Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford

Susan Frances Maria Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford (née McElroy; born 16 May 1967) is a Conservative life peer who was appointed the Chief Conservative Whip of the House of Lords in 2022. As government chief whip she was Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms until the electoral defeat of the Conservative Party in July 2024. In March 2022 she was made a member of the Privy Council. She continued to be chief whip in the House of Lords for the Conservative Party, now in opposition, in July 2024.

Education Williams was educated at La Sagesse School, a Roman Catholic private school in Newcastle upon Tyne, and Huddersfield Polytechnic, where she gained a BSc Hons in Applied Nutrition.

Career Early political career She was a member of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council from 1998 to 2011, representing Altrincham, and the council's leader from 2004 to 2009, leading a Conservative majority until she stepped down.

She has also been a member of various public bodies in the North West region. As a parliamentary candidate, she first stood unsuccessfully for the safe Labour Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency in 2001, and for the Bolton West constituency in the 2010 general election, losing by 92 votes.

House of Lords and ministerial career

On 20 September 2013 she was created a life peer as Baroness Williams of Trafford, of Hale in the county of Greater Manchester.

In April 2014, Williams succeeded Earl Attlee as baroness-in-waiting (government whip).

In 2015, David Cameron appointed Williams to his second government as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. On 28 May 2015 she introduced the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill 2015–16 to the House of Lords.

Williams was appointed Minister for Countering Extremism, the Home Office representative in the House of Lords in the First May ministry.

She was appointed Minister of State for Equalities in January 2018 by Theresa May.

In the 2020 British cabinet reshuffle, Williams was made Minister of State at the Home Office, and in March 2022 was made a member of the Privy Council, entitling her to the post-nominals PC for life.

Following the resignation of Boris Johnson, and the appointment of Liz Truss as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Williams was appointed as Chief Whip of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords and Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms. In that role, she took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.