Jo Gideon joins WhistleblowersUK Board

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Jo Gideon who joins the board of WhistleblowersUK after recently stepping down as an Member of Parliament (2019-2024).

She is committed to our campaign to establish an Independent Office of the Whistleblower and used her last opportunity in PMQ’s to speak up in support of whistleblowers and the long overdue reform to the law.

Throughout her career, Jo has been a campaigner on a range of social justice issues including whistleblowing. She has her own experience of the ramifications of speaking up and says that has met too many people who have been vilified for doing the ‘right thing’.

Jo puts people before politics and stepped down from her role as Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Business Department (DBT) to spearhead a campaign on button battery safety following the tragic death of a toddler. During this campaign she again witnessed firsthand the treatment of people who speak up, this time about faulty products, safety, fraud and wrongdoing. Working with the NHS and battery manufacturers Jo has helped improve product safety but she says, “more must be done to protect the public from harm, and the people who speak up”.

Jo is committed to the highest standards in public life and during her time in Westminster was a member of the influential 1922 Executive, and the Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee, a Select Committee that scrutinized and held to account Cabinet Office, the Civil Service and Colleagues. She was also a vice chair of the APPG for Whistleblowing.

Jo joins Chair Tessa Munt (herself a Parliamentary candidate) and the team determined to continue the job that she started while in Parliament and see root and branch reform of whistleblowing law saying,

“Government cannot afford to continue to procrastinate, it must act immediately to protect individuals who speak out, the Whistleblowing Bill will tackle fraud and wrongdoing.”