Boris Johnson’s new peer Lady Owen of Alderley Edge took her seat in the House of Lords in July 2023, becoming the youngest life peer in UK history.
Charlotte Owen was included on former prime minister Boris Johnson’s honours list, which Rishi Sunak gave his approval to before Mr Johnson resigned as an MP last month.
Now, Lady Owen continues to cement her relationship with Mr Johnson and his family by attending Carrie Johnson's Christmas cocktail party, as revealed in an Instagram story from the event.
The former special adviser was a surprise inclusion on Mr Johnson’s resignation honours’ list given that she is believed to have only had a series of backroom political jobs in the administrations of the ex-PM and his successor, Liz Truss.
The list contained 38 honours and seven peerages, including former Downing Street chief of staff Dan Rosenfield and Kulveer Singh Ranger, who worked with Mr Johnson when he was London mayor.
However, Owen was one of the most discussed names on the list due to her age.
Who is Charlotte Owen?
Charlotte Owen is a 29-year-old former special adviser. In 2015, she received a 2:1 in politics and international relations from the University of York.
Before taking a position as a special adviser to prime ministers Johnson and Liz Truss, she worked as an intern and parliamentary assistant. Owen split her time equally between Chris Heaton-Harris, the chief whip and parliamentary secretary to the Treasury, and Mr Johnson.
Sky News’s Liz Bates said: “She’s had a few jobs in Parliament. One of those was working for Boris Johnson. She did in the end work for the Number 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.”
She has worked in politics for approximately five years and eight months, meaning she has gone from parliamentary intern to baroness in just under six years.
Who else was rewarded on the controversial honours list?
Along with Owen, other young peers include Ben Gascoigne and Ross Kempsell.
Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel, both former Cabinet ministers under Johnson also received recognition, he a knighthood and she a damehood. Former ministers Andrea Jenkyns and Amanda Milling also received damehoods.
Ben Houchen, the mayor of Tees Valley, and Shaun Bailey, a former London mayoral candidate and member of the London Assembly, are two of the new peers.
In order to prevent by-elections for the Conservatives, no serving MPs were given peerages.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and former Cop26 president Sir Alok Sharma were not put forward for the House of Lords. The government reportedly rejected the nominations at the last minute to avert the possibility of two potentially disastrous by-elections.
However, Grant Shapps, the secretary for energy security, claimed that Downing Street had no influence over recommendations for peerages.
