Helen Lawrie Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke PC (' Reilly; born 6 December 1950) is a British politician and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

who served as

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

from 2001 to 2003 and

British High Commissioner to Australia The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Australia is an officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative to the Commonwealth of Australia. Despite Britain's close relationship wi ...

from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Labour Party, she was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for Airdrie and Shotts, previously Monklands East, from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

Early life

Liddell was born to Hugh Reilly, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and Bridget Lawrie Reilly, a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

. She was educated at St. Patrick's Catholic High School in

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbrid ...

, attending at the same time as John Reid, and graduated from the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

with a BA in Economics.

Early career

Liddell worked as a

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...

economics

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

from 1976 to 1977. At the age of 26, she served as the first female

General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party The Organisation of Scottish Labour is a body established under the national rules of the UK Labour Party. Timeline Origins and evolution of Scottish Labour * In August 1888, after contesting the Mid Lanarkshire by-election, Keir Hardie co ...

from 1977 to 1978. She was subsequently public affairs director of the '' Daily Record'' and '' Sunday Mail'', working for media proprietor

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early i ...

Business Interests

Appointed Director of Annington Limited, 1st April 2017. The British Ministry of Defence, as of November 2022, are trying to regain ownership of the housing stock that was sold off to Annington in 1996. As Chair of Annington, Baroness Liddell defended Annington via a letter to the British Defence Secretary saying she was "shocked" by the Government's approach.

Parliamentary career

She first contested the Parliamentary constituency of East Fife at the October 1974 general election.

House of Commons

Liddell was first elected to Parliament in 1994, at the closely contested Monklands East by-election following John Smith's death. She was appointed a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

on 27 October 1998. She was

from 2001 to 2003, a position whose powers had been transferred to the Scottish Executive after

devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

in 1999. In addition, she angered the monks of

Buckfast Abbey Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac (later Cistercian) abbey con ...

when she called on them to stop selling

Buckfast Buckfast is a small village near Buckfastleigh in Teignbridge district, Devon, England, on the bank of the River Dart. It is the home of Buckfast Abbey, an active Benedictine monastery, which gave its name to Buckfast Tonic Wine, originally mad ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. She was dubbed ''Minister for Monarch of the Glen'' after several visits to the set of the hit BBC series. The disclosure that she was able to work French lessons into her ministerial diary, raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's job post-devolution. The role was abolished as a full-time position in 2003, when the

Scotland Office The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland ( gd, Oifis Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba), often referred to as, and formerly officially called, the Scotland Office, is a department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of State ...

was rolled into the Department for Constitutional Affairs. She took up appointment as

in the summer of 2005, and was succeeded in the role by Baroness Amos in October 2009.

House of Lords

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in the

Dissolution Honours List Crown Honours Lists are lists of honours conferred upon citizens of the Commonwealth realms. The awards are presented by or in the name of the reigning monarch, currently King Charles III, or his vice-regal representative. New Year Honours Hon ...

that she would be created a

. On 7 July, she took the title ''Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, of Airdrie in the County of

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

'', six days later becoming a House of Lords member. She is a member of

Labour Friends of Israel Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) is a group in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that promotes support for a strong bilateral relationship between Britain and Israel, and seeks to strengthen ties between the British Labour Party and the Isra ...

. In 2010–11 Liddell was a member of the independent Philips inquiry into the 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash on the

Mull of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...

, established by the

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Personal life

She married Alistair Liddell in 1972; they have one son and one daughter.Debrett's People of Today''
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Publications

* Liddell, Helen (1990). ''Elite''.

Century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

References

External links

Debrett's People of Today''TheyWorkForYou.com – Helen Liddell MPAppearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Liddell, Helen 1950 births Living people Alumni of the University of Strathclyde BBC newsreaders and journalists British Secretaries of State Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Australia Female members of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Scottish Labour MPs Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Labour Friends of Israel UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 20th-century Scottish women politicians 20th-century Scottish politicians 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians British women ambassadors British women television journalists British women radio presenters