Diana Barran, Baroness Barran

Diana Francesca Caroline Clare Barran, Baroness Barran, MBE (born 10 February 1959) is a British charity campaigner, former hedge fund manager and Conservative Party life peer. She is the founder of the domestic abuse awareness charity SafeLives and served as its chief executive from 2004 to 2017.

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Barran
MBE
Official portrait, 2018
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance[lower-alpha 1]
Assumed office
17 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Liz Truss[1]
Rishi Sunak[2]
Preceded byThe Baroness Berridge
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Civil Society
In office
26 July 2019 – 17 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byThe Lord Ashton of Hyde
Succeeded byNigel Huddleston
Baroness-in-Waiting
Government Whip
In office
22 November 2018 – 26 July 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byThe Baroness Manzoor
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
2 July 2018
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1959-02-10) 10 February 1959
Political partyConservative
Alma materKing's College, Cambridge

Career

Barran worked as an investment banker in London and Paris for Morgan Grenfell and Enskilda Asset Management and founded the hedge fund Barran and Partners in 1993. Barran left Beaumont Capital in 2001 shortly before its sale to Schroders. Barran owned 10% of Beaumont Capital at the time of her departure.[3]

Barran is a former trustee of Comic Relief and a former chair of the Henry Smith Charity. Barran has worked as the head of grant development for New Philanthropy Capital and as the firms donor adviser.[4]

On 26 July 2019, Barran was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Civil Society at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the first Johnson ministry. The role included responsibility for the department's business in the Lords and First World War commemorations.[5]

Barran assumed the "loneliness porfolio" in 2019, taking on the role of "Minister of Loneliness" that former Prime Minister Theresa May established in 2018, which had previously been held by Tracey Crouch and Mims Davies. The position aimed to address the crisis of loneliness in British society that a 2017 commission initiated by Jo Cox had investigated.[6] According to the British Red Cross, more than 9 million people in the UK feel lonely.[7]

On 17 September 2021, Barran was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System at the Department for Education, in the second cabinet reshuffle of the second Johnson ministry.[8] She was reappointed to this position by Liz Truss. She was reappointed by Rishi Sunak but the portfolio changed to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance.[9]

Personal life

Barran is married with four children.[4] Her husband is Julian Barran. She was educated at Benenden School and King's College, Cambridge.[10]

Honours and awards

In the 2011 Birthday Honours, Barran was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[11][4]

In May 2018, it was announced that she will be conferred a life peerage.[12][13] On 21 June, she was created Baroness Barran, of Bathwick in the City of Bath.[14]

Barran was on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.[15]

Notes
  1. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the School and College System from 17 September 2021 to 26 October 2022.

References
  1. "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  2. "Ministerial Appointments commencing: 25 October 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  3. "Barran puts family before windfall". The Evening Standard. 11 December 2001. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  4. "Meet the team: Diana Barran". Comic Relief. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  5. "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  6. Birnstengel, Grace. "Two years after hiring a Minister of Loneliness, people in the U.K. are still lonely". MarketWatch. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. Ryan, Verity (16 January 2018). "Theresa May appoints minister for loneliness, after Jo Cox Commission highlight Britain's epidemic". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  8. "Ministerial appointments: September 2021". 16 September 2021.
  9. "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the School System and Student Finance) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  10. "Barran". Who's Who. Vol. 2019 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 13.
  12. "Queen confers Peerages". gov.uk. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  13. Dan Sabbagh (18 May 2018). "May names nine new Tory peers to boost party after Brexit defeats". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  14. "No. 62337". The London Gazette. 27 June 2018. p. 11404.
  15. "BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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