Jennifer Oldfield, a former civil service speechwriter for UK government ministers and later director of external relations at the United Nations Foundation in New York, has died aged 46 of cancer.
Civil service career
Oldfield began her career at the Department for Education, serving as an assistant private secretary to three schools ministers: Stephen Twigg, Jacqui Smith, and Jim Knight. She then became a speechwriter for the junior education minister Lord Adonis from 2006 to 2007.
Later, she moved to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, where she was head of digital engagement and a senior speechwriter for the science and innovation minister Ian Pearson and the secretary of state for innovation, universities and skills, John Denham.
Downing Street and United Nations
From 2011 to 2013, Oldfield was news and content manager at the prime minister’s office, responsible for managing the No 10 website and Twitter account. She left the civil service in April 2013 to become a communications specialist at the United Nations in New York, a city she had fallen in love with during visits.
In 2017, she joined the United Nations Foundation as director of external relations, a role that took her across Africa and South America. She remained there until shortly before her death.
Personal life and education
Born in Liverpool, Oldfield attended Rainhill High School before earning a BA (2001) and an MA (2002) in English literature from King’s College London. She joined the civil service after graduation.
She made New York her home with her British partner, Guy Oldfield, whom she married in 2015. They settled in Morningside Heights on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where she built a new community of friends while maintaining ties in the UK. In 2017, they had a son, Levon.
Legacy and family
According to her father, Oldfield was “fiercely ambitious and determined to make the most of her outstanding talents” but also “warm, charismatic, inspiring and full of humour” in her relationships. She volunteered at the Gatehouse Community Garden and for her housing co-op in New York, even during the later stages of her illness.
Her mother, Julia (née Boyle), died in 2013. Oldfield is survived by her husband Guy, son Levon, her father, and siblings Claire and Andrew.
