequited crush on Bottomley. Bottomley's family includes many figures in politics and public life. Her brother, Christopher Garnett, was the chief executive of train operating company GNER. Her aunt Pauline married Roland Hunt who is not connected to Sir Nicholas Hunt, father of Jeremy Hunt who succeeded her as MP. Her cousins include Peter Jay (the former British Ambassador to the United States and son-in-law to

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

), and Lord Hunt of Chesterton (father of historian and former Labour MP Tristram Hunt). More distant relatives include Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay and Baron Jay of Ewelme (former FCO PUSS and British Ambassador to France). Julia Cleverdon married Bottomley's late father, John. Her husband's niece is Kitty Ussher (a former Labour minister).

References

External links

''Debrett's People of Today''
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bottomley, Virginia 1948 births Living people People from Dunoon Politicians from London People educated at Putney High School Alumni of the University of Essex Alumni of the London School of Economics Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Secretaries of State for National Heritage English Anglicans Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom Secretaries of State for Health (UK) Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People associated with the University of Hull People associated with the University of Surrey UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Conservative Party (UK) life peers Deputy lieutenants of Surrey Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II Governors of the London School of Economics 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians 20th-century English women 20th-century English politicians 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English politicians Wives of knights Spouses of British politicians

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...