Janet Anne Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, PC (born 20 August 1955), is a British Labour Co-operative Party politician. A former secretary and adviser to Neil Kinnock, Royall was appointed to the House of Lords in 2004 after having stood unsuccessfully to be MEP for The Cotswolds, and to be MP for Ipswich and Ogmore.[2][3][4] She also stood to be a member of Gloucestershire County Council.[5]
Royall's first job after graduating was importing flowers from Colombia and she also trained as a secretary.[10][11] Royall was a secretary and adviser to Neil Kinnock,[12][13] the leader of the Labour Party, in the 1980s, and she has remained a close ally of his ever since. She is reputed to have bought the infamous donkey jacket worn by former leader Michael Foot for his Rembrance Day appearance at the Cenotaph in 1982.[14]
In 1984, Royall stood to be MEP for The Cotswolds, finishing third with 20.7% of the vote. She sought selection as Labour's candidate for Ipswich in a 2001 by-election, losing to Chris Mole;[15] and for Ogmore in a 2002 by-election, losing to Huw Irranca-Davies.[16] In 2003 she became head of the European Commission office in Wales; her appointment was criticised at the time as "an inappropriate political appointment" by Hans Gert Poettering.[17] The head of the EU's offices in the UK, Jim Dougal, told BBC Wales that the appointment was above board and that proper procedures were followed at every stage. Royall did not respond to the demands for her resignation and turned down all requests for interviews.[17]
She voted for a 100% elected House, on the last occasion that the House of Lords voted on Reform of the House of Lords in March 2007.[21] She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber.
Since 2012, Royall has campaigned for tougher sentencing for people convicted of stalking offences, including the successful tabling of an amendment to increase the maximum sentence for stalking.[22][23] She has advocated for cross-agency information sharing to enable joined-up approaches to combatting stalking.[24]
In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed badger cull.[25]
Royall voted against the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 citing concerns about the bureaucracy the Bill would entail as well as her opposition to proposed fines.[31][32] Royall has spoken in the Lords about the importance of free speech in universities and her belief that existing legislation is sufficient.[33] In October 2024, the Free Speech Union commented that Royall had an "apparently lackadaisical approach to free speech."[34]
Jan Royall in 2024
Principal of Somerville College
In February 2017, Somerville College, Oxford, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal.[35] She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017.[35][36] In 2019, Royall attracted media attention following her decision to remove octopus from the college menu[37][38][39][40] and supported the introduction of gender-neutral toilets.[41] As Principal, Royall implemented mandatory unconscious bias training in which students, leading to criticism from Toby Young of the Free Speech Union.[42]
She also oversaw an expansion of scholarship provision at Somerville College[43] and initiated outreach to local primary schools.[44] She served as Chair of the Conference of Colleges[45] from 2020 to 2023 and for two years before that was Deputy Chair.[46] In 2021, Royall led a campaign for Somerville to become a College of Sanctuary, offering a pathway to Oxford for students displaced by war or internal unrest.[47] The University of Oxford later adopted this campaign and formed such a Community of Sanctuary.[48] In May 2024, Royall instructed Thames Valley Police, who were monitoring pro-Palestine protests, to leave the grounds of Somerville College.[49] In 2024, the UK Campaign Against Anti-Semitism wrote a formal letter of complaint after the Somerville College magazine, with a foreword by Royall, omitted any mention of Jewish victims in three articles on the Holocaust.[50][51] It was announced that she would be standing down from the role of Principal of Somerville College at the end of the 2024/25 academic year at the age of 70.[52]
Personal life
She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has three children.[53]
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