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Wendy Chamberlain

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Not to be confused with US diplomat Wendy Chamberlin.

Wendy Chamberlain
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 December 2021
LeaderAlex Cole-Hamilton
Preceded byAlistair Carmichael
Member of Parliament
for North East Fife
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded byStephen Gethins
Majority13,479 (31.5%)
Liberal Democrat portfolios
2020Northern Ireland
2020International Development
2020–2022Scotland
2020–2022Wales
2020–2024Work and Pensions
2020–presentChief Whip
Personal details
Born
Wendy Anne Chamberlain

(1976-12-20) 20 December 1976 (age 47)
Greenock, Scotland
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Residence(s)Fife, Scotland
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh[1]
Websitewww.wendychamberlain.scot

Wendy Anne Chamberlain (born 20 December 1976)[2] is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife since 2019.[3] She has served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats since 2021.

Chamberlain is the Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats, the first woman to hold the post,[4] and the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Work and Pensions. She previously served as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Northern Ireland and International Development from January 2020 to September 2020, and as the Spokesperson for Scotland and Wales to July 2022. She sits on the Scottish Affairs Select Committee[5] and is the co-chair of the APPG for Ending the Need for Foodbanks.[6]

Early life and career

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Wendy Chamberlain was born on 20 December 1976 in Greenock,[7] the older of two daughters.[8] She studied English at the University of Edinburgh, and was a member of the Edinburgh University Footlights, a student-run musical-theatre group, and performed in a show with the group at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[8] The daughter of a police officer, after finishing university she joined the police force.[8] During her twelve years as a police officer, Chamberlain worked for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Scottish Police College.[9]

After leaving the police, Chamberlain worked as a Communications Lecturer at Fife College, before becoming a Training Manager for the Scottish Resettlement Centre, a Ministry of Defence contractor in Rosyth,[10] and then a Capability Manager for British multinational alcoholic beverages company, Diageo. While working in the private sector, Chamberlain was a Member of the Chartered Management Institute and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.[11] In 2017, Chamberlain became a member of the board of the Camanachd Association, the world governing body of the Scottish sport of shinty, becoming the first female director of the Association.[12]

Parliamentary career

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Chamberlain joined the Liberal Democrats after the 2015 United Kingdom general election, which saw the party lose 49 of its 57 MPs. After standing in an "unwinnable" council seat (the ward of Rosyth in Fife Council)[13] in the 2017 Scottish local elections, Chamberlain was asked by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie to consider putting herself forward to stand in the 2017 general election.[14] Chamberlain stood as a paper candidate in Stirling,[14] where she finished fourth with 3.4% of the vote behind the Conservative Party's Stephen Kerr, the Scottish National Party's Steven Paterson, and the Labour Party candidate.[15]

Chamberlain was selected as the prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrat target seat of North East Fife in June 2018,[16] and in March 2019 was appointed as the Scottish Liberal Democrats' spokesperson for Constitutional Relations by Willie Rennie.[17] Chamberlain was elected as MP for North East Fife at the 2019 general election, overturning the Scottish National Party's slim two-vote majority and winning with 43.1% of the vote and a majority of 1,316.[18][19][20]

Following the election, Chamberlain was appointed as a party spokesperson in three areas: Political and Constitutional Reform; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and International Development.[21] In a wide-ranging maiden speech, Chamberlain spoke about her constituency, gender equality, the European Union, and electoral reform, while also paying tribute to her predecessors.[22]

During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chamberlain expressed her belief that "civil liberties mustn't be curtailed more than necessary, and the powers mustn’t be used disproportionately against minority communities", and called for vigilance "to ensure that those [emergency] powers are used properly and evenhandedly".[23] Chamberlain wrote a letter calling for the resignation of Catherine Calderwood, the then Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, following reports that Calderwood had failed to follow coronavirus guidelines by visiting her second home, which was located in Chamberlain's constituency.[24] In April 2020, following the decision to limit the number of MPs in the House of Commons,[25] Chamberlain led a group of opposition MPs (from Plaid Cymru, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and the Green Party of England and Wales) in calling for the establishment of a COVID-19 select committee. Chamberlain stated that the creation of such a committee was "the only way to guarantee smaller parties from across the political spectrum the opportunity to scrutinise and ask questions of Ministers at this critical time".[26] She sponsored the introduction of the Carer's Leave Bill in the House of Commons in 2022.[27]

Chamberlain was one of three Liberal Democrat MPs (alongside Jamie Stone and Wera Hobhouse) to endorse Layla Moran in her ultimately unsuccessful campaign to become leader of the party.[28]

At the 2024 general election, Chamberlain was re-elected to Parliament as MP for North East Fife with an increased vote share of 54.7% and an increased majority of 13,479.[29]

Personal life

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Originally from Greenock, Chamberlain has lived in Fife since 2003.[7] She is married, and has two children with her husband,[30] Keith, who is a member of the Scottish National Party.[8] Chamberlain has stated that her father encouraged her to get involved in politics.[31]

References

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  1. ^ "Wendy Chamberlain – Spokesperson for Constitutional Relations". Scottish Liberal Democrats. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  2. ^ Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  3. ^ "Fife North East". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  4. ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Whip_of_the_Liberal_Democrats#House_of_Commons
  5. ^ "Scottish Affairs Select Committee".
  6. ^ "APPG for Ending the Need for Foodbanks".
  7. ^ a b Briggs, Billy (10 December 2019). "The battle for Scotland's Remainers". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d Beaton, Ailean (10 March 2020). "Getting to know you: Wendy Chamberlain". Holyrood. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  9. ^ Carter, Gus (18 December 2019). "Ones to watch: The most promising new MPs of 2019". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Wendy Chamberlain". Stirling Observer. 17 May 2017. p. 16. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via PressReader.
  11. ^ "Wendy Chamberlain". Camanachd Association. 22 June 2017. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  12. ^ McKerracher, Lesley (29 November 2017). "Camanachd Association holds annual general meeting". The Oban Times. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  13. ^ Watson, Jonathan (5 May 2017). "Fife Council election results — Another Tory gain in Ward 5: Rosyth". The Courier. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  14. ^ a b Bailey, Georgina (29 March 2020). "Wendy Chamberlain: 'I've been described as the Lib Dem who picks up all the bits and pieces'". PoliticsHome. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  15. ^ "Stirling 2017 general election results". UK Parliament.
  16. ^ Gordon, Tom (7 December 2019). "Constituency profile: North East Fife". The Herald. p. 6. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via PressReader.
  17. ^ "Rennie unveils new gender-balanced spokesperson team". Scottish Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2019. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  18. ^ "General Election 12 December 2019". Fife Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Fife North East parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  20. ^ "Election 2019: SNP's Stephen Gethins loses to Lib Dems in UK's narrowest marginal". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  21. ^ Pack, Mark (6 January 2020). "Ed Davey announces new Lib Dem team in the House of Commons/". Lib Dem Newswire. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  22. ^ "Wendy Chamberlain's maiden speech". Liberal Democrat Voice. 15 January 2020. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  23. ^ Chamberlain, Wendy (10 April 2020). "I used to be a police officer – now I worry about them being given more power". Metro. Archived from the original on 6 May 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  24. ^ "Scotland's chief medical officer 'truly sorry' for visiting second home after she was given police warning". ITV News. 5 April 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  25. ^ Jarvis, Jacob (21 April 2020). "MPs approve 'hybrid proceedings' in House of Commons amid coronavirus lockdown with some to appear via video link". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  26. ^ Maguire, Patrick (28 April 2020). "Opposition parties fear lack of scrutiny in digital parliament". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  27. ^ UK Parliament, Carer's Leave Bill, accessed 28 October 2022
  28. ^ Walker, Will (28 June 2020). "More support for Layla Moran Liberal Democrat leadership bid". Oxford Mail. Archived from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  29. ^ "UK Parliamentary election results - July 2024". Fife Council. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  30. ^ "Council Election 2017: Rosyth". The Courier and Advertiser (Fife Edition). 10 April 2017. p. 10. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via PressReader.
  31. ^ Rodger, Hannah (8 March 2020). "Wendy Chamberlain: 'My dad said if eejits on the telly could be politicians then I could too...and he had a point'". The Herald. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for North East Fife
2019–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Liberal Democrat Chief Whip of the House of Commons
2020–present 		Incumbent
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