Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton, OBE, DL

Prior to entering the House of Lords, Patricia Morris was Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for candidates. She was responsible for several changes in the selection procedure designed to increase the quality and diversity of Parliamentary candidates.

She was nominated for a peerage by the then Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, and entered the House of Lords in June 2004. She joined the Conservative front bench as a Whip in September of that year. In June 2005 she was appointed Shadow Minister for Children, Young People, Families and Women and in October 2006 became principal opposition spokesman for Education & Skills. Morris relinquished her role as Shadow Minister for Children, Schools & Families at the end of 2008, but remained Shadow Minister for Women and an Opposition Whip.

She is President of the National Benevolent Institution and a trustee of The Disability Partnership and The Transformation Trust. She is a school governor and trustee of Bolton School which she attended as a child; a patron of the Oxford Parent Infant Project and vice-chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Breast Cancer and Children. She is co-chair of Women in Public Policy and on the executive committee of the Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools.