A former prime ministerial aide who Boris Johnson controversially named in his resignation honours list took her seat in the House of Lords today.
Aged just 30, Charlotte Owen also holds the honour of being the youngest ever peer when she became Baroness Owen of Alderley Edge upon entering parliament’s second chamber.
Her appointment, and that of several others, sparked a row with current prime minister Rishi Sunak after they were published shortly before the former prime minister resigned as an MP last month.
This centred on the omissions of arch-Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams.
Baroness Owen’s inclusion also caused a stink, with accusations that she had not done enough to earn an honour being levelled at her former boss.
Speaking to Tortoise Media, a former No 10 insider said there were “dozens of people more senior than her” and disputed claims that she worked in Mr Johnson’s policy unit.
Another source told the publication that her peerage was “completely staggering” as she was “extraordinarily junior”.
Others handed gongs in Mr Johnson’s list included a parliamentary hairdresser, Michael Fabricant MP and former home secretary Priti Patel.
Ms Owen was born Charlotte Katherine Tranter in 1993 and gained a 2:1 in politics and international relations at the University of York in 2015.
She later worked as an intern at Portland – a strategic communications consultancy – before going on to work as a constituency intern for Tory MP William Wragg for one month.
Baroness Owen was given a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list
After this, she worked as a parliamentary intern for Mr Johnson for six months before becoming a parliamentary assistant to Alok Sharma for seven months.
For a year and nine months after this, she was a senior parliamentary assistant to Jake Berry and Mr Johnson, before exclusively working for the former prime minister for a year and two months.
From February 2021 to October 2022, Ms Owen was a special adviser to both Mr Johnson and Liz Truss during her short tenure as PM.
Ms Owen also reportedly worked for Liz Truss and the No 10 policy unit, although this has been disputed.
Speaking about her career, Sky News’s political correspondent Liz Bates said: “She’s had a few jobs in parliament.
“She did, in the end, work for the No 10 policy unit and I think at the end of her political career she was working for Liz Truss and the chief whip at the time.
“Not an illustrious political career by any stretch, but she will go to the House of Lords as well.”
Mr Johnson also gave awards to a number of aides who were embroiled in the Partygate scandal.
These included his former principal private secretary Martin Reynolds, who boasted that “we seem to have got away with” the “bring your own booze” garden party during coronavirus restrictions.
Dan Rosenfield, his ex-chief of staff, and Jack Doyle, his former director of communications, both of whom were in office, were also given gongs.
Labour has previously called the appointments a “sickening insult” to the bereaved families of Covid victims.
