| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lady Liddle | |
| Birth Name: | Caroline Agnes Morgan Thomson |
| Birth Date: | 1954 5, df=yes |
| Alma Mater: | University of York |
| Employer: | English National Ballet |
| Known For: | Chair of Oxfam |
| Term: | October 2017 – October 2020 |
| Successor: | Charles Gurassa |
| Spouse: | Roger Liddle, Baron Liddle |
| Parents: | George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth (father) |
Caroline Agnes Morgan Thomson, Baroness Liddle (born 15 May 1954)[1] was chair of the charity Oxfam[2] until October 2020. She is a former BBC executive and was the Corporation's chief operating officer, from 2006 to 2012[3] and she stood in for Mark Thompson, the former director general, when necessary.[4]
Thomson is the elder daughter of Labour peer George Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth.[5] She was educated at Mary Datchelor Girls' School in Camberwell, a grammar school,[6] and graduated from York University, where she studied history and economics.[7]
She first joined the BBC as a journalist trainee in 1975, ultimately becoming a producer on Analysis (Radio 4) and later Panorama (BBC1) before becoming personal assistant to SDP leader Roy Jenkins in 1982. She spent over a decade at Channel 4 from 1984, initially as a commissioning editor, later as Head of Corporate Affairs from 1990, before rejoining the BBC in 1996 as Deputy Director of the World Service.[8] She became the Corporation's Director of Policy and Legal Affairs in July 2000, a job description later expanded to include Strategy, before being promoted to chief operating officer in 2006. In 2011 she was paid £385,000 by the organisation.[9] The Commons Public Accounts Committee suggested that her £670,000 redundancy pay-off was effectively paid to "compensate" her for missing out on the job of director-general.[10]
In October 2013 she became Executive Director of the English National Ballet.[11] [12]
Since November 2012, she has been Chair of Digital UK.[13] She is also chair of Tomorrow's People Trust's Ambassadors group and Trustee to a number of charities including the National Gallery.[14]
Caroline Thomson is married to the Labour peer Roger Liddle, an advisor to Tony Blair while Blair was Prime Minister.