Introduction
Jane Elizabeth Ellison (born 15 August 1964) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected at the 2010 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Battersea. On 7 May 2015, she won re election, by increasing her margin by 3.4%.
Background
Ellison was born in Bradford, attending St. Joseph's Catholic College, Bradford, then a girls' grammar school, and studied PPEat St Hilda's College, Oxford. After university, she worked at the John Lewis Partnership, where she held many positions up until her election to the House of Commons some 23 years later.
Political career
A former Barnet London Borough Councillor, she contested the Barnsley East by-election, 1996 and the Tottenham by-election, 2000, in both cases finishing in third place, and contested Barnsley East and Mexborough in 1997 and Pendle in the 2005 general election. Although she halved the majority of sitting MP Gordon Prentice from just over 4,000 to 2,180, Labour held on to the seat for another five years until 2010.
She was selected as the prospective parliamentary candidate for Battersea in September 2006, following an open primary held at the Battersea Arts Centre.
Ellison was elected in the 2010 election, with a majority of 5,977. In Parliament, she has served on the Backbench Business Committee and Work and Pensions Committee.
Ellison was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health in October 2013. She described providing political direction to the NHS as "a bit like being on a high wire without a net at times, it can be quite exciting" in a meeting with the Tory Reform Group in 2014.
According to The Observer, she also said I don't know how much any of you realise that with the Lansley act we pretty much gave away control of the NHS… we have some important strategic mechanisms but we don't really have day-to-day control." which was seized upon by critics as evidence that the government's NHS reforms had not succeeded.
In January 2015, she announced the government was proposing introducing a ban on advertising on cigarette packaging before the next election, to some surprise amongst colleagues in the Conservative Party.
Personal life
Ellison lives in Balham with her partner John, and enjoys and participates in music and walking.