Sandra Julia Gidley MRPharmS (''née'' Rawson; born 26 March 1957) is a British

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...

and politician who served as the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for

Romsey Romsey ( ) is a town in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. The town is situated northwest of Southampton, southwest of Winchester and southeast of Salisbury. It sits on the outskirts of the New Forest, just over northeast of ...

in Hampshire from

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, when she lost her seat to Conservative candidate

Caroline Nokes Caroline Fiona Ellen Nokes (''née'' Perry; born 26 June 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Romsey and Southampton North since 2010. From 2014 to 2015 she was a Parliamentary Priv ...

Biography

Born Sandra Julia Rawson in Rosset,

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

in Wales, she was educated at the Eggar's Grammar School in

Alton, Hampshire Alton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in East Hampshire, England, near the source of the northern branch of the River Wey. It had a population of 19,425 at the 2021 census. Alton was recorded in the Domesday Survey of 1086 as ''Aoltone' ...

; the Afcent International School in

Brunssum Brunssum (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg in the Netherlands. The municipality of Brunssum has residents as of . Brunssum was a center of coal mining until 197 ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

; and the Windsor Girls' School in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She finished her education at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

, where she was awarded a BPharm Diploma in 1978. She became a MRPharmS in 1979. In 1979 she joined Badham Chemists as a

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, Gloucestershire, until she was appointed as a pharmacy manager with GK Chemists in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

in 1980. She became a locum pharmacist in 1982 before joining

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

as a supermarket pharmacy manager in 1992, and joined

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

in the same position in 1999 where she remained until her election to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. On 17 July 2019, Gidley was announced as the first female President of the

Royal Pharmaceutical Society The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPharmS or RPS) is the body responsible for the leadership and support of the pharmacy profession (pharmacists) within England, Scotland, and Wales. It was created along with the General Pharmaceutical Council ...

. She was followed by another woman, Claire Anderson, in 2021.

Parliamentary career

She joined the Liberal Democrats in 1994, was elected as a councillor to the

Test Valley Borough Council Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

in 1995 and was, in 1997, the youngest ever female mayor of Romsey. After Romsey's

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Michael Colvin Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol Nor ...

died in a fire at his home in Tangley on 24 February 2000, Gidley was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the resulting by-election. She won the by-election, on 4 May, with a majority of 3,311 votes and won in the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and 2005 general elections. However, in 2005 her majority was reduced to only 125 votes, the smallest of any Lib Dem MP, by the Conservative candidate,

. She was appointed as the party's spokeswoman on women's issues and older people from 2001. 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. Gidley chaired her party's Gender Balance Task Force, an initiative to get more women into politics. The Romsey constituency was abolished for the 2010 election, and in the new

Romsey and Southampton North Romsey and Southampton North is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 2010 creation by Caroline Nokes for the Conservative Party. For the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer i ...

constituency she was defeated by the Conservative candidate

, who took the new seat a majority of 4,165 votes following the expenses scandal, in which it emerged Gidley accepted a £18,700 'windfall' from her London landlord in return for an increase in her taxpayer funded rent.

Criticism of parliamentary expenses

Gidley was sometimes described as "Hampshire's most expensive MP" by her political opponents, claiming £160,000 in 2007/08, and £187,000 in another year, amidst concerns she was using tax payer's money to fund her political and re-election campaign. It emerged the tax payer was paying money to her party's constituency office, including paying the business rates, £60 for water, over £600 a year on telephones, and £960 on tea, coffee and cleaning. In 2011, her successor, Conservative MP Caroline Nokes, claimed £87,000 a year less in expenses than Gidley. However in 2017–2018 Caroline Nokes was claiming £168,297.18 in expenses. Whilst an MP, Gidley was claiming £1,638 a month for a luxury flat with indoor swimming pool in London, as well as £420 a month for food, and over £1,000 for Council Tax, and was criticised when it emerged she and three other Lib Dem MPs, accepted a £18,700 cash windfall from the landlord of the Dolphin Square flat, in return for agreeing to an increase in their rent, which was funded by the taxpayer. She was found to have "accepted one-off cash payment from the owners of an apartment block close to Parliament in return for agreeing to pay higher rent levels". A Parliamentary Committee on Standards and Privileges was critical of Gidley's 'serious misjudgment' in accepting the windfall, said she had broken the rules, and she was forced to apologise for it.

Return to politics

Gidley stood unsuccessfully in the

2013 Hampshire County Council election An election to Hampshire County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. 78 councillors were elected from 75 electoral divisions, which returned either one or two county councillors each by first-past ...

against incumbent Conservative Councillor Roy Perry, former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

and also the father of

, the Conservative candidate who defeated her in 2010. In the 2019 Local Elections, Gidley returned to

as the Councillor for Romsey Abbey ward defeating the Conservative Party incumbent.

Lord Rennard

Gidley was her Party's Front Bench Spokesperson on Women's issues, and Chair of the Lib Dems 'Gender Balance Taskforce' at the time it emerged the Party's Chief Executive, Lord Rennard, was accused of a series of sexual assaults against women. She appeared on the BBC and admitted that the Lib Dems had 'screwed up'. However, several days later she claimed she had informed party leader

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British retired politician and media executive who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. H ...

of the concerns over Rennard's conduct. Neither Nick Clegg or Sandra Gidley knew of any specific details as stated by Nick Clegg's spokesman "Sandra Gidley once raised general concerns with Nick Clegg about Lord Rennard's conduct. She did not know of or raise specific allegations.".

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 The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is the UK's largest charity offering information and support in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenthood Since 1956 it has supported millions of parents through birth of their children and through early par ...

and has been involved with many charitable organisations. She enjoys badminton, and lists reading, cookery and the theatre amongst her hobbies, and is a supporter of

Macmillan Cancer Relief Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, an ...

References

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

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