The businesswoman who oversaw the federal government’s Test and Trace programme throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, is being lined up as the primary feminine “chair” within the 273-year historical past of The Jockey Club.
Sky News has learnt that Baroness Harding is being proposed for election as The Jockey Club’s senior steward, one of the senior roles in British horseracing.
Industry sources mentioned her nomination can be debated by Jocky Club members at a gathering subsequent month.
A eager novice jockey, Baroness Harding was appointed to the board of stewards in December 2017.
If elected, she’s going to take over from Sandy Dudgeon subsequent yr.
The Jockey Club is ruled by royal constitution, and owns a few of the UK’s most well-known racecourses, together with Aintree – which hosts the Grand National – Newmarket and Sandown Park.
It employs greater than 500 everlasting employees.
A spokesperson for The Jockey Club mentioned on Thursday: “Sandy Dudgeon’s term as Senior Steward runs until July 2024 and we will announce his successor in due course.”
Baroness Harding was chair of NHS Improvement till October 2021, having overseen the preliminary phases of the controversial Test and Trace programme after the pandemic started the earlier yr.
She ran TalkTalk, the telecoms group, and was beforehand an government at J Sainsbury and Tesco, the grocery store chains.
Source: information.sky.com”