Charlotte Owen, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge
Official portrait, 2023
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
12 July 2023
Life peerage
Personal details
Born
Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen

(1993-05-10) 10 May 1993 (age 30)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of York
OccupationSpecial adviser

Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (born 10 May 1993) is a British life peer and former special adviser. She has been a Conservative member of the House of Lords since 2023, and was the youngest recipient of a life peerage at the time of her appointment.

Early life and education

Charlotte Owen was born on 10 May 1993[1] to Michael and Kathryn Owen.[2] Owen's mother works for her brother's forklift truck company.[2] Owen grew up in Alderley Edge, Cheshire,[3][2] and attended Alderley Edge School for Girls, a private school.[4] She graduated from the University of York in 2015 with an upper-second-class honours degree in politics and international relations.[5]

According to her LinkedIn profile, Owen worked as an intern for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne for a month in 2011 before later working in his constituency office in Tatton in 2012.[6] This was disputed by a senior source who worked in Osborne's office at the time.[6] She was a member of Conservative Future[4][6] and the local Conservative Association.[6]

Career

In 2015, Owen worked for a month in Brussels for Jacqueline Foster, the deputy leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament.[2] She then worked as an intern for strategic communications consultancy Portland Communications for four months in 2016, before working as a constituency intern for Tory MP William Wragg in January 2017.[2][7] Later that year, Owen worked as a parliamentary intern to Boris Johnson for six months, before becoming a parliamentary assistant to Alok Sharma for seven months.[2][7]

Owen was then a senior parliamentary assistant to Jake Berry and Johnson for 21 months, before working exclusively for Johnson for 14 months afterwards.[8] In February 2021, she reportedly became a special adviser to Johnson within the Number 10 Policy Unit.[9][8] She was retained in this role following the formation of the Truss ministry in September 2022.[9] Under the Truss government, Owen's role was split evenly between Prime Minister Liz Truss and the chief whip and parliamentary secretary to the Treasury, Wendy Morton.[10] She was not retained in her post by Truss's successor, Rishi Sunak, following his appointment as Prime Minister in October 2022.

There has been controversy about the accuracy of her career history, with claims that Owen exaggerated both her position and the length of time that she worked in 10 Downing Street.[11] It has been claimed that she never worked in the Policy Unit.[12] On her LinkedIn profile, Owen stated that she was a special advisor from February 2021 to October 2022, but she was not listed in the annual report on special advisers published in June 2021, only in the June 2022 report.[12] In the honours list announcing her life peerage, she was described as "Former Special Adviser to the former Prime Minister Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP".[13] Commenting on Owen's career to date, Liz Bates of Sky News said it was "not an illustrious political career by any stretch".[14] Further controversy surrounded Owen's claims to have interned for George Osborne while he was chancellor in David Cameron's cabinet. Senior sources who worked in Osborne's Tatton Street office deny this, stating she was a member of the local party association and part of Conservative Future, a forerunner to the Young Conservatives.[15]

House of Lords

On 9 June 2023, it was announced that Owen would receive a life peerage in Johnson's resignation honours.[13][16] The decision was criticised, as Owen was perceived to be inexperienced and not to have contributed significantly to British politics or society.[17][18] Two former 10 Downing Street members of staff told Tortoise Media that her appointment to the peerage was "completely staggering – her peerage is one of the most strange and hardest to explain because she was so extraordinarily junior".[12] A Whitehall source said that she was the "most egregious" on Johnson's list of peerages.[19] The source described her appointment as "impossible to defend, even as somebody who broadly thinks the current peerage system is right".[19]

On 12 July 2023, Owen was created Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge, of Alderley Edge in the County of Cheshire.[20] She sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.[21][22] Her appointment, at the age of 30, made her the youngest member of the House of Lords.[23] She was the youngest person ever to receive a life peerage since Rupert Mitford, 6th Baron Redesdale, at age 32 in 2000[24] until Carmen Smith, Baroness Smith of Llanfaes, was appointed at the age of 27 in 2024.[25] Owen was introduced to the Lords on 24 July.[23][26] She made her maiden speech on 14 November, and said she wanted to use her time in the Lords to scrutinise legislation on new technologies.[27]

Personal life

Owen's late father was born in Urmston in 1930. In her maiden speech to the House of Lords, Owen tells how he recounted an incident when he "went cycling with his brother and they had to jump off their bikes and take cover as a Messerschmitt Bf 109 machine-gunned a passing freight train"; Owen's father also survived the Manchester Blitz, with the windows of his home being blown out by explosions.[28]

Owen's maternal grandparents purchased their council house in Alderley Edge which had been allocated to her grandfather after World War II.[28]

References

  1. ^ "Charlotte Owen". api.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Ellery, Ben; Wright, Oliver (16 June 2023). "How Charlotte Owen became one of Boris Johnson's most trusted aides". The Times. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Who is Charlotte Owen? The youngest life peer after being named in Boris Johnson's honours list". ITV News. 12 June 2023. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  4. ^ a b Wilkinson, Damon (22 July 2023). "Village near Greater Manchester has a 30-year-old baroness – thanks to Boris Johnson". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  5. ^ Mendick, Robert (10 November 2022). "Concern at Boris Johnson's attempt to make ex-aide youngest life peer". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Ellery, Ben (23 June 2023). "Charlotte Owen 'overstated her work for George Osborne'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 8 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  7. ^ a b Rogers, Alexandra (9 June 2023). "Partygate aides among those named in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list but others miss out". Sky News. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  8. ^ a b "All we know about Charlotte Owen as Boris Johnson makes her UK's youngest peer". The Independent. 13 June 2023. Archived from the original on 30 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  9. ^ a b Bulbul, Nuray (12 June 2023). "Who is Charlotte Owen? The country's youngest life peer in history". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. ^ Steerpike (8 November 2022). "Boris's babes to join the Lords". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  11. ^ Wright, Oliver (15 June 2023). "Charlotte Owen: Youngest nominated peer 'exaggerated role at No 10'". The Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Neilan, Catherine (14 June 2023). "Johnson's aide nominated for peerage appears to have exaggerated time spent at Number 10". Tortoise Media. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Resignation Peerages 2023" (PDF). gov.uk. 9 June 2023. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  14. ^ Mathers, Matt (13 June 2023). "Who is Charlotte Owen and why is she getting a peerage?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  15. ^ Neilan, Catherine (21 June 2023). "Charlotte Owen's claim to have worked in George Osborne's Tatton office in tatters". Tortoise. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  16. ^ "No. 64120". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 July 2023. p. 14502.
  17. ^ Utley, Olivia (12 June 2023). "I went to university with Charlotte Owen. If she's a worthy lifetime peer, I'm a baroness". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  18. ^ Cleary, Emily (12 June 2023). "Charlotte Owen: Who is ex-Boris Johnson aide nominated as youngest-ever life peer?". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on 13 June 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
  19. ^ a b Savage, Michael (18 June 2023). "Honours row grows after claim Charlotte Owen 'worked as maternity cover'". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Archived from the original on 28 June 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  20. ^ "No. 64117". The London Gazette. 18 July 2023. p. 14218.
  21. ^ "Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge". UK Parliament. 12 July 2023. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  22. ^ Griffiths, Robbie (14 July 2023). "Boris Johnson's youngest peer Charlotte Owen takes her seat and reveals new title". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
  23. ^ a b Morton, Becky (24 July 2023). "Boris Johnson nominee joins Lords as youngest peer". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 24 July 2023. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
  24. ^ "Young, ambitious - and at a hustings near you". BBC News. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Plaid Cymru peer appointed as youngest member of House of Lords". ITV News. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  26. ^ "Introduction: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 832. Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Lords. 24 July 2023. col. 1.
  27. ^ "Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge: Spoken contributions". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  28. ^ a b "King's Speech: Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (Con) (Maiden speech)". Hansard. 14 November 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
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