Joanna Penn, Baroness Penn Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Baroness Penn
Office1:Minister on Leave
Primeminister1:Rishi Sunak
Term Start1:1 March 2024
Term End1:5 July 2024
1Blankname1:Interim
1Namedata1:The Baroness Swinburne
Primeminister2:Boris Johnson
Term Start2:15 September 2021
Term End2:26 January 2022
1Blankname2:Interim
1Namedata2:The Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Office3:Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing and Communities
Primeminister3:Rishi Sunak
Term Start3:13 November 2023
Term End3:1 March 2024
Predecessor3:Office established
Successor3:The Baroness Swinburne
Office4:Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury
Primeminister4:Rishi Sunak
Term Start4:26 October 2022
Term End4:13 November 2023
Predecessor4:Office established
Successor4:The Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Office5:Baroness-in-waiting
Government Whip
Primeminister5:Boris Johnson
Term Start5:4 February 2022
Term End5:26 October 2022
Predecessor5:The Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Primeminister6:Boris Johnson
Term Start6:19 March 2020
Term End6:15 September 2021
Predecessor6:The Lord Bethell
Successor6:The Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
Office7:Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Term Start7:21 October 2019
Life Peerage
Party:Conservative
Alma Mater:University 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.[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.

Penn became the youngest member of the House of Lords when she joined the House on 21 October 2019:[8] 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.[9] From 29 October 2019 to 21 April 2020, she was a member of the Lord's Science and Technology Committee. She served as a baroness-in-waiting, a junior government whip, from 19 March 2020 to 20 September 2022.[10] Between 30 October 2022 and 13 November 2023, she was a parliamentary secretary, the most junior level of minister, in HM Treasury.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Theresa May appoints top allies to House of Lords . POLITICO . 21 March 2021 . 9 September 2019.
  2. Web site: Parliamentary Career Page . gov.uk . 10 January 2022.
  3. Web site: Penn, Baroness, (Joanna Carolyn Penn) . . Oxford University Press . 15 November 2023 . en . 1 December 2022.
  4. Web site: Joanna Penn MPP 2015 on her Summer Internship . Harvard Kennedy School . The President and Fellows of Harvard College . 15 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170704051849/https://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/news/students/joanna-penn . 4 July 2017 . 26 August 2014.
  5. News: Mason . Rowena . Scruton . Paul . Fenn . Chris . Theresa May's team: the PM's inner and outer circles . 10 September 2019 . The Guardian . 4 October 2017 . 30 July 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190730165108/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2017/oct/04/theresa-mays-team-the-pms-inner-and-outer-circles . live .
  6. Web site: The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Right: Iain Dale's 2017 List . LBC . 10 September 2019 . 2 October 2017 . 26 April 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190426215102/https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/iain-dale/100-most-influential-people-on-right-iain-dale/ . live .
  7. Web site: Resignation Honours 2019 . GOV.UK . Cabinet Office . 10 September 2019 . en . 10 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190910023124/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resignation-honours-2019 . live .
  8. Web site: Membership and principal office holders. UK Parliament. 26 October 2019.
  9. United Kingdom . Defence, Diplomacy and Development Policy . 801 . House of Lords . 30 January 2020 . 1582 . 1584 . Baroness Penn .
  10. Web site: Baroness Penn: Parliamentary career . MPs and Lords . UK Parliament . 7 September 2022.
  11. Web site: Baroness Penn: Parliamentary career . MPs and Lords . UK Parliament . 2 November 2022.