Helen Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke

Helen Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, 2018

Helen Lawrie Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke PC (birth name: Helen Lawrie Reilly ; born December 6, 1950 in Coatbridge , Scotland ) is a British Labor Party politician who was , among other things, Scotland Minister .

Life

Journalist and Member of the House of Commons

Helen Reilly studied after attending St. Patrick's Catholic High School in Coatbridge at the University of Strathclyde , where she earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA). After her marriage in 1972 she was involved in the Labor Party and ran for this first unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in the 1974 general election in the constituency of Fife East .

After working as a business journalist at the BBC from 1976 to 1977, she was the first woman general secretary of the Scottish Labor Party ( Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba ), the national association of the Labor Party in Scotland, until 1978 . She then worked for media entrepreneur Robert Maxwell and at times director of public relations for his Scottish tabloid Daily Record .

In a by the death of Labor leader John Smith made necessary by-election ( by-election ), she was on 30 June 1994 in the constituency Monklands East elected member of the House and belonged to this until May 5 '2005, where they last represented the constituency of Airdrie and Shotts since the general election of May 1, 1997 . In 1994 she was among one of Lord Philip in shared Commission that a the crash Boeing CH-47 Chinook - transport helicopter in Mull of Kintyre examined. During this time, between 1995 and 1997, the spokeswoman for the opposition Labor faction was in the lower house.

Minister and High Commissioner

After the Labor Party's victory in the general election of May 1, 1997, she was first Economic Secretary to the Treasury and then from July 1998 to May 1999 Minister of State in the Scotland Ministry, where she was responsible for education. After a brief post as Minister of State for Transport in the Ministry of Environment, Transport and Regions, she was Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry between July 1999 and January 2001, where she was responsible for energy and competitiveness in Europe.

In January 2001, Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed her to succeed John Reid as Secretary of State for Scotland in his cabinet. She held this office until she was replaced by Alistair Darling in June 2003.

After leaving the House, it was in September 2005 in place of Baron Goodlad to High Commissioner in Australia appointed and held this position until they are replaced by Baroness Amos in October of 2009.

In 2010 she was raised to the nobility as a Life Peeress with the title Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke , of Airdrie in Lanarkshire and has been a member of the House of Lords ever since . She has also been a member of the BBC Privacy Commission since 2011 .

Web links

• Entry on the homepage of the British Parliament (accessed on 16 December 2011)
• Helen Liddell at Hansard (English)
• Entry in They Work For You