Baroness Trumpington RIP

Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington, Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and Privy Councillor, has died at the age of 96.

She was one of the most popular politicians of any party because she was one of the most authentic; she would say exactly what she thought to anyone, including Margaret Thatcher when she served as one of her ministers.

(Mrs Thatcher valued Lady Trumpington for this - contrary to the impression which many have of her, Margaret Thatcher liked people who stood up to her; she was well aware that not enough people had the courage to tell her what they really thought and appreciated the counsel of those who did.)

Jean Campbell-Harris (as she then was) spent most of World War II working in Naval intelligence at Bletchley Park, serving in the team which cracked German naval codes. 

After the war she had a rich and varied career which included serving as a city councillor, county councillor, Mayor of Cambridge and JP before being made  UK Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women by Mrs Thatcher and appointed to the House of Lords as a life peer, where she gave long and distinguished service, serving as a minister in both the Thatcher and Major governments before retiring from the Lords last year, the day after her 95th birthday.

Her husband having died in 1988 she is survived by her son Adam Barker and two grandchildren.

Rest in Peace.

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