Jane Elizabeth Ellison (born 15 August 1964) is a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician, who was first elected at the 2010 general election as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

. 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. From 2020 to 2022, she served as Executive Director for External Relations and Governance at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

Early life and career

Ellison was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, attending St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, then a girls'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it remained a women's college until 20 ...

. After university, she worked at the

John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company which operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held pub ...

, where she held many positions up until her election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. T ...

some 23 years later. A former

Barnet London Borough Council Barnet London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 within London. Barnet is divided into 21 wards, each electing three councillors. The cou ...

lor, she contested the

1996 Barnsley East by-election The Barnsley East by-election was held on 12 December 1996, following the death of the Labour Party Member of Parliament Terry Patchett for Barnsley East, in South Yorkshire, England, on 11 October. Barnsley council leader Jeff Ennis held the se ...

and the

2000 Tottenham by-election The Labour Member of Parliament for Tottenham, Bernie Grant, died on 8 April 2000, creating a by-election in his constituency. Grant was one of the first four black MPs and the constituency was one of the centres of the London Afro-Caribbean co ...

, in both cases finishing in third place, and contested Barnsley East and Mexborough in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and Pendle in the 2005 general election. Labour retained the seat, although she almost halved the majority of sitting MP

Gordon Prentice Gordon Prentice (born 28 January 1951) is a British former politician of the Labour Party who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pendle in Lancashire from 1992 to 2010. Early life He was educated at the independent George Heriot's School i ...

from 4,275 to 2,180. She was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Battersea in September 2006, following an

open primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

held at the

Battersea Arts Centre The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade I ...

Parliamentary career

Ellison was elected at the 2010 general election, with a majority of 5,977. In Parliament, she served on the Backbench Business Committee and Work and Pensions Committee. Ellison was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health in October 2013. She described providing political direction to the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

(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 The Tory Reform Group (TRG) is a pressure group associated with the British Conservative Party that works to promote "modern, progressive Conservatism... economic efficiency and social justice" and "a Conservatism that supports equality, divers ...

in 2014. According to ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'', 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. In January 2015, Ellison announced the government was proposing introducing a ban on advertising on cigarette packaging before the next election, to some surprise amongst colleagues in the Conservative Party. In the 2017 general election, Ellison lost her seat to Marsha De Cordova, who increased the Labour share of the vote by 9.1%.

After politics

In October 2017 Ellison was appointed as Deputy Director-General for Corporate Operations at the

under the leadership of

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓኖም ገብረየሱስ, label=none; born 3 March 1965) is an Ethiopian public health official, researcher, and ...

. On 1 January 2020 she became the Executive Director for External Relations and Governance at WHO. She resigned in 2022.

Other activities

World Health Summit The World Health Summit is an international conference that has been held in Berlin every October since 2009. It has developed into one of the world's leading global health conferences. It was held for the first time on the occasion of the 300th a ...

(WHS), Member of the Steering CommitteeLeadership

(WHS).

Personal life

Ellison lives in

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

with her partner John, and enjoys music and walking.

References

External links

Jane Ellison MP
''official constituency website''
Jane Ellison MP
Conservative Party profile
Wandsworth Conservatives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, Jane Elizabeth 1964 births 21st-century British women politicians Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Living people Politicians from Bradford UK MPs 2010–2015 UK MPs 2015–2017 21st-century English women 21st-century English people