Margaret Jay, Baroness Jay Of Paddington

Margaret Ann Jay, Baroness Jay of Paddington (née Callaghan), was born on 18 November 1939 in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of James Callaghan, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979, and Audrey Moulton Callaghan.

For her education, she attended Blackheath High School, an independent school, during her early years. She later studied at Somerville College, Oxford University.

From 1965 to 1977, Jay worked in television production for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), focusing on current affairs and further education programming. She subsequently became a journalist on the BBC's Panorama programme, a flagship current affairs series, and worked on Thames Television's programme This Week. She also presented the BBC 2 series Social History of Medicine. She has shown a particular interest in health issues, notably HIV and AIDS awareness, serving as the founding director of the National AIDS Trust in 1987 and acting as a patron of Help the Aged.

On 29 July 1992, Jay was appointed a life peer with the title Baroness Jay of Paddington, of Paddington in the City of Westminster. She served as an opposition whip in the House of Lords. Her status as the daughter of a former prime minister garnered her the nickname 'Posh Spice' following her ennoblement. As a peer, she led opposition efforts, in association with the shop workers' union, against the liberalisation of Sunday trading hours.

Between 1994 and 1997, she was the chairman of Attend, formerly the National Association of Hospital and Community Friends, a charity focused on health and social care. In 2003, she was elected vice-president of Attend.

Following the Labour Party's victory in the 1997 general election, Jay was appointed Minister of State for Health in the House of Lords. From 1998, she served as Leader of the House of Lords, playing a significant role in the reform that reduced the number of hereditary peers in the chamber. The House of Lords Act 1999, which received royal assent on 11 November 1999, resulted in the removal of more than 660 hereditary peers from sitting and voting rights in the House. She retired from active political duties in 2001.

Post-retirement, Jay has taken on various non-executive roles, including serving as a non-executive director of BT Group. She was also co-chair of the cross-party Iraq Commission, established by the Foreign Policy Centre think-tank and Channel 4, with Tom King and Paddy Ashdown.

In her personal life, Margaret Callaghan married journalist Peter Jay in 1961. Peter Jay was the son of Labour politician Douglas Jay and Margaret Garnett. Peter Jay served as British Ambassador to the United States, a position to which he was appointed by Foreign Secretary David Owen. During her time in the United States, Margaret Jay reportedly had an extramarital relationship with journalist Carl Bernstein in 1979. Bernstein's then-wife, Nora Ephron, fictionalised this episode in her novel "Heartburn," in which a character named Thelma mirrored Jay. The marriage between Margaret and Peter Jay ended in divorce in 1986 after 25 years.

In 1994, she married Michael Adler, an AIDS specialist and former chair of the National AIDS Trust. She retained her surname from her first marriage. She has three children named Tamsin, Alice, and Patrick.