Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

Elizabeth Conway Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, PC (born 14 April 1951) is a British life peeress and former General Secretary of the FDA Trade Union and a Minister of State. She was created a Labour life peer as Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, of Vernham Dean in the County of Hampshire on 7 October 1996. From 2010, Baroness Symons has served as the Chairman of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC).

The daughter of Ernest Symons, Chairman of HM Board of Inland Revenue, Symons was educated at Putney High School for Girls and Girton College, Cambridge. She was an administration trainee at the Department of the Environment from 1974 to 1977. She then worked for the Inland Revenue Staff Federation from 1977 to 1989 and was General Secretary of the Association of First Division Civil Servants from 1989 to 1997. She resigned from this post following her appointment as a working peer.

From May 1997 to June 1999, she took her first government post, serving as a junior Foreign Office Minister. In 1999, she was appointed Minister of State for Defence Procurement, and in 2001 Minister of State for Trade. In June 2003, she was appointed Minister of State for the Middle East, International Security, Consular and Personal Affairs in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords.

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