Marina Claire Wheeler (born 5 December 1964) is a British lawyer and writer. As a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

, she specialises in

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

, including

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

, and is a member of the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal. She was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 2016. She is the author of '' The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab'' (2020) and is an ex-wife of former British prime minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

Early life and education

Marina Claire Wheeler was born in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

on 5 December 1964, to Charles Wheeler, a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

correspondent, and his second wife Dip Singh, an Indian Punjabi

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

. Her elder sister is Shirin Wheeler. Wheeler was educated at Bedales School and then the European School of Brussels, and then in the early 1980s at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where she wrote for the student magazine '' Cantab''. At the European School, she became friendly with

, later a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and politician.

Career

After Cambridge, Wheeler returned to Brussels and worked there for four years. In 1987, she was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

, practising from chambers in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

at One Crown Office Row. In her work as a barrister, Wheeler specialises in

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

matters and

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

claims. In January 2004, she was appointed to the B-Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown. In 2009, she joined the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal as a barrister member. Of her legal work, Wheeler has stated: In February 2016, she was appointed

. In October 2023 she was announced as the Labour Party's advisor on protecting women from workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.

Personal life

On 8 May 1993, a pregnant Wheeler married her childhood friend

, whose previous marriage had ended 12 days earlier. Together they have four children. In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that after 25 years of marriage, they had separated "several months ago" and begun divorce proceedings. They reached a financial settlement in February 2020, and the divorce was finalised in 2020. In August 2019, Wheeler revealed that she had been diagnosed with

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix or in any layer of the wall of the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later sympt ...

earlier in the year and had undergone two operations to be in remission.

Memoirs

In 2020 her memoir '' The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab'', detailing her family's history in India, was published. Her ancestry goes back to the city of

Sargodha Sargodha (Punjabi language, Punjabi/; ; ) is a city and capital of Sargodha Division, located in Central Punjab, central Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. It is Pakistan's List of most populous cities in Pakistan, 11th most populous city and ...

in West Punjab, present-day

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, with her maternal family migrating to present-day

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

after the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. It was shortlisted for the 2021 RSL Christopher Bland Prize.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Marina 1964 births 21st-century British memoirists 21st-century British women writers Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Family of Boris Johnson British columnists British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent British women lawyers English barristers English King's Counsel Living people Lawyers from London 21st-century King's Counsel Spouses of prime ministers of the United Kingdom British women columnists Alumni of the European Schools British women memoirists Labour Party (UK) people People educated at Bedales School