Thread by @BBCPolitics

From telecoms, to test and trace, and now England's new public health agency - Dido Harding looks set to become one of the most powerful unelected officials involved in the fight against coronavirus

So, who is she?
[Thread]
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For the past three years, she has been chair of NHS Improvement

Prior to that, she's had roles at Thomas Cook, Sainsbury's and Tesco and was chief executive of TalkTalk - but stepped down in the wake of a high-profile and damaging data breach

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Baroness Harding was made a peer in 2014 by then prime minister David Cameron
The pair studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford at the same time

Her husband is Conservative MP John Penrose - who served as a culture minister under Mr Cameron
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Dido Harding is an accomplished horsewoman, owner and patron of the horseracing industry - one of whose biggest supporters happens to be her boss, Health Secretary Matt Hancock
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Questions have been raised about the government's decision to award Covid-19 contracts to Randox Laboratories, part of Randox Health which sponsors the Grand National at Aintree

Baroness Harding sits on the board of the Jockey Club, which owns Aintree
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Matt Hancock has praised Baroness Harding and rejected criticism of the delayed test and trace app - even describing it as the "cherry on Dido's cake"

He said her “leadership will be vital” in driving the new public health agency forward

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