Helen Liddell

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Helen Liddell (born December 6, 1950, in Coatbridge, Scotland) is a British politician, was M.P. for Monklands East, then for Airdrie and Shotts from 1994 to 2005, and is British High Commissioner to Australia.

She was born Helen Lawrie Reilly, the daughter of a Catholic father and a Protestant mother, and she was educated at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic High School, Coatbridge, and attended at the same time as John Reid, whom she would later replace as Secretary of State for Scotland and also make way for as MP for Airdrie and Shotts. She is a member of the Labour Party and was the first female general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party at the age of 26.

A former BBC Scotland journalist and aide to the late Robert Maxwell, Liddell was first elected to Parliament in 1994, at the closely-fought Monklands East by-election]] following John Smith's death. 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. She was a controversial character, dubbed "Stalin's granny,", "Atilla the Hen" and the "Nat Basher in Chief" (because of her constant attacks on the SNP). In addition she angered the monks of Buckfast Abbey when she called on them to stop selling Buckfast Tonic Wine in Scotland. She was also dubbed "Minister for Monarch of the Glen" (see [1]) after several visits to the set of the hit BBC series.

The disclosure that she fitted French lessons in to her ministerial diary (see [2]) raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's job post-devolution: it was abolished as a full-time position in 2003. She took up appointment as (see [3]) the UK's High Commissioner to Australia in the summer of 2005 - a rare political appointment to a post normally reserved for career diplomats.

Like the majority of former Cabinet ministers, she remains a member of the Privy Council.

[edit] References

Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)

[edit] External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: John Smith	Member of Parliament for Monklands East 1994–1997	Succeeded by: constituency abolished
Preceded by: new constituency	Member of Parliament for Airdrie and Shotts 1997–2005	Succeeded by: John Reid
Political Offices
Preceded by: Angela Knight	Economic Secretary to the Treasury 1997–1998	Succeeded by: Patricia Hewitt
Preceded by: John Reid	Secretary of State for Scotland 2001–2003	Succeeded by: Alistair Darling
Preceded by: Alastair Goodlad	British High Commissioner to Australia 2005–	Succeeded by: Incumbent