Sandra Gidley
Encyclopedia
Sandra Julia Gidley is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. She was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Romsey in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

 from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conservative MP Caroline Nokes
Caroline Nokes
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North in Hampshire.-Early life:...

.

Biography

Born Sandra Julia Rawson in Rosset, Denbighshire
Denbighshire
Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...

 in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, she was educated widely at the Eggar's Grammar School
Eggar's School
Eggar's School is a community, comprehensive school in the town of Alton, Hampshire, England for boys and girls and has Science College status.-Admissions:The other secondary school in Alton is Amery Hill School...

 in Alton, Hampshire
Alton, Hampshire
Alton is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of the English county of Hampshire. It had a population of 16,584 at the 1991 census and is administered by East Hampshire district council. It is located on the source of the River Wey and is the highest town in...

; the Afcent International School in Brunssum
Brunssum
Brunssum is a municipality and a town in the province of Limburg, the Netherlands. Brunssum was formerly a center of coal mining in the Netherlands and there are a few active mines remaining in the area...

, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

; and the Windsor Girls' School in Hamm
Hamm
Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...

, North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. She finished her education at the University of Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....

 where she was awarded a BPharm
Bachelor of Pharmacy
A Bachelor of Pharmacy is an undergraduate academic degree in the field of pharmacy. The degree is the basic prerequisite for registration to practice as a pharmacist in many countries. In some countries, it has been superseded by the Master of Pharmacy and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees...

 degree in 1978. She became a MRPharmS
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain was formerly the statutory regulatory and professional body for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in England, Scotland and Wales...

 in 1979.

In 1979 she joined Badham Chemists as a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...

 in Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...

, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, until she was appointed as a pharmacy manager with GK Chemists in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....

 in 1980. She became a locum pharmacist in 1982 before joining Safeway
Safeway (UK)
Safeway was a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in the United Kingdom. It started as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold off in 1987....

 as a supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 pharmacy manager in 1992, and joined Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 in the same position in 1999 where she remained until her election to the House of Commons.

Parliamentary career

She joined the Liberal Democrats in 1994, was elected as a councillor to the Test Valley Borough
Test Valley
Test Valley is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. Its council is based in Andover....

 Council in 1995, and in 1997 became the youngest ever female Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Romsey
Romsey
Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire, England.It is 8 miles northwest of Southampton and 11 miles southwest of Winchester, neighbouring the village of North Baddesley...

. After Romsey's Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 MP Michael Colvin
Michael Colvin
Michael Keith Beale Colvin was a politician in the United Kingdom. He was first elected as a Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Bristol North West in 1979...

 died in a fire at his home in Tangley
Tangley
Tangley is a village in the English county of Hampshire. Tangley is situated north of the old market town of Andover and the village of Charlton, Hampshire....

 on 24 February 2000, Gidley was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the resulting by-election
Romsey by-election, 2000
Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Colvin and his wife died in a fire at their home on 24 February 2000. This created a by-election in his constituency of Romsey in Hampshire, England....

. She won the by-election, on 4 May, with a majority of 3,311 votes and has held the seat there since, winning in the 2001
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

 and 2005 general elections
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

. However in 2005 her majority was reduced to only 125 votes, 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
Caroline Nokes
Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Member of Parliament for Romsey and Southampton North in Hampshire.-Early life:...

, who took the new seat a majority of 4,165 votes.

She was appointed to the frontbench
Frontbencher
In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then known as being on the frontbench and are described as...

 by Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....

 after the 2001 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...

 as the party's spokeswoman on women's issues and older people from 2001, with a seat in the Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team
Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team
The Liberal Democrats are the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. While in opposition, the Liberal Democrat leader appointed a team of Members of Parliament and Peers to speak for the party on different issues. Their areas of responsibility broadly corresponded to those of...

. 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.

She was a Lib Dem shadow Minister for health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

 working with Norman Lamb
Norman Lamb
Norman Peter Lamb is a British Liberal Democrat politician, and Chief Parliamentary and Political Adviser and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg.He is the Member of Parliament for North Norfolk....

 and John Pugh
John Pugh
John David Pugh is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He is Member of Parliament for Southport...

 and a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee
Health Select Committee
The Health Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the British House of Commons. It oversees the operations of the Department of Health and its associated bodies.-Membership:...

.

Gidley chaired her party's Gender Balance Task Force, 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.

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
National Childbirth Trust
The National Childbirth Trust is a UK-based charity with registered charity number 801395.The National Childbirth Trust is the leading charity offering information and support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood.-History:...

 and has been involved with many charitable organisations.

She enjoys badminton
Badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, and lists reading, cookery and the theatre amongst her hobbies, and is a supporter of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

External links

  • Sandra Gidley MP official site
  • official blog
  • Sandra Gidley MP Sandra Gidley on Twitter
  • Sandra Gidley MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
  • Website at ePolitix.com
  • Profile: Sandra Gidley at BBC News
    BBC News
    BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

    , 10 February 2005
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