Joanna Penn, Baroness Penn

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Penn
Official portrait, 2024
Minister on Leave
In office
1 March 2024 – 5 July 2024
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
InterimThe Baroness Swinburne[a]
In office
15 September 2021 – 26 January 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
InterimThe Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen[b]
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities
In office
13 November 2023 – 1 March 2024
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byThe Baroness Swinburne
Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury
In office
26 October 2022 – 13 November 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byThe Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Baroness-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
4 February 2022 – 26 October 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byThe Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
In office
19 March 2020 – 15 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byThe Lord Bethell
Succeeded byThe Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office
21 October 2019
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born1985 (age 39–40)
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA)
Harvard Kennedy School (MPA)

Joanna Carolyn Penn, Baroness Penn (born 1985), known as JoJo Penn,[1] is a British political advisor. She was a baroness-in-waiting (a government whip) from March 2020 to September 2022.[2] From November 2023 to March 2024, she was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Biography

Penn studied history and politics at the University of Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 2006.[3] She later studied at Harvard University, completing a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree in 2015.[3][4]

She served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Theresa May from 2016 to 2019.[5][6] In September 2019, it was announced that she would be made a Conservative Party life peer in the 2019 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.[7] She was created Baroness Penn, of Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond, on 10 October 2019.[8]

Penn became the youngest member of the House of Lords when she joined the House on 21 October 2019:[9] she was succeeded as baby of the house by Lord Harlech following the election on 14 July 2021. She made her maiden speech on 30 January 2020 during a debate on Defence, Diplomacy and Development Policy.[10] From 29 October 2019 to 21 April 2020, she was a member of the Lord's Science and Technology Committee.[11] She served as a baroness-in-waiting, a junior government whip, from 19 March 2020 to 20 September 2022.[12] Between 30 October 2022 and 13 November 2023, she was a parliamentary secretary, the most junior level of minister, in HM Treasury.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ In accordance with the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, Swinburne has temporarily served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary during Penn's maternity leave.
  2. ^ In accordance with the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances Act 2021, Chisholm temporarily served as Baroness-in-waiting during Penn's maternity leave.

References

  1. ^ "Theresa May appoints top allies to House of Lords". POLITICO. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Parliamentary Career Page". gov.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Penn, Baroness, (Joanna Carolyn Penn)". Who's Who 2023. Oxford University Press. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  4. ^ "Joanna Penn MPP 2015 on her Summer Internship". Harvard Kennedy School. The President and Fellows of Harvard College. 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 4 July 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  5. ^ Mason, Rowena; Scruton, Paul; Fenn, Chris (4 October 2017). "Theresa May's team: the PM's inner and outer circles". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 July 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  6. ^ "The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Right: Iain Dale's 2017 List". LBC. 2 October 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  7. ^ "Resignation Honours 2019". GOV.UK. Cabinet Office. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  8. ^ "No. 62798". The London Gazette. 16 October 2019. p. 18552.
  9. ^ "Membership and principal office holders". UK Parliament. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  10. ^ Baroness Penn (30 January 2020). "Defence, Diplomacy and Development Policy". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 801. United Kingdom: House of Lords. col. 1582–1584.
  11. ^ a b "Baroness Penn: Parliamentary career". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Baroness Penn: Parliamentary career". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 September 2022.


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