Shadow portfolios

Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
In office 20 January 2011 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Liam Byrne
Succeeded by	Jon Trickett
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman (acting)
Preceded by	Francis Maude
Succeeded by	Liam Byrne
Shadow Minister for London
In office 11 May 2010 – 16 January 2013
Leader	Harriet Harman (acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Sadiq Khan
Shadow Minister for the Olympics
In office 11 May 2010 – 11 September 2012
Leader	Harriet Harman (acting) Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Jeremy Hunt
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Shadow Minister for Women
In office 19 October 1995 – 26 July 1996
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Clare Short
Succeeded by	Janet Anderson

Junior ministerial offices

Minister for London
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Tony McNulty
Succeeded by	Gavin Barwell (2016)
In office 28 June 2007 – 3 October 2008
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Jim Fitzpatrick
Succeeded by	Tony McNulty
Paymaster General
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Dawn Primarolo
Succeeded by	Francis Maude
Minister for the Olympics
In office 6 July 2005 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Tony Blair Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Jeremy Hunt
Minister for Women
In office 5 May 2005 – 5 May 2006
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Patricia Hewitt
Succeeded by	Ruth Kelly

Parliamentary offices

Members of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Life peerage 27 October 2015 – 12 May 2018
Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood Dulwich (1992–1997)
In office 9 April 1992 – 30 March 2015
Preceded by	Gerald Bowden
Succeeded by	Helen Hayes

Personal details

Born

Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Palmer

18 September 1947
Marylebone, London, England

Died

12 May 2018 (aged 70)
Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, England

Political party

Labour

Spouses

Roger Jowell

(m. 1970; div. 1977)
David Mills

(m. 1979)

Children

2, including Jess Mills

Relatives

Ella Woodward (daughter-in-law)

Alma mater

Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell (born Palmer; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was an important British politician from the Labour Party. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood from 1992 to 2015.

Tessa Jowell held many big jobs in the government and in the opposition. She was the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from 2001 to 2007. She also served as Minister for the Cabinet Office from 2009 to 2010. She was a key person in the governments led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. She was also the Minister for the Olympics from 2005 to 2010. After the London Olympic Games, she stepped down from her roles as Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London in 2012.

She was made a Privy Councillor in 1998. In 2012, she was given the honour of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She left the House of Commons in 2015. Later that year, she became a life peer and was known as Baroness Jowell.

Early Life and First Steps in Politics
Becoming a Member of Parliament
After Being an MP
Working at Harvard
Family Life
Illness and Passing Away
Honours and Titles
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and First Steps in Politics

Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Palmer was born in London on 18 September 1947. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a radiographer.

She went to school in Aberdeen and then studied at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh. She also trained at Goldsmiths College. Tessa started her career as a social worker, helping families and children. She also worked for the mental health charity Mind.

Tessa Jowell began her political journey in the early 1970s. She was elected to the Camden London Borough Council and became the Chair of the Social Services Committee at just 25 years old. She tried to become an MP in 1978 and 1979 for Ilford North, but she was not successful then.

Becoming a Member of Parliament

Tessa Jowell was first elected as an MP for Dulwich in the 1992 general election. She worked as a spokesperson for health and women's issues. After some changes to the election areas, she became the MP for Dulwich and West Norwood in 1997.

Working in Government

After the Labour Party won the 1997 election, Tessa Jowell became the Minister of State in the Department of Health. She worked to improve public health and reduce health differences between people. In 1999, she moved to the Department for Education and Employment.

Tessa Jowell in 2000

In 2001, she became the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. In this role, she looked after television, arts, and sports. She helped create Ofcom, a new media regulator. She also worked on changes to the National Lottery to make sure its money was used well.

Tessa Jowell also played a big part in changing laws about gambling. She believed that ordinary people should have the right to bet. She also helped set up the BBC Trust, which was a new way to manage the BBC.

When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister in 2007, Tessa Jowell's role changed. She kept her job as Olympics Minister and was also made Paymaster General and Minister for London. In 2009, she was reappointed to the Cabinet as Minister for the Cabinet Office.

In 2012, she was honoured with the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). This was for her political work and charity efforts, especially for her role in bringing the London 2012 Olympics to life.

Her Political Beliefs

Tessa Jowell was a strong supporter of Prime Minister Tony Blair. She was very loyal to the Labour Party's plans at the time. She helped create the Sure Start programme, which supports young children and their families. She was very proud of this program, saying that the first three years of a child's life are very important.

Leading the London 2012 Olympics

Tessa Jowell was a key person in London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games. She first thought of the idea in 2002 when she was Culture Secretary. Many people in the government thought Paris would win, but Tessa convinced them to support London's bid.

In 2004, she officially launched the bid. When London won the right to host the Games, she was made Olympics Minister. She was in charge of the bid from 2006 and kept this role even when her other government jobs changed.

After the 2010 election, when Labour was no longer in power, she became the Shadow Olympics Minister. She continued to work on the 2012 Olympics Organising Committee. She was also made Deputy Mayor of the Olympics Village. She stepped down from her Shadow Minister role in September 2012, after the Games were a big success.

After Being an MP

In 2013, Tessa Jowell announced that she would not stand for election again in 2015.

In 2015, she tried to become the Labour Party's candidate for the Mayor of London election in 2016. She came in second place to Sadiq Khan.

Later in 2015, she was given a life peerage and became Baroness Jowell. This allowed her to sit in the House of Lords.

In January 2018, Tessa Jowell gave a powerful speech in the House of Lords. She spoke about her own diagnosis with a very serious type of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. She asked for more cancer treatments to be available through the NHS. She said she hoped her speech would give hope to other cancer patients.

Working at Harvard

In 2016, Tessa Jowell worked as a Senior Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She taught a course about health policy and leadership. She also helped with a program for leaders in health.

Family Life

Tessa Jowell was married twice. Her first marriage was to Roger Jowell in 1970, which ended in 1976. She kept his last name. She married David Mills in 1979. She had a son and a daughter, Jess Mills, who is a singer. Her son Matthew married food writer Ella Woodward.

Illness and Passing Away

On her 70th birthday in September 2017, her family announced that she had been diagnosed with a Brain tumor in May of that year. She shared on Twitter that her birthday wish was for "More people living longer better lives with cancer." She wanted more treatments, faster diagnosis, and better survival rates for cancer patients.

After Tessa Jowell passed away, the government announced that funding for brain cancer research would be doubled in her honour. They also said that special tests for diagnosing brain tumours would be available in more hospitals. In 2020, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) was created to continue her work.

Tessa Jowell died at her home on 12 May 2018, after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

Honours and Titles

Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon

Coronet of a British Baron

In 1998, she became a member of the Privy Council. This gave her the title "The Right Honourable".
In 2012, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).
On 12 May 2012, she was given the Freedom of the Borough of Southwark.
In 2015, she became a life peer and was known as Baroness Jowell, allowing her to sit in the House of Lords.
In 2016, she received an Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Aberdeen.