Helen Liddell

The Right Honourable The Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke PC
British High Commissioner to Australia
In office 1 September 2005 – 1 October 2009
Preceded by	The Lord Goodlad
Succeeded by	The Baroness Amos
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office 24 January 2001 – 12 June 2003
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	John Reid
Succeeded by	Alistair Darling
Minister of State for Transport
In office 17 May 1999 – 29 July 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	John Reid
Succeeded by	The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office 3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Angela Knight
Succeeded by	Patricia Hewitt
Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	John Reid
Member of Parliament for Monklands East
In office 30 June 1994 – 1 May 1997
Preceded by	John Smith
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	6 December 1950 Coatbridge, United Kingdom
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Alistair Liddell
Children	1 son 1 daughter
Alma mater	University of Strathclyde
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Helen Lawrie Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, PC (born 6 December 1950) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East from 1994 to 1997, and then for Airdrie and Shotts until 2005.

Liddell then became the British High Commissioner to Australia until 2009, having previously been appointed a Cabinet Minister as Secretary of State for Scotland.

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in the Dissolution Honours List that she would be created a Life Peer.^[1]

Early life

She was born Helen Lawrie Reilly, the daughter of a Catholic father^[2] and a Protestant mother, and educated at St. Patrick's Catholic High School on Muiryhall Street in Coatbridge. She attended at the same time as John Reid, whom she later replaced as Secretary of State for Scotland and also made way for as MP for Airdrie and Shotts.

She graduated as a BA in Economics from the University of Strathclyde and became a member of the Labour Party being the first female General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party at the age of 26 from 1977–78.

Early career

A former BBC Scotland economics journalist from 1976–77, Liddell has taken flak for her closeness to media proprietor Robert Maxwell. Working as aide she once followed him on one occasion in to a gents' toilet while being followed by a TV crew. She was also the public affairs director of Maxwell's Scottish Daily Record.^[3]

After Maxwell's disgrace she tried to distance herself from him claiming that she had never worked for Maxwell.^[4]

Helen Liddell published one novel about women in politics, called Elite (Century, 1990).

Parliamentary career

She contested East Fife constituency in October 1974.

Liddell was first elected to Parliament in 1994, at the closely fought Monklands East by-election following John Smith's death. She was appointed a Privy Councillor on 27 October 1998.^[5]

She was Secretary of State for Scotland from 2001 to 2003, a position whose powers had been transferred to the Scottish Executive after devolution in 1999. In addition she angered the monks of Buckfast Abbey when she called on them to stop selling Buckfast Tonic Wine in Scotland. She was dubbed Minister for Monarch of the Glen^[6] 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^[7] raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's job post-devolution and it was abolished as a full-time position in 2003, when the Scotland Office was rolled into the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

After politics

She took up appointment as^[8] British High Commissioner to Australia in the summer of 2005. She was succeeded in the role by Valerie, Baroness Amos in October 2009.^[9]

She was created a Life Peer on 7 July 2010 taking the title Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, of Airdrie in the County of Lanarkshire,^[10] six days later becoming a House of Lords member where she sits till this day.^[11]

Personal life

She married Alistair Liddell in 1972; they have one son and one daughter.^[12]

References

1. "Peerages, honours and appointments". 10 Downing Street. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
2. www.telegraph.co.uk
3. "Business News". Coventry Telegraph. 30 March 2001. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.
4. Purnell, Sonia (3 November 2001). "Cap'n Bob? We won't hear a bad word said against him". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
5. "Helen Liddell Appouinted to Transport Minister Post", Local Government Chronicle, 19 May 1999
6. Ashley, Jackie (27 January 2003). "Haggis and press sneers fail to stop tough Scot". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
7. "Helen Do-little". The Daily Telegraph. London. 6 February 2002. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
8. Tempest, Matthew (2 April 2004). "Liddell set to be Australian high commissioner". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
9. "Change of British High Commissioner to Australia" (Press release). British High Commission, Canberra. 3 July 2009. Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
10. The London Gazette: no. 59485. p. 13181. 12 July 2010.
11. "Helen Liddell goes to the Lords". BBC News Online. 13 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2010.
12. Debrett's People of Today

Further reading

• Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)

External links

• Debrett's People of Today
• Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle – Helen Liddell
• TheyWorkForYou.com – Helen Liddell MP
• Satirical website dedicated to Helen Liddell