Jesus College alumna and former Conservative minister The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers (1990, Bachelor of Civil Law) has been made a Dame in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list.

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The Damehood follows a 25-year career in politics that began with Dame Theresa’s election as MEP for London in 1999, before which she had been a barrister and a lecturer at King’s College London. During her six-year tenure as an MEP, she was also Deputy Leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament.

From 2005 to 2024, Dame Theresa served in the House of Commons as MP for Chipping Barnet. In December 2005, after just seven months as an MP, the then Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her to his Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Later, she was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.

Following the formation of the Coalition government in May 2010, Dame Theresa was appointed to the Privy Council and became Minister of State for Transport. She was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in September 2012, a role she held until July 2016.

From 2019 to 2020, Dame Theresa served in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. She also served for four years as a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (2020-24).

The new Dame grew up in  St John’s Wood, and achieved a first in Law at the University of Bristol before joining Jesus in 1990 to attain her BCL graduate degree. Her honour was announced earlier this month.

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