Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patricia Elizabeth Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings (born January 27, 1939 in London ), is a British politician ( Conservative Party ) and life peeress . From 1989 to 1994 she was a member of the European Parliament .

life and career

Rawlings trained as a nurse at Westminster Hospital . From 1959 to 1961 she was a member of the Children's Care Committee of London County Council . In 1979 she received a degree in English from University College London and then studied for a postgraduate diploma in international relations at the London School of Economics . In 1987 she was awarded the National Order of Honor of the British Red Cross. From 1964 to 1988 she was President ( Chairman ) of the Appeals London Branch . After you named her honorary president and 1997 she became patron ( saint ) of Appeals London Branch .

She stood unsuccessfully in the 1983 general election for the Sheffield Central constituency and in the 1987 general election also unsuccessfully for the Doncaster Central constituency . Both times she ran for the Conservative Party .

From 1987 to 1988 she was Special Advisor to the Minister for Inner Cities of the Ministry of the Environment.

Membership in the European Parliament

Rawlings was elected MP for the Essex South West constituency in the 1989 European elections. After this constituency was abolished for the European elections in 1994 , she entered the new constituency of Essex West & Hertfordshire East and was surprisingly defeated by Labor candidate Hugh Kerr .

As MEPs belonged committees ( Committee on) for youth, education, media, sports and foreign affairs. She was also Deputy Head ( Vice-Chairman ) of the European Parliament delegation to Romania , Bulgaria and Albania .

Membership in the House of Lords

Rawlings was raised to Life Peeress as Baroness Rawlings , of Burnham Westgate in the County of Norfolk on October 5, 1994 . The official introduction to the House of Lords took place on October 18, 1994 with the support of Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington and Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey . She gave her inaugural address on November 17, 1994. She lists international affairs, culture, national heritage and the media as topics of political interest on the House of Lords website. She names Brazil , Bulgaria , Oman and Russia as states of interest .

She was the opposition whip from 1997 to 1998. Since 1999 she has been the opposition spokeswoman for international development and foreign relations. From 1997 to 1998 she was the opposition spokesperson for culture, media and sport and from December 1998 to 2010 for foreign affairs and Commonwealth affairs . Rawlings was also responsible for International Development from December 1998 to 2010.

After the 2010 general election , she became government whip and government spokeswoman for Scotland ; Culture, the Olympics , Media and Sports (art, culture and media); the Attorney General's Office and the Advocate General for Scotland . She has also been a baroness in waiting since then . She held these positions until 2012.

In the evaluated period from 2001 onwards, Rawlings was regularly present.

Further offices and honors

Since 1991 Rawlings has been the governor of the American University in Bulgaria . Since 1992 she has been Vice-President of the EU Youth Orchestra . She is the director of the English Chamber Orchestra and Music Society . Rawlings Chairman (was Chairman ) of the Board ( Council ) of the King's College London from 1998 to 2007 and in 2003 a Fellow of the University. She has been President of the British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) since 2005 . Since 2002 she has been a member of the trustee of the Chevening Estate . She has been Chairman of Governors at the English College in Prague since 2008 . She was President of the National Council for Voluntary Associations (NCVO) from 2002 to 2007.

She is a member of the Pilgrims Society and Honorary Secretary of the Grillions Club . Rawlings is a member of the British Board of Video Classification , the Council Peace Through NATO , the European Union Women and the Board of Directors of the British Association for Central & Eastern Europe from 1994 to 2001. Since 1996 she has belonged to the Royal Institute of International Affairs ( RIIA) and from 1997 to 2000 the British Council . Since 2010 she has been a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts .

In 1991 Rawlings was the first British woman to be honored with the Bulgarian Order of the Rose in Silver by President Shelju Shelev , and in 2007 she received the plaque of honor from the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. In 1997 she received the Order of the Southern Cross from Brazil for her service to British-Brazilian relations . In 1998 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (Hon DLitt) degree from the University of Buckingham . She has been an Honorary Fellow of UCL since 2005.

criticism

In 2002 Rawlings was embroiled in controversy over the sale of a 1.8 acre (7,300 m²) property owned by King's College London, previously owned by St Thomas' Hospital . King's College obtained an appraisal of the property from Jones Lang LaSalle . These came to an estimate of £ 10 million but the Aga Khan Development Network unsolicited offered up to £ 24 million. There were rumors that Rawlings threaded the offer, which she denied. According to her statement she knew as Chairman ( Chairman absolute) from King's College London Council nothing about such an offer. She insisted that it was a valuable part of King's College London property and that it should be given to the highest bidder in the open market. The college eventually decided not to sell.

family

Rawlings was married from 1962 to 1967 to businessman David Wolfson , now Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale; both have titles in their own right. In 1971 she was engaged to the American oil tycoon Ralph Stolkin , who broke off the engagement and subsequently demanded the return of diamonds and rubies worth £ 250,000 in a high court case.

From around 1994 to 2009 Rawlings was with the banker Dr. Paul Zuckerman, son of the zoologist Solly Zuckerman .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i Patricia Rawlings profile on the Conservative Party website ; Retrieved September 24, 2012
  2. ^ The Baroness Rawlings entry in Debretts ; Retrieved October 22, 2012
  3. ^ Baroness Rawlings Excerpt from the minutes of the House of Lords meeting of October 18, 1994
  4. Appointment of a Lord in Waiting Publication on the government website of June 25, 2012
  5. ^ House of Lords: Members 'expenses Members' expenses on the House of Lords website ; Retrieved August 28, 2011
  6. Site sale row may cost King's College £ 14m Times Higher Education article , August 9, 2002
  7. Hospital site may be sold to Aga Khan Guardian article dated August 3, 2002
  8. Caroline Boss rocks Curtis' boat article in the Daily Mail, March 26, 2009