Tessa Jowell (born 17 September 1947) is a British politician. She is the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood.

She is a British Cabinet Minister and currently holds the positions of Minister for the Olympics, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General.

Born Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Palmer in London, her father Kenneth was a doctor and her mother Rosemary a radiographer. She was educated at the public school St Margaret's School for Girls in Aberdeen, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh and Goldsmiths College, University of London. She became a social worker and eventually administrator of the mental health charity Mind. In 1978 she was Labour Party candidate in a by-election in Ilford North but lost Labour's majority to the Conservatives.