John Woodcock, Baron Walney

The Lord Walney
Official portrait, 2023
Shadow Minister for Young People
In office
8 May 2015 – 18 September 2015
LeaderHarriet Harman (acting)
Preceded byYvonne Fovargue
Succeeded byGordon Marsden
Shadow Minister for Transport
In office
8 October 2010 – 11 January 2013
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byWillie Bain
Succeeded byDaniel Zeichner
Member of the House of Lords
Assumed office
15 September 2020
Life Peerage
Member of Parliament
for Barrow and Furness
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byJohn Hutton
Succeeded bySimon Fell
Personal details
Born
John Zak Woodcock

(1978-10-14) 14 October 1978 (age 45)
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Political partyIndependent (2018–present)
Labour Co-op (until 2018)
Other political
affiliations
Crossbench (2021–present)
Non-affiliated (2020–21)
The Independents (2019)
Spouse(s)
(m. 2004; div. 2015)
[1]
(m. 2021)
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
WebsiteOfficial website

John Zak Woodcock, Baron Walney[2] (born 14 October 1978)[3] is a British politician and life peer who formerly acted as the Conservative government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption. He had previously served as a Labour Co-op and then independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrow and Furness from 2010 to 2019. He has sat as a crossbencher in the House of Lords since 2021, previously sitting as a non-affiliated peer.

Prior to his election to Parliament, Woodcock was a political adviser who worked as an aide to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and John Hutton. He served as a Shadow Transport Minister from 2010 to 2013 under opposition leader Ed Miliband, and briefly as a Shadow Education Minister in 2015 under Harriet Harman. Woodcock was appointed an Independent Adviser on Political Violence and Disruption to the UK Government in November 2020. Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed him as UK Trade Envoy to Tanzania in 2021.

  1. ^ "Walney". Who's Who. Vol. 2023 (online ed.). A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "No. 59418". The London Gazette. 13 May 2010. p. 8740.
  3. ^ "John Woodcock MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2010.