Tessa Jowell

**Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell** (_née_ **Palmer** 17 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was an English Labour Party politician.

Jowell was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood from 1992 to 2015. Her most senior position in Government was as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, a post she held from 2001 to 2007.

Jowell member of both the Blair and Brown Cabinets, she was also Minister for the Olympics (2005–2010) and Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London until September 2012, resigning after the London Olympic Games.

In September 2015, she was unsuccessful in seeking to be selected as the Labour Party's official candidate in the 2016 election for Mayor of London, coming second to Sadiq Khan in the contest of six candidates.

In September 2017, Jowell announced she had been diagnosed with brain cancer. Jowell died on 12 May 2018 in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire of a cerebral hemorrhage caused by the disease at the age of 70.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: The Baroness Jowell
- **image**: Tessa Jowell.jpg
- **office**: Minister for the Cabinet Office, Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office
- **leader**: Ed Miliband
- **term start**: 20 January 2011
- **term end**: 7 October 2011
- **predecessor**: Liam Byrne
- **successor**: Jon Trickett
- **leader1**: Harriet Harman
- **term start1**: 11 May 2010
- **term end1**: 8 October 2010
- **predecessor1**: Francis Maude
- **successor1**: Liam Byrne
- **office2**: Minister for London, Shadow Minister for London
- **leader2**: Harriet Harman
Ed Miliband
- **term start2**: 11 May 2010
- **term end2**: 16 January 2013
- **predecessor2**: Position established
- **successor2**: Sadiq Khan
- **office3**: Minister for the Olympics, Shadow Minister for the Olympics
- **leader3**: Harriet Harman
Ed Miliband
- **term start3**: 11 May 2010
- **term end3**: 11 September 2012
- **predecessor3**: Position established
- **successor3**: Position abolished
- **office4**: Minister for the Cabinet Office
- **primeminister4**: Gordon Brown
- **term start4**: 5 June 2009
- **term end4**: 11 May 2010
- **predecessor4**: Liam Byrne
- **successor4**: Francis Maude
- **office5**: Minister for London
- **primeminister5**: Gordon Brown
- **term start5**: 5 June 2009
- **term end5**: 11 May 2010
- **predecessor5**: Tony McNulty
- **successor5**: Gavin Barwell
- **primeminister6**: Gordon Brown
- **term start6**: 28 June 2007
- **term end6**: 3 October 2008
- **predecessor6**: Jim Fitzpatrick (politician), Jim Fitzpatrick
- **successor6**: Tony McNulty
- **office7**: Paymaster General
- **primeminister7**: Gordon Brown
- **term start7**: 28 June 2007
- **term end7**: 11 May 2010
- **predecessor7**: Dawn Primarolo
- **successor7**: Francis Maude
- **office8**: Minister for the Olympics
- **primeminister8**: Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
- **term start8**: 6 July 2005
- **term end8**: 11 May 2010
- **predecessor8**: Position established
- **successor8**: Jeremy Hunt
- **office9**: Minister for Women and Equalities, Minister for Women
- **primeminister9**: Tony Blair
- **term start9**: 5 May 2005
- **term end9**: 5 May 2006
- **predecessor9**: Patricia Hewitt
- **successor9**: Ruth Kelly
- **office10**: Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
- **primeminister10**: Tony Blair
- **term start10**: 8 June 2001
- **term end10**: 27 June 2007
- **predecessor10**: Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, Chris Smith
- **successor10**: James Purnell
- **office11**: Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Shadow Minister for Women
- **leader11**: Tony Blair
- **term start11**: 19 October 1995
- **term end11**: 26 July 1996
- **predecessor11**: Clare Short
- **successor11**: Janet Anderson
- **office12**: Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament
for Dulwich and West Norwood (UK Parliament constituency), Dulwich and West Norwood

- **term start12**: 9 April 1992
- **term end12**: 30 March 2015
- **predecessor12**: Gerald Bowden
- **successor12**: Helen Hayes (politician), Helen Hayes
- **office13**: Members of the House of Lords, Member of the House of Lords

- **term start13**: 27 October 2015

- **birth place**: Marylebone, London, England, United Kingdom
- **death place**: Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, England
- **party**: Labour Party (UK), Labour
- **spouse**: Roger Jowell
David Mills (lawyer), David Mills
- **children**: 2 children
3 stepchildren
- **alma mater**: University of Aberdeen
University of Edinburgh
Goldsmiths, University of London, University of London