{{Short description|British politician (1948–2025)}} {{More footnotes needed|date=March 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Baroness Randerson | image = Official portrait of Baroness Randerson crop 2, 2023.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Official portrait, 2023 | office = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales]] | prime_minister = [[David Cameron]] | 1blankname = [[Secretary of State for Wales|Sec. of State]] | 1namedata = [[David Jones (Clwyd West MP)|David Jones]]<br />[[Stephen Crabb]] | term_start = 5 September 2012 | term_end = 8 May 2015 | predecessor = [[David Jones (Clwyd West MP)|David Jones]] | successor = [[Nick Bourne]] | office2 = [[Deputy First Minister for Wales|Deputy First Minister of Wales]] | status2 = Acting | term_start2 = 6 July 2001 | term_end2 = 13 June 2002 | first_minister2 = [[Rhodri Morgan]] | successor2 = [[Mike German, Baron German|Michael German]] | predecessor2 = [[Mike German, Baron German|Michael German]] | office3 = [[Welsh Assembly Government|Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language]] | term_start3 = 17 October 2000 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/975518.stm|title=BBC News &#124; WALES &#124; Welsh coalition deal sealed by leaders|website=news.bbc.co.uk}}</ref> | term_end3 = 30 April 2003 | first_minister3 = [[Rhodri Morgan]] | predecessor3 = ''New post'' | successor3 = [[Alun Pugh]] | office4 = [[Member of the Welsh Assembly]]<br />for [[Cardiff Central (Senedd constituency)|Cardiff Central]] | assembly4 = National Assembly for Wales{{!}}Welsh | majority4 = | term_start4 = 6 May 1999 | term_end4 = 5 May 2011 | predecessor4 = [[Government of Wales Act 1998|''New Assembly'']] | successor4 = [[Jenny Rathbone]] | office5 = Member of the [[House of Lords]] | status5 = [[Lord Temporal]] | term_label5 = [[Life peer]]age | term_start5 = 27 January 2011 | term_end5 = 4 January 2025 | birth_date = {{birth date|1948|5|26|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[London]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|1|4|1948|5|26|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Cardiff]], Wales | party = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] <br /> [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] (before 1988) | spouse = Peter Randerson | alma_mater = [[Bedford College, London]] }}

'''Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson, Baroness Randerson''' (26 May 1948 – 4 January 2025) was a Welsh [[Welsh Liberal Democrats|Liberal Democrat]] member of the [[House of Lords]]. She was a [[Wales Office#Ministers|junior minister in the Wales Office]] serving in the [[Cameron–Clegg coalition]]. Prior to her peerage she was an [[Assembly Member (Welsh Assembly)|Assembly Member]] for [[Cardiff Central (National Assembly for Wales constituency)|Cardiff Central]] from 1999 to 2011 when she served in the [[Welsh Labour]]-[[Welsh Liberal Democrats|Lib Dem]] administration of the 2000–2003 [[Welsh Assembly Government]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-19496003 Profile], BBC.co.uk; accessed 20 March 2014.</ref>

Randerson was also a [[Cardiff City Council|Cardiff councillor]] for [[Cyncoed]]. In 2019 she was appointed [[Cardiff University|Chancellor of Cardiff University]].

==Early life and education== Randerson was educated at [[Bedford College (London)|Bedford College, University of London]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] History), now part of [[Royal Holloway, University of London]].<ref Name = "RHC Higher">Royal Holloway College, ''Higher Magazine No.17'', autumn 2012, accessed 24 November 2012</ref>

==Career== ===Early career=== Randerson was a [[councillor]] for [[Cardiff]] from 1983 to 2000, and led the official opposition on the [[Cardiff Council|Council in Cardiff]] for four years.{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

She was also a lecturer at Cardiff Tertiary College.{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

She introduced "[[Creative Future: Cymru Creadigol]]", a culture strategy for Wales,<ref>{{cite web | title=Strategy to boost arts | website=BBC News | date=7 February 2002 | url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1805583.stm | access-date=18 July 2025}}</ref> and "Iaith Pawb", a strategy for the promulgation of the [[Welsh language]].<ref>[http://www.jennyranderson.com Jenny Randerson official website]; accessed 20 March 2014. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050831093502/http://jennyranderson.com/ |date=31 August 2005 }}</ref>

===National Assembly for Wales=== Randerson was elected as Assembly Member for [[Cardiff Central (Senedd constituency)|Cardiff Central]] at the [[1999 National Assembly for Wales election|1999 Assembly Elections]] beating the Labour candidate [[Mark Drakeford]]. She served as [[Welsh Assembly|Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language]] in the Liberal Democrat/Labour Partnership Government from 2000 to 2003. She was acting [[Deputy First Minister of Wales|Welsh Deputy First Minister]] from 6 July 2001 to 13 June 2002. She was Health and Social Services; Equal Opportunities and Finance Spokeswoman for the Welsh Liberal Democrats during the Second Assembly. She chaired Assembly Business and Standing Orders Committees during the Second Assembly.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

Randerson stood for the leadership of the Welsh Liberal Democrats in 2008 but was defeated by [[Kirsty Williams]] who gained 60% to Randerson's 40% of the all member ballot. In the third Assembly, Randerson was the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Education, Transport and the Economy. She did not seek re-election at the [[2011 National Assembly for Wales election|2011 Assembly elections]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=James |first=David |date=17 May 2010 |title=Jenny Randerson to stand down as AM |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jenny-randerson-stand-down-am-1918598 |access-date=21 April 2023 |website=WalesOnline |language=en}}</ref> saying she was "hopeful of a new role combining my love of campaigning with a slightly less hectic lifestyle."<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 May 2010 |title=Opinion: 'Hectic and relentless - I will miss it all' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |last=Randerson |first=Jenny |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2010/may/18/jenny-randerson-assembly-member-cardiff-central-steps-down |access-date=21 April 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Nigel Howells, her Liberal Democrat successor, was narrowly defeated by [[Jenny Rathbone]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Waldram |first=Hannah |date=12 May 2011 |title='Politics is part of my DNA' - Jenny Rathbone, AM for Cardiff Central |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cardiff/2011/may/12/jenny-rathbone-interview-guardian-cardiff-cardiff-central-elections-2011 |access-date=21 April 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

===House of Lords=== On 27 January 2011, Randerson was created a [[life peer]] as Baroness Randerson, of [[Roath Park]] in the [[City of Cardiff]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59687 |date=1 February 2011 |page=1657}}</ref> and was [[Introduction (House of Lords)|introduced]] in the [[House of Lords]] on 31 January 2011,<ref>[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/minutes/110131/ldordpap.htm House of Lords Business], Monday 31 January 2011; accessed 20 March 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/latest-news/2010/11/peerages-honours-and-appointments-2-57256 Notice of life peerage for Jenny Randerson], number10.gov.uk; accessed 20 March 2014.</ref> and sat on the Liberal Democrat benches. On 4 September 2012, she was appointed a [[Parliamentary under-secretary of state]] at the [[Wales Office]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Wales Office: Lib Dem Baroness Randerson made minister|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-19496003|work=BBC News | date=5 September 2012}}</ref>

Randerson was the first Welsh Liberal to hold a ministerial post since [[Gwilym Lloyd-George]] in 1945 and the first Welsh Liberal Democrat woman to hold ministerial office at Westminster.{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

==Recognition and other roles== In 2019 Randerson was appointed [[Cardiff University|Chancellor of Cardiff University]].{{citation needed|date=July 2025}}

==Personal life and death== In the early 1970, when a teacher at [[Spalding High School, Lincolnshire]], Randerson lived on Guys Head Road in [[Lutton, Lincolnshire|Lutton Marsh]] with her 25-year-old husband Peter, who worked for [[Nature Conservancy]]. He studied salt marshes and mudflats. He worked at the Coastal Ecology Research Station in Norwich.<ref>''Lincolnshire Free Press'' Tuesday 14 November 1972, page 13</ref><ref>''Lynn Advertiser'' Tuesday 4 December 1973, page 25</ref> He played the violin.<ref>''Lincolnshire Free Press'' Tuesday 29 May 1973, page 9</ref><ref>''Lincolnshire Standard'' Friday 30 November 1973, page 13</ref> Her husband was later an ecology lecturer at University of Wales College, Cardiff, in the 1990s,<ref>''South Wales Echo'' Monday 19 February 1990, page 9</ref><ref>''South Wales Echo'' Wednesday 4 April 1990, page 7</ref> which became [[Cardiff University]].<ref>[https://profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/randerson Peter Randerson]</ref>

Randerson died in Cardiff on 4 January 2025, at the age of 76.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lib Dem Peer Jenny Randerson dies at 76 |url=https://www.libdemvoice.org/lib-dem-peer-jenny-randerson-dies-at-76-76789.html |access-date=5 January 2025 |website=Liberal Democrat Voice |language=en-GB}}</ref> Following her death, First Minister of Wales, [[Eluned Morgan]] described Randerson as "committed to public service, to Wales and devolution." Randerson's funeral was held on 10 February 2025 in the [[National Museum of Wales]] and was attended by over 400 mourners. Eulogies were delivered by [[Ilora Finlay, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff]] and former Deputy Liberal Democrat Leader Sir [[Simon Hughes]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Hundreds mourn one of the towering figures of politics in Wales |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/jenny-randerson-funeral-cardiff-politics-30972260 |access-date=21 February 2025 |publisher=WalesOnline.co.uk}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050301221726/http://www.wales.gov.uk/who/members-biog9-e.htm#jenny_randerson Jenny Randerson AM] official biography at the Welsh Assembly website * [https://web.archive.org/web/20051225111423/http://www.welshlibdems.org.uk/people_e_detail.asp?memberNo=171 Jenny Randerson AM] profile at the site of Welsh Liberal Democrats * {{IMDb name| 2521781}}

==Offices held== {{s-start}} {{s-par|wal}} {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Member of the Senedd|Assembly Member]] for [[Cardiff Central (Senedd constituency)|Cardiff Central]] | years = [[1999 National Assembly for Wales election|1999]] – [[2011 National Assembly for Wales election|2011]] }} {{s-aft | after = [[Jenny Rathbone]] }} {{s-off}} {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Welsh Assembly|Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language]] | years = 16 October 2000–2 May 2003 }} {{s-aft | after = [[Alun Pugh]] }} {{succession box | title = [[Deputy First Minister of Wales|Deputy First Minister for Wales]] | years = 6 July 2001 – 13 June 2002 (acting) | before= [[Mike German, Baron German|Michael German]] | after= [[Mike German, Baron German|Michael German]] }} {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl | title = Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, [[Wales Office]] | years = 5 September 2012 – 8 May 2015 }} {{s-aft | after= [[Nick Bourne]] }} {{s-aca}} {{s-bef | before = [[Martin Evans]]}} {{s-ttl | title = [[Cardiff University|Chancellor of Cardiff University]]<br />(previously known as President) | years = 2019–2025 }} {{s-aft | after= TBD}} {{s-end}} {{Welsh AMs 2007–2011|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randerson, Jennifer Randerson, Baroness}} [[Category:1948 births]] [[Category:2025 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century British women politicians]] [[Category:Councillors in Cardiff]] [[Category:Liberal Democrat members of the Senedd]] [[Category:Members of the Welsh Government]] [[Category:Alumni of Bedford College, London]] [[Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London]] [[Category:Female members of the Senedd]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers]] [[Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors]] [[Category:Wales AMs 1999–2003]] [[Category:Wales AMs 2003–2007]] [[Category:Wales AMs 2007–2011]] [[Category:Women members of the Welsh Government]] [[Category:Women councillors in Wales]]