Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws (born 12 May 1950), is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. A bencher of Gray's Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 honorary degrees from many universities including those of Glasgow and Edinburgh in recognition of work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She is president of Justice, the law reform think tank, and director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). In 2024, Kennedy succeeded Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury as chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Kennedy was born on 12 May 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, one of the four daughters of Mary Veronica (née Jones) and Joshua Patrick Kennedy, nicknamed "Mae" and "Joss", respectively.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Her parents were committed Labour activists and devoutly Catholic.<ref name="Guardian1">Template:Cite news</ref> Her father, who served for six years in the British Armed Forces during World War II,<ref name="KP">Template:Cite news</ref> was a printer with the Daily Record and a trade union official,<ref name="Guardian1"/> and her mother, who worked in a grocery store,<ref name="YP">Template:Cite news</ref> volunteered to help women who suffered from domestic violence or alcoholism in the family.<ref name="KP" />

She attended Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow, where she was appointed Head Girl. After applying unsuccessfully for a degree in English at the London School of Economics in 1968 and taking a gap year on the advice of her interviewer Bill Wedderburn,<ref name="Guardian1" /><ref name="YP" /> she studied law at the Council of Legal Education in London.<ref name="Guardian1"/>

Legal career

In 1972, Kennedy was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. In 1974, with the help of a loan, she co-founded Garden Court Chambers (initially 7 Stone Buildings) at Lincoln's Inn with two female and three male colleagues,<ref name="KP" /><ref name="Guardian1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> including Michael House,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Marguerite Russell<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and David Watkinson.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Among her many cases, Kennedy acted as junior counsel for child murderer Myra Hindley during her 1974 trial for plotting to escape from Holloway Prison,<ref name="YP" /><ref>Carol Ann Lee, One of Your Own: The Life and Death of Myra Hindley (2012).</ref> and was involved as a barrister in the 1984 Brighton hotel bombing trial in 1986 and in the successful Guildford Four appeal in 1989.<ref name="YP" /> She moved to Doughty Street Chambers in 1990.<ref name="Guardian1" />

She was a member of the General Council of the Bar from 1990 to 1993<ref name="Guardian1" /> and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1991.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Politics

Kennedy was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain during the early 1970s, which she later regretted.<ref name="Guardian1"/> She gained wider recognition with her appearances on radio shows, including BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, in the 1980s.<ref name="KP" />

She served as the chair of Charter 88 from 1992 to 1997,<ref name="Guardian1"/> and became closely affiliated to the educational charity Common Purpose.

She was a high-profile supporter of Tony Blair's New Labour during the 1990s.<ref name="Guardian1"/><ref name="MR">Template:Cite interview</ref> She was made a life peer in October 1997 on account of her role as chair of Charter 88, whose constitutional reform policies had been adopted by the Labour Party,<ref name="Guardian1"/> and joined the party on the same day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following her appointment, she became a prominent critic of the party's direction,<ref name="Guardian1"/><ref name="MR" /> although she wrote in 2008 that the first Blair ministry "produced more far-reaching reforms than anything seen since the Great Reform Act" of 1832.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> She has rebelled against her party whip in the House of Lords more frequently than any other Labour peer, with a dissent rate of 11.5% as of 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In May 2009, in reaction to the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, she launched the campaign for a referendum on a "more proportional electoral system" at the following election with an open letter in The Guardian,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="AS">Template:Cite news</ref> which eventually led to the 2011 United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum. She was subsequently reported to be organising a coalition of independent candidates to run in the election against the MPs involved in the expenses scandal, who included members of her own party, but denied the allegation.<ref name="AS" />

In April 2017, she led the open letter call for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party to stand down its candidates in the seats of Brighton Pavillion and the Isle of Wight in favour of the Green Party at the 2017 general election, following two similar concessions by the Green Party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2020, she worked with the Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith and democracy activist Luke de Pulford to create the global pressure group Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2021, China placed sanctions on her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Academia

Kennedy became the first chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, serving from 1994 until 2001.

In 1998, she agreed to lend her name to Ann Limb's charitable initiative to fund higher education for disadvantaged students, which became the Helena Kennedy Foundation.<ref name="KP" />

She was elected principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, in July 2010 and served in the role from September 2011.<ref>"Baroness Helena Kennedy QC elected next Principal of Mansfield College", University of Oxford Mansfield College, 13 April 2011. Template:Webarchive.</ref> She retired in 2018 and became chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University on 26 July 2018.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

From 1978 to 1984 she lived with the actor Iain Mitchell, and together they had a son (Keir Kennedy Mitchell who is a personal trainer). In 1986, Kennedy married Iain Louis Hutchison, a surgeon, with whom she has a daughter (Clio Kennedy Hutchison, a doctor) and a son (Roland Kennedy Hutchison, a film director). She has five grandchildren.<ref name="Guardian1"/>

Kennedy regularly attends Mass and professes that her Catholicism "remains very much part of who I am", even though she eschews its more traditional values.<ref name="Guardian1"/>

In 2023, Kennedy took part in King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation at Westminster Abbey, carrying the Queen Consort's Rod with Dove.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honours

She has received numerous awards, including:

• Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)
• Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute (FCGI)
• Member of the Template:Lang (Paris)
• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2005
• Honorary Fellow, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2005
• Honorary Fellow, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
• Honorary Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Honorary Fellow, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 2011
• Honorary Doctorate of Law, Plymouth University, 2012<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE), 2014<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 Women of 2021.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref>
• She was chosen to carry the Queen's Rod in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• She was appointed as a Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (LT) by King Charles III in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Broadcasting

File:Helena Kennedy hosting After Dark on 13 September 1997.jpg

Hosting After Dark in 1997

• Creator: Blind Justice, BBC TV, 1987
• Presenter: Heart of the Matter, BBC TV, 1987
• After Dark, Channel 4 and BBC4, 1987–2003
  • Kennedy presented many editions of this series, including the 1991 "Do Men Have To Be Violent" featuring an inebriated Oliver Reed who verbally insulted and attempted to kiss feminist Kate Millett, as well as the 1995 special "Ireland: Sex & Celibacy, Church & State" which included an unscheduled last-minute appearance from singer Sinéad O'Connor.
• Presenter: Raw Deal on Medical Negligence, BBC TV, 1989
• Presenter: The Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover, BBC Radio 4, 1990
• Presenter: Time Gentlemen, Please, BBC Scotland, 1994 (Winner, Television Programme Award category, 1994 Industrial Journalism Awards)

Appointments

File:Helena Kennedy -London, England-15Jan2010.jpg

Kennedy signing The Convention on Modern Liberty in January 2009

Legal, political and governmental

• President of Council (formerly Chair<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>), JUSTICE<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Director, International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)<ref name="DSC">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Chair, High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom (2024–)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Member of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Member of the World Bank Institute's External Advisory Council (1998–2005)<ref name="HKm">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Member of the International Bar Association's Task Force on Terrorism (2001–2003)<ref name="HKp">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Former member of the Foreign Policy Centre's Advisory Council
• Former board member of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2010)<ref name="HKc">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="CH">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Co-director (with Kate Mallinson), Future of Russia Foundation (2016–2019)Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Commissioner, CIBA Commission on Child Sexual Abuse within the Family (sponsored by the CIBA Foundation, 1981–1983)<ref name="HKp" />
• Commissioner, BAFTA Inquiry into the future of the BBC, 1990–1993<ref name="BBK">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Commissioner, National Commission on Education (NCE, sponsored by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 1991–1994)<ref name="HKF">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="DSC" /><ref name="HKp" />
• Chair, Widening Participation Committee, Further Education Funding Council (1994–1997)<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name="HKF" />
• Chair, Reading Borough Council's Commission of Inquiry into the health, environmental and safety aspects of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston (final report Secrecy versus Safety, published in 1994)
• Chair, Howard League's Commission of Inquiry into Violence in Penal Institutions for Young People (the final report, Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up, published in 1995)
• Chair, Royal Colleges of Pathologists' and of Paediatrics' Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death (producing a protocol for the investigation of such deaths in 2004)
• Commission Chair of the Power Inquiry (November 2005 – March 2006)Template:Efn<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
• Chair of Power 2010 (extending the Power Inquiry to the 2010 general election)
• Commissioner, Government Commission on a British Bill of Rights (2010)<ref name="DSC" />

Academic and professional

• Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University (1993–2001)<ref name="Guardian1"/>
• Chair, British Council (1998–2004)
• Chair, Human Genetics Commission (1998–2007)
• President of the Board the Governors of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, 2002–2012)<ref>"2016: A Vision and Strategy for the Centennial" Template:Webarchive (p. 18), School of Oriental and African Studies, April 2010</ref><ref name="Guardian1"/>
• Chair of the Board of Governors for the United World College of the Atlantic (2005–2009)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CH" />
• Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University (2018–2025)<ref name="New chancellor 2018">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Vice-president of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers (since at least 1986<ref>Template:Citation.</ref>)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Vice-president of the Association of Women Barristers

Economic and cultural

• Chair of the board of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA, established by Heather Rabbatts, 2024–)<ref name="DSC" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Trustee, The Tablet Trust<ref name="HKc" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Trustee, KPMG Foundation
• Trustee, Media Standards Trust (2006–2015)<ref name="HKc" /><ref name="CH" />
• Member of the board of Hampstead Theatre (1986–1991)<ref name="DSC" />
• Member of the board of New Statesman and Society (1990s)<ref name="HKp" />
• Member of the board of Independent News and Media (1998–2010)<ref name="CH" /><ref name="HKc" />
• Member of the board of the British Museum (2004–2012)<ref name="DSC" /><ref name="HKm" />

Charitable

• President, Helena Kennedy Foundation (1998–)<ref name="DSC" />
• Co-director (with David Sagal), Clooney Foundation for Justice (2025–)<ref name="CH" />
• President of the National Children's Bureau (1998–2005)
• President, Women of the Year Lunch (2010–2015)<ref name="The Guardian 17 October 2012">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Chair, Booker Prize Foundation (2015–2020)<ref>Chandler, Mark (20 January 2020), "Kennedy steps down as Booker Prize Foundation chair", The Bookseller.</ref>
• Former Vice President of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (from 2017)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Honorary Patron and former President, Medical Aid for Palestinians<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="BBK" />
• Patron (formerly Chair, 1991–1998<ref name="DSC" /> or 1994–2002<ref name="HKp" />), London International Festival of Theatre<ref>"Meet The Team" Template:Webarchive, LIFT. Retrieved 9 August 2016.</ref>
• Council member, Howard League for Penal Reform (1992–2002)<ref name="HKp" />
• Member of the advisory board, International Centre for Prison Studies<ref name="HKc" />
• Patron, Burma Campaign UK, the London-based group campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma
• Patron, upReach, a UK social mobility charity that supports undergraduates from low income backgrounds pursuing competitive graduate careers. <ref name="upReach Patrons">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Patron, Public Law Project<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Patron, Institute for Learning (IfL)
• Patron, Liberty
• Patron, UNLOCK, The National Association of Ex-Offenders
• Patron, Debt Doctors Foundation UK (DD-UK)
• Patron, Tower Hamlets Summer University
• Patron, Template:Usurped
• Patron of SafeHands for Mothers, a UK-based charity whose mission is to improve maternal and newborn health by harnessing the power of the visual, through the production of films.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Patron of The Death Penalty Project

Civic honours

• Created a life peer as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, of Cathcart in the City of Glasgow on 27 October 1997.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>
• File:ITA OMRI 2001 GC BAR.svg Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 23 March 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• File:Palmes academiques Commandeur ribbon.svg Commander of the Order of Academic Palms (2006).

Bibliography

• Eve was Framed: Women and British Justice, 1993; Template:ISBN
• Legal Conundrums in Our Brave New World, 1994; Template:ISBN (based on the 54th Hamlyn Lectures)
• Just Law: The Changing Face of Justice and Why It Matters to Us, 2004; Template:ISBN
• Eve Was Shamed: How British Justice Is Failing Women, 2018; Template:ISBN
• Misjustice: How British Law is Failing Women, 2019; Template:ISBN
• Misogyny: A Human Rights Issue, 2022; Template:ISBN

External links

• Template:Usurped
• Helena Kennedy's home page
• Power Commission
• Helena Kennedy Foundation
• Template:EW charity