Sandra Gidley
| Sandra Gidley | |
|---|---|
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| Gidley at a Health Hotel session during the 2009 Liberal Democrat Party Conference | |
| Member of Parliament for Romsey |
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| In office 4 May 2000 – 6 May 2010 |
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| Preceded by | Michael Colvin |
| Succeeded by | constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 26 March 1957 Rosset, Denbighshire, Wales |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrat |
| Spouse(s) | Bill |
| Children | 1 son, 1 daughter |
| Alma mater | University of Bath |
| Profession | Pharmacist |
Sandra Julia Gidley (née Rawson; born 26 March 1957) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Romsey in Hampshire from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conservative MP Caroline Nokes.
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[edit] Biography
Born Sandra Julia Rawson in Rosset, Denbighshire in Wales, she was educated widely at the Eggar's Grammar School in Alton, Hampshire; the Afcent International School in Brunssum, Netherlands; and the Windsor Girls' School in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She finished her education at the University of Bath where she was awarded a BPharm degree in 1978. She became a MRPharmS in 1979.
In 1979 she joined Badham Chemists as a pharmacist in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, until she was appointed as a pharmacy manager with GK Chemists in Gloucester in 1980. She became a locum pharmacist in 1982 before joining Safeway as a supermarket pharmacy manager in 1992, and joined Tesco in the same position in 1999 where she remained until her election to the House of Commons.
[edit] Parliamentary career
She joined the Liberal Democrats in 1994, was elected as a councillor to the Test Valley Borough Council in 1995, and in 1997 became the youngest ever female Mayor of Romsey. After Romsey's Conservative MP Michael Colvin died in a fire at his home in Tangley on 24 February 2000,[1] Gidley was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the resulting by-election. She won the by-election, on 4 May, with a majority of 3,311 votes[2] and has held the seat there since, winning in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. However in 2005 her majority was reduced to only 125 votes,[3] the smallest of any Liberal Democrat MP. The Romsey constituency was abolished for the 2010 election, and in the new Romsey and Southampton North constituency she was defeated by the Conservative candidate Caroline Nokes, who took the new seat a majority of 4,165 votes.[4]
She was appointed to the frontbench by Charles Kennedy after the 2001 General Election as the party's spokeswoman on women's issues and older people from 2001, with a seat in the Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team. In January 2006, as Kennedy faced allegations of a drink problem, Gidley was one of 11 members of the front-bench team to write to Kennedy asking him to resign.[5]
She was a Lib Dem shadow Minister for health working with Norman Lamb and John Pugh and a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee.
Gidley chaired her party's Gender Balance Task Force,[6] an initiative to get more women into politics. She chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health. Gidley was vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary groups on Men's Health, AIDS, Cancer and Domestic Violence as well as co-chair of the All Parliamentary Party Group on Mental Health.
[edit] Personal life
Gidley and her husband Bill, an electronics engineer, married in 1979 and have lived in Romsey since 1986. They have a daughter, Gemma, and a son, Nick, who both attended local state schools. Gidley was for many years a voluntary antenatal teacher with the National Childbirth Trust and has been involved with many charitable organisations.
She enjoys badminton, and lists reading, cookery and the theatre amongst her hobbies, and is a supporter of Macmillan Cancer Relief.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Police find remains at MP's house". BBC News Online. 2007-03-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/662767.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
- ^ Ward, Lucy (2000-05-06). "Lib Dems hail byelection win as snub to Tory hard line". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/elect2000/article/0,,217939,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
- ^ "UK General Election results May 2005". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge05/i16.htm. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
- ^ "Lib Dem's Sandra Gidley loses seat after 10 years". BBC News. 2010-05-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/england/8666852.stm.
- ^ Booth, Jenny (2006-01-06). "Charles Kennedy defies growing revolt from his MPs". London: The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article785726.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ "History of the Campaign for Gender Balance". http://www.gbtf.org.uk/pages/history.html. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sandra Gidley |
- Sandra Gidley MP official site
- official blog
- Sandra Gidley MP Sandra Gidley on Twitter
- Sandra Gidley MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
- Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
- Voting record at PublicWhip.org
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
- Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
- Website at ePolitix.com
- Profile: Sandra Gidley at BBC News, 10 February 2005
- Sandra Gidley at the Internet Movie Database
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Michael Colvin |
Member of Parliament for Romsey 2000–2010 |
Constituency abolished (see Romsey & Southampton North) |
- 1957 births
- Living people
- Alumni of the University of Bath
- British bloggers
- English women mayors
- Liberal Democrat (UK) MPs
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Mayors of places in Hampshire
- People from Romsey
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- UK MPs 2001–2005
- UK MPs 2005–2010
- Councillors in Hampshire
- Female members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
