The Right Honourable
The Baroness Randerson
Official portrait, 2023
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales
In office
5 September 2012 – 8 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Sec. of StateDavid Jones
Stephen Crabb
Preceded byDavid Jones
Succeeded byNick Bourne
Deputy First Minister of Wales
Acting
In office
6 July 2001 – 13 June 2002
First MinisterRhodri Morgan
Preceded byMichael German
Succeeded byMichael German
Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language
In office
17 October 2000 [1] – 30 April 2003
First MinisterRhodri Morgan
Preceded byNew post
Succeeded byAlun Pugh
Member of the Welsh Assembly
for Cardiff Central
In office
6 May 1999 – 5 May 2011
Preceded byNew Assembly
Succeeded byJenny Rathbone
Majority6,565 (29.3%)
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
27 January 2011
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1948-05-26) 26 May 1948
London, England
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Liberal Party (pre 1988)
SpousePeter Randerson
ResidenceCardiff, Wales
Alma materBedford College, London

Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson, Baroness Randerson (born 26 May 1948) is a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.[2] She is a former junior minister in the Wales Office serving in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Prior to her peerage she was an Assembly Member for Cardiff Central from 1999 to 2011 when she served in the Welsh Labour-Lib Dem administration of the 2000–2003 Welsh Assembly Government.[3]

She is a former Cardiff councillor for Cyncoed. In 2019 she was appointed Chancellor of Cardiff University.

Background

Randerson was educated at Bedford College, University of London, BSc Physiology and Biochemistry, 1983, now part of Royal Holloway, University of London.[4] She was a Cardiff councillor 1983–2000 and was a lecturer at Cardiff Tertiary College. She led the official opposition on the Council in Cardiff for four years. She introduced "Creative Future", a culture strategy for Wales and "Iaith Pawb", a strategy for the promulgation of the Welsh language.[5]

National Assembly for Wales

Randerson was elected as Assembly Member for Cardiff Central at the 1999 Assembly Elections beating the Labour candidate Mark Drakeford. She served as Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language in the Liberal Democrat/Labour Partnership Government from 2000 to 2003. She was acting Welsh Deputy First Minister from 6 July 2001 to 13 June 2002. She was Health and Social Services; Equal Opportunities and Finance Spokeswoman for the Welsh Liberal Democrats during the Second Assembly. She chaired Assembly Business and Standing Orders Committees during the Second Assembly.

Randerson stood for the leadership of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in 2008 but was defeated by Kirsty Williams who gained 60% to Randerson's 40% of the all member ballot. In the third Assembly, Randerson was the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Education, Transport and the Economy. She did not seek re-election at the 2011 Assembly elections,[6] saying she was "hopeful of a new role combining my love of campaigning with a slightly less hectic lifestyle."[7] Nigel Howells, her Liberal Democrat successor, was narrowly defeated by Jenny Rathbone.[8]

House of Lords

On 27 January 2011, she was created a life peer as Baroness Randerson, of Roath Park in the City of Cardiff[9] and was introduced in the House of Lords on 31 January 2011,[10] and sits on the Liberal Democrat benches. On 4 September 2012, she was appointed a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Wales Office.[11]

Baroness Randerson is the first female Welsh Liberal Democrat to hold ministerial office at Westminster and the first Welsh Liberal to hold a ministerial post since Gwilym Lloyd-George in 1945. Although English by birth and upbringing, she is also the first female non Labour Welsh politician to hold a government post at Westminster.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC News | WALES | Welsh coalition deal sealed by leaders". news.bbc.co.uk.
  2. ↑ Notice of life peerage for Jenny Randerson, number10.gov.uk; accessed 20 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Profile, BBC.co.uk; accessed 20 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Royal Holloway College, Higher Magazine No.17, autumn 2012, accessed 24 November 2012
  5. ↑ Jenny Randerson official website; accessed 20 March 2014.
  6. ↑ James, David (17 May 2010). "Jenny Randerson to stand down as AM". WalesOnline. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Randerson, Jenny (18 May 2010). "Opinion: 'Hectic and relentless - I will miss it all'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  8. ↑ Waldram, Hannah (12 May 2011). "'Politics is part of my DNA' - Jenny Rathbone, AM for Cardiff Central". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "No. 59687". The London Gazette. 1 February 2011. p. 1657.
  10. ↑ House of Lords Business, Monday 31 January 2011; accessed 20 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Wales Office: Lib Dem Baroness Randerson made minister". BBC News. 5 September 2012.

Offices held

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