Jay, Margaret Ann (1939– )

British Labour minister for women and leader of the House of Lords 1998–2001. Jay, created a life peer in 1992, was principal opposition spokesperson on health in the House of Lords 1995–97 and minister of state for health during part of 1997. She was appointed minister for women in the cabinet reshuffle in 1997. As leader of the House of Lords, she had the task in late 1998 of steering through a reluctant chamber the government's plans to scrap the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.

The daughter of former Prime Minister James Callaghan, Jay initially pursued a career in television journalism. In the mid-1980s she worked on one of the first TV programmes on AIDS, and as a result she was invited to become a trustee of the National AIDS Foundation which, in turn, led to her job as director of the National AIDS Trust in 1988–92. Her involvement in the trust widened her knowledge and interest in health issues, which became the focus of her political career during the mid-1990s. In her post as minister for women, Jay began working on the Labour government's future agenda for women.

She also held the posts of non-executive director of Carlton Television 1996–97 and of Scottish Power 1996–97.