| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Baroness Williams of Trafford | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | PC |
| Office2: | Minister of State for Home Affairs[1] |
| Primeminister2: | Theresa May Boris Johnson |
| Term Start2: | 17 July 2016 |
| Term End2: | 7 September 2022 |
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Keen of Elie |
| Successor2: | The Lord Murray of Blidworth |
| Office1: | Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms |
| Primeminister1: | Liz Truss Rishi Sunak |
| Term Start1: | 7 September 2022 |
| Term End1: | 5 July 2024 |
| Predecessor1: | The Lord Ashton of Hyde |
| Successor1: | The Lord Kennedy of Southwark |
| Office3: | Minister of State for Equalities |
| Primeminister3: | Theresa May Boris Johnson |
| Term Start3: | 9 January 2018 |
| Term End3: | 13 February 2020 |
| Predecessor3: | Nick Gibb |
| Successor3: | Kemi Badenoch |
| Birth Name: | Susan Frances Maria McElroy |
| Office5: | Baroness-in-waiting Government Whip |
| Primeminister5: | David Cameron |
| Term Start5: | 8 April 2014 |
| Term End5: | 11 May 2015 |
| Predecessor5: | The Earl Attlee |
| Successor5: | The Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen |
| Office6: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start6: | 5 November 2013 Life Peerage |
| Office7: | Leader of Trafford Council |
| Term Start7: | 7 May 2004 |
| Term End7: | 5 May 2011 |
| Predecessor7: | David Acton |
| Successor7: | Matt Colledge |
| Birth Date: | 16 May 1967 |
| Birth Place: | Blackrock, Cork, Ireland |
| Nationality: | British |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Huddersfield Polytechnic |
| Office4: | Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Powerhouse |
| Term Start4: | 11 May 2015 |
| Term End4: | 17 July 2016 |
| Primeminister4: | David Cameron |
| Predecessor4: | The Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon |
| Successor4: | Andrew Percy |
| Office: | Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords |
| Leader: | The Lord True |
| Term Start: | 19 July 2024 |
| Predecessor: | The Lord Kennedy of Southwark |
Susan Frances Maria Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford (née McElroy;[2] born 16 May 1967)[3] [4] [5] is a Conservative life peer who served as the Chief Whip of the House of Lords and Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms between 2022 and 2024.[6] In March 2022 she was made a member of the Privy Council.[7] She has been Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords since July 2024.[8]
Williams was educated at La Sagesse School, a Roman Catholic private school in Newcastle upon Tyne, and Huddersfield Polytechnic, where she gained a BSc Hons in Applied Nutrition.[9] [10]
She was a member of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council from 1998 to 2011, representing Altrincham, and the council's leader from 2004 to 2009, leading a Conservative majority until she stepped down.
She has also been a member of various public bodies in the North West region. As a parliamentary candidate, she first stood unsuccessfully for the safe Labour Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency in 2001, and for the Bolton West constituency in the 2010 general election, losing by 92 votes.
On 20 September 2013 she was created a life peer as Baroness Williams of Trafford, of Hale in the county of Greater Manchester.
In April 2014, Williams succeeded Earl Attlee as baroness-in-waiting (government whip).[11]
In 2015, David Cameron appointed Williams to his second government as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. On 28 May 2015 she introduced the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill 2015–16 to the House of Lords.[12]
Williams was appointed Minister for Countering Extremism, the Home Office representative in the House of Lords in the First May ministry.
She was appointed Minister of State for Equalities in January 2018 by Theresa May.
In the 2020 British cabinet reshuffle, Williams was made Minister of State at the Home Office, and in March 2022 was made a member of the Privy Council, entitling her to the post-nominals PC for life.
Following the resignation of Boris Johnson, and the appointment of Liz Truss as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Williams was appointed as Chief Whip of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords and Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms. In that role, she took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.[13]