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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Thornton
The Right Honourable The Baroness Thornton
	Official portrait, 2023
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
	In office; 19 February 2010 – 6 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Lord Darzi of Denham
Succeeded by	The Earl Howe
Baroness-in-Waiting; Government Whip
	In office; 18 February 2008 – 19 February 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Succeeded by	The Baroness Garden of Frognal
Member of the House of Lords; Lord Temporal
	Life Peerage
	Assumed office ; 23 July 1998
2023–present
Shadow portfolios
2023–present	Culture, Media and Sport
2021–present	Women and Equalities
2023–2023	Work and Pensions
2023–2023	Education
2017–2022	Health and Social Care
2011–2015	Women and Equalities
2010–2012	Health
Personal details
Born	Dorothea Glenys Thornton; 16 October 1952 (age 72)
Political party	Labour Co-op
Alma mater	London School of Economics (BSc)

Dorothea Glenys Thornton, Baroness Thornton (born 16 October 1952), known as Glenys Thornton, is a British politician serving as a Member of the House of Lords since 1998. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she was a Government Whip and Health Minister between 2008 and 2010.

Career

Thornton was raised in Bradford, and graduated from the London School of Economics. She was Political Secretary of the Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society from 1981, joining the public affairs team of the Co-operative Wholesale Society upon their merger in 1985 and working there until 1992. She was General Secretary of the Fabian Society from 1993 to 1996. Since June 2015 she has been Chief Executive of the Young Foundation.

On 23 July 1998 Thornton was created a Life peer by Tony Blair, with the title Baroness Thornton, of Manningham in the County of West Yorkshire.^[1] She chaired the Social Enterprise Coalition until January 2008, when she was appointed a junior minister of the House of Lords.^[2] In September 2007, she was made chair of the advisory group that trains public sector staff to work with the voluntary sector.^[3] In May 2012, her role in Labour was moved from health to equalities, with her role on the health portfolio being taken over by Lord Hunt.^[4]

In 2019, she welcomed the Equality and Human Rights Commission response to complaints by the Jewish Labour Movement and Campaign Against Antisemitism about alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party in a tweet to Kate Osamor MP, confusing her with another female black MP, Dawn Butler, the Shadow Women & Equalities Secretary.^[5]

Personal life

Thornton lives in Gospel Oak, North London, and is married to John Carr. They have two adult children.

She is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society.^[6]

In 2009, she was reported to be claiming £22,000 a year in expenses by saying that her mother's bungalow in Yorkshire is her main home, amounting to around £130,000 between 2002 and 2009.^[7] She was later cleared of any wrongdoing by Michael Pownall, the Clerk of Parliaments, after it was determined that she spent much of her time there while caring for her mother.^[8]

References

^ "No. 55210". The London Gazette. 30 July 1998. p. 8287.
^ "Ministerial appointment: Department of Health". Number10.gov.uk. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
^ "Baroness Thornton to chair training group". Third Sector. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^ Jowit, Juliette (16 May 2012). "Labour reshuffles top jobs in House of Lords". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
^ Rodgers, Siena (7 March 2019). "Shadow ministers welcome EHRC probe into Labour's handling of antisemitism". Labour List. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2019. National Secular Society. Retrieved 27 July 2019
^ MPs' expenses: Tax officials to investigate capital gains evasion. The Guardian 10 May 2009.
^ Watson, Roland (10 February 2010). "Nine peers cleared over expenses claims". The Times. London. Retrieved 6 May 2010.^{[dead link‍]}

External links

Announcement of her introduction at the House of Lords Archived 26 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 27 July 1998
Social Enterprise Coalition Archived 8 March 2024 at the Wayback Machine

Party political offices
Preceded by Arthur Latham	Chair of the London Labour Party 1986–1991	Succeeded by Jim Fitzpatrick
Preceded by Simon Crine	Acting General Secretary of the Fabian Society 1993–1994	Succeeded by Simon Crine
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Baroness Buscombe	Gentlemen Baroness Thornton	Followed by The Baroness Crawley