The Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2023 | |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 12 July 2023 Life peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen (1993-05-10)10 May 1993 (age 32) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | University of York |
| Occupation | Special adviser |
Charlotte Kathryn Tranter Owen, Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge (born 10 May 1993) is a Britishlife peer and formerspecial adviser. She has been aConservative member of theHouse of Lords since 2023, and was the youngest recipient of alife peerage at the time of her appointment.
Charlotte Owen was born on 10 May 1993[1] to Michael and Kathryn Owen.[2] Owen's mother works for her brother's forklift truck company.[2] Owen grew up inAlderley Edge, Cheshire,[3][2] and attendedAlderley Edge School for Girls, a private school.[4] She graduated from theUniversity of York in 2015 with anupper-second-class honours degree in politics and international relations.[5]
According to herLinkedIn profile, Owen worked as an intern for Chancellor of the ExchequerGeorge Osborne for a month in 2011 before later working in his constituency office inTatton in 2012.[6] Both assertions were disputed by a senior source who worked in Osborne's office at the time.[6] She was a member ofConservative Future[4][6] and the localConservative Association.[6]
In 2015, Owen worked for a month inBrussels forJacqueline Foster, the deputy leader of the Conservatives in theEuropean Parliament.[2] She then worked as an intern for strategic communications consultancyPortland Communications for four months in 2016, before working as a constituency intern for Tory MPWilliam Wragg in January 2017.[2][7] Later that year, Owen worked as a parliamentary intern toBoris Johnson for six months, before becoming a parliamentary assistant toAlok Sharma for seven months.[2][7]
Owen was then a senior parliamentary assistant toJake Berry and Johnson for 21 months, before working exclusively for Johnson for 14 months afterwards.[8] In February 2021, she reportedly became aspecial adviser to Johnson within theNumber 10 Policy Unit.[9][8] She was retained in this role following the formation of theTruss ministry in September 2022.[9] Under the Truss government, Owen's role was split evenly between Prime MinisterLiz Truss and thechief whip andparliamentary secretary to the Treasury,Wendy Morton.[10] She was not retained in her post by Truss's successor,Rishi Sunak, following his appointment as Prime Minister in October 2022.
The accuracy of her stated career history has been disputed, with some asserting that Owen exaggerated both the seniority of her position and the duration that she worked in10 Downing Street.[11] It has been asserted that she never worked in thePolicy Unit.[12] On herLinkedIn profile, Owen stated that she was a special adviser from February 2021 to October 2022, but she was not listed in theannual report on special advisers published in June 2021, though she was in the June 2022 report.[12] In thehonours list announcing her life peerage, she was described as "Former Special Adviser to the former Prime Minister Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP".[13] Commenting on Owen's career to date, Liz Bates ofSky News said it was "not an illustrious political career by any stretch".[14] Owen's assertion that she interned forGeorge Osborne while he waschancellor inDavid Cameron'scabinet has also been challenged. Senior sources who worked in Osborne's Tatton Street office reject it, stating rather that she was simply a member of the local party association and part ofConservative Future, a forerunner to theYoung Conservatives.[15]
In September 2024, Owen was appointed vice-president of the environmentalconsultancy firm chaired by Boris Johnson named Better Earth.[16]
On 9 June 2023, it was announced that Owen would receive alife peerage inJohnson's resignation honours.[13][17] The decision was criticised, as Owen was perceived to be inexperienced and not to have contributed significantly to British politics or society.[18][19] Two former 10 Downing Street members of staff toldTortoise Media that her appointment to the peerage was "completely staggering – her peerage is one of the most strange and hardest to explain because she was so extraordinarily junior".[12] A Whitehall source said that she was the "most egregious" on Johnson's list of peerages.[20] The source described her appointment as "impossible to defend, even as somebody who broadly thinks the current peerage system is right".[20]
On 12 July 2023, Owen was createdBaroness Owen of Alderley Edge,of Alderley Edge in the County of Cheshire.[21] She sits in theHouse of Lords as aConservative peer.[22][23] Her appointment, at the age of 30, made her theyoungest member of the House of Lords.[24] She was the youngest person ever to receive a life peerage untilCarmen Smith, Baroness Smith of Llanfaes, was appointed at the age of 27 in 2024.[25] Owen wasintroduced to the Lords on 24 July 2023.[24][26] She made hermaiden speech on 14 November 2023, and said she wanted to use her time in the Lords to scrutinise legislation on new technologies.[27]
In January 2025 Owen's official citation was released by HOLAC following an 18 monthFreedom of Information Act 2000 campaign by Martin Rosenbaum.[28][29][30]
