Jill Pay

{{Short description|Serjeant at Arms of the British House of Commons}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Jill Pay | honorific_suffix = | image = Barack Obama Westminster Hall (3) May 2011 (Jill Pay cropped).png | image_size = | caption = Pay in 2011 | office = Serjeant at Arms<br />of the British House of Commons | term_start = 30 January 2008 | term_end = 31 January 2012 | 1blankname = Speaker | 1namedata = Michael Martin<br />John Bercow | predecessor = Peter Grant Peterkin | successor = Lawrence Ward | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1951|5|10}} | birth_place = Croydon, London | death_date = | death_place = | resting_place = | birth_name = | party = | other_party = | spouse = John Pay | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | website = }} '''Jill Pay''' (born 10 May 1951) is a retired official of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She was Serjeant at Arms in the House of Commons.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/serjeant/ |title=Serjeant at Arms |website=Parliament of the United Kingdom |date=3 July 2009 |access-date=3 July 2009 |archive-date=14 June 2010 |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100614210435/https://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/principal/serjeant/ }}</ref> Pay is the first woman to have held the position.<ref name="guardian1">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/dec/03/jill-pay-serjeant-at-arms |title=Damian Green row: Profile of Jill Pay, serjeant at arms |work=The Guardian |access-date=3 July 2009 |location=London |first=Peter |last=Walker |date=3 December 2008}}</ref> Her appointment was unusual in that the position had hitherto normally been reserved for those with a military background. Pay's position conferred responsibility for security in the House of Commons. She retired on 31 January 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/speaker/saa-retirement-letter.pdf |title=Retirement letter |author=Jill Pay |publisher=Parliament.uk |date=13 October 2011}}</ref>

==Career== Pay replaced Major General Peter Grant Peterkin as Serjeant at Arms in 2008. She had previously worked as a business manager in the civil service. She was appointed Head Office Keeper in the House of Commons Service in 1994. She was appointed Deputy Serjeant at Arms in 2004.<ref name="conservative1">{{cite web |last=Kirkup |first=James |date=3 December 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3546250/Damian-Green-affair-Profile-of-Jill-Pay.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206162252/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3546250/Damian-Green-affair-Profile-of-Jill-Pay.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 December 2008 |title=Damian Green affair: Profile of Jill Pay |work=The Telegraph |access-date=3 July 2009}}</ref> Before she assumed the role of Serjeant at Arms, the role of the Serjeant in the House of Commons Service had been downgraded through organisational restructuring, something with which the Queen was said to be unhappy, since the position is a Crown appointment. Jill Pay was not granted the traditional audience with the monarch.<ref>{{cite news|last=Warner|first=Gerald|title=Michael Martin trapped by the consequences of his own chippy 'reform'|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/5886873/Michael_Martin_trapped_by_the_consequences_of_his_own_chippy_reform/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902035621/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/geraldwarner/5886873/Michael_Martin_trapped_by_the_consequences_of_his_own_chippy_reform/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 September 2010|access-date=7 August 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 December 2008|quote=the Queen to refuse her the private audience traditionally granted to an incoming Sergeant at Arms|location=London}}</ref>

===Damian Green search=== {{Main|Damian Green#2008 arrest}} In 2008, Pay became embroiled in political controversy when it was revealed she was the official who had consented to a police search on Damian Green's Commons office.<ref name="guardian1"/> There was some suggestion that Pay was made a scapegoat in order to protect the reputation of the then Commons Speaker Michael Martin.<ref name="conservative1"/>

===After being Serjeant at Arms=== Since being the Serjeant at Arms, Pay has worked with charities to promote various causes; notably, women's entrepreneurship with the Pink Shoe Club<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pinkshoeclub.com/about/the-team/|title=The Team|publisher=Pink Shoe Club|date=2017|access-date=22 July 2019|archive-date=22 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722162454/http://pinkshoeclub.com/about/the-team/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and children's literacy with Coram Beanstalk.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pds.blog.parliament.uk/2019/06/10/building-communities-in-and-around-pds/|title=Building communities in and around PDS|publisher=Parliament.uk|date=10 June 2019|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> She has recently worked on the Women and Enterprise All Party Parliamentary Group report on women's enterprise.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://womenandenterpriseappg.wordpress.com |title=The Future of Female Entrepreneurship: Pathways to Progress Report|publisher=Women and Enterprise APPG|date=16 July 2019|access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef|before=Peter Grant Peterkin}} {{s-ttl|title=Serjeant-at-Arms<br/>of the House of Commons|years=2008–2012}} {{s-aft|after=Lawrence Ward}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pay, Jill}} Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Serjeants at arms of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Category:British civil servants