Caroline Agnes Morgan Thomson, Baroness Liddle (born 15 May 1954) was chair of the charity

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

until October 2020. She is a former BBC executive and was the Corporation's chief operating officer, from 2006 to 2012 and she stood in for

Mark Thompson Mark Thompson may refer to: Sports * Mark Thompson (American football) (born 1994), American football player * Mark Thompson (baseball) (born 1971), baseball player * Mark Thompson (footballer) (born 1963), former Australian rules football premie ...

, the former director general, when necessary.

Early life and career

Thomson is the elder daughter of

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

peer George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth. She was educated at

Mary Datchelor Girls' School Mary Datchelor School was an endowed grammar school for girls on Camberwell Grove in Camberwell, Greater London, England. It was established in 1877 and closed in 1981. It was known for its innovations in encouraging teacher training, and for it ...

in Camberwell, a grammar school, and graduated from York University, where she studied history and economics. She first joined the BBC as a journalist trainee in 1975, ultimately becoming a producer on '' Analysis'' ( Radio 4) and later ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' ( BBC1) before becoming personal assistant to SDP leader

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...

in 1982. She spent over a decade at Channel 4 from 1984, initially as a commissioning editor, later as Head of Corporate Affairs from 1990, before rejoining the BBC in 1996 as Deputy Director of the World Service. She became the Corporation's Director of Policy and Legal Affairs in July 2000, a job description later expanded to include Strategy, before being promoted to chief operating officer in 2006. In 2011 she was paid £385,000 by the organisation. The Commons Public Accounts Committee suggested that her £670,000 redundancy pay-off was effectively paid to "compensate" her for missing out on the job of director-general. In October 2013 she became Executive Director of the

English National Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

. Since November 2012, she has been Chair of

Digital UK Digital UK is a British television communications company owned by the BBC (1922), ITV (TV network), ITV (1955), Channel 4 (1982) and Channel 5 (British TV channel), Channel 5 (1997) which supports Freeview (UK), Freeview viewers and channels. ...

. She is also chair of Tomorrow's People Trust's Ambassadors group and Trustee to a number of charities including the National Gallery.

Personal life

Caroline Thomson is married to the Labour peer

Roger Liddle Roger John Liddle, Baron Liddle (born 14 June 1947) is a British political adviser and consultant who is principally known for being Special Adviser on European matters to the former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and President of the European Comm ...

, an advisor to Tony Blair while Blair was Prime Minister.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Caroline 1954 births Living people People educated at Mary Datchelor School Alumni of the University of York BBC executives BBC World Service people Liddle British journalists British radio executives Channel 4 people Social Democratic Party (UK) people English television editors Women television editors Spouses of life peers Daughters of life peers