Ruth Turner (political advisor)
Encyclopedia
Ruth Turner was formerly Director of Government Relations within Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

's Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...

 office.

Biography

As daughter of leading Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 writer and academic Denys Turner
Denys Turner
Denys Alan Turner is a British academic in the field of philosophy and theology. He is currently Professor of Historical Theology at Yale University having been appointed in 2005, previously having been Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity at Cambridge University. He earned his PhD in Philosophy...

, Turner spent her childhood moving between university towns as her father's career gathered pace. Turner left home in the late 1980s to study at the University of Salford
University of Salford
The University of Salford is a campus university based in Salford, Greater Manchester, England with approximately 20,000 registered students. The main campus is about west of Manchester city centre, on the A6, opposite the former home of the physicist, James Prescott Joule and the Working Class...

, graduating with a BA in English & History in 1991 and followed by a sabbatical year as the Students Union's Deputy President for Communications, elected as the Labour Students candidate.

Big Issue in the North

Turner came to prominence as co-founder and former chairperson of the Big Issue in the North, which she started in 1992, before leaving in 2000. She subsequently formed a Manchester-based social research company, Vision Twentyone, a 'social consultancy' which ran "citizens' juries" to come up with strategies to improve the community. In 2004, Ruth formed another social business, http://www.commotionuk.com Commotion, with her brother Brendan Turner.

Labour Party

Rising through the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

's ranks, she stood as a Labour candidate for the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 elections in North-West England constituency
North West England (European Parliament constituency)
North West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For the 2009 elections it elects 8 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.-Boundaries:...

 in 1999, before becoming a member of its National Executive Committee
National Executive Committee
The National Executive Committee or NEC is the chief administrative body of the UK Labour Party. Its composition has changed over the years, and includes representatives of affiliated trade unions, the Parliamentary Labour Party and European Parliamentary Labour Party, Constituency Labour Parties,...

 in 2000. In 2005 she was placed in the key post of Head of Government Relations by Tony Blair, replacing Lady Morgan of Huyton
Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton
Sally Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Huyton is a British Labour Party politician.Morgan was educated at Belvedere School for Girls, Liverpool, and at Durham University, where she graduated in 1980 with a B.A. in geography. After taking a Postgraduate Certificate in Education at King's College London...

, the Prime Minister's long-time adviser, who first recommended her. She worked directly for Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell
Jonathan Powell (chief of staff to Tony Blair)
Jonathan Nicholas Powell is a British diplomat who served as the first Downing Street Chief of Staff, under British Prime Minister Tony Blair throughout his premiership, from his election in 1997 until his resignation in 2007...

.

Tony Blair Faith Foundation

She has since followed Tony Blair on his exit from Downing Street, and is currently employed by the Blair Foundation on, according to the Daily Telegraph, a six figure salary.
.

Controversy

In September 2006, it was reported that Turner had been interviewed under police caution under Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

's ongoing cash for peerages
Cash for Peerages
Cash for Honours is the name given by some in the media to a political scandal in the United Kingdom in 2006 and 2007 concerning the connection between political donations and the award of life peerages...

 inquiry. It was revealed in November 2006 that she had been questioned by the police four times as part of the on-going inquiry.

In July 2006 it had been reported that she was at the centre of another political corruption probe. Her ex-partner Matt Finnegan, had been suspended from his job as Head of Media Relations at Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Joe Anderson.-Domain:...

 in April 2005 after awarding work to Turner's former company, the Big Issue in the North in 2002 - two years after she had left the company. Turner released a statement through 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

in response to the report, where she commented: "There is no truth in this. I left the Big Issue in the North in May 2000. I understand this work was awarded by Liverpool City Council to the Big Issue in the North in July 2002. I have no knowledge of, nor was I involved in, any aspect of this."

On 19 January 2007 she was arrested at her home in the early hours of the morning in relation to the cash for peerages inquiry on suspicion of perverting the course of justice. Later that day she was released on police bail.
The CPS later dropped all charges against her and the others involved.

External links

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