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Helen Liddell

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The Right Honourable
The Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke
PC
Official portrait, 2018
British High Commissioner to Australia
In office
1 September 2005 – 1 October 2009
MonarchElizabeth II
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Gordon Brown
Preceded byThe Lord Goodlad
Succeeded byThe Baroness Amos
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
24 January 2001 – 12 June 2003
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJohn Reid
Succeeded byAlistair Darling
Minister of State for Trade and Industry
In office
29 July 1999 – 24 January 2001
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJohn Battle
Succeeded byPeter Hain
Minister of State for Transport
In office
17 May 1999 – 29 July 1999
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byJohn Reid
Succeeded byThe Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
Minister of State for Scotland
In office
28 July 1998 – 17 May 1999
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byBrian Wilson
Succeeded byBrian Wilson
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office
3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byAngela Knight
Succeeded byPatricia Hewitt
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
7 July 2010
Life peerage
Member of Parliament
forAirdrie and Shotts
Monklands East(1994–97)
In office
30 June 1994 – 11 April 2005
Preceded byJohn Smith
Succeeded byJohn Reid
Personal details
Born(1950-12-06)6 December 1950(age 73)
Coatbridge,North Lanarkshire,Scotland
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Alistair Handerson Liddell
​
​
(m.1972)​
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Strathclyde

Helen Lawrie Liddell, Baroness Liddell of CoatdykePC(néeReilly;born 6 December 1950) is a British politician andlife peerwho served asSecretary of State for Scotlandfrom 2001 to 2003 andBritish High Commissioner to Australiafrom 2005 to 2009. A member of theLabour Party,she wasMember of Parliament(MP) forAirdrie and Shotts,previouslyMonklands East,from1994to2005.

Early life[edit]

Liddell was born to Hugh Reilly, aCatholic,and Bridget Lawrie Reilly, aProtestant.[1][2]She was educated at St. Patrick's Catholic High School inCoatbridge,attending at the same time asJohn Reid,and graduated from theUniversity of Strathclydewith aBAin Economics.

Early career[edit]

Liddell worked as aBBC Scotlandeconomicsjournalistfrom 1976 to 1977. At the age of 26, she served as the first femaleGeneral Secretary of the Scottish Labour Partyfrom 1977 to 1988. She was subsequentlypublic affairsdirector of theDaily RecordandSunday Mail,working for media proprietorRobert Maxwell.[3][4]

Business Interests[edit]

Appointed Director ofAnningtonLimited, 1 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 ofAnnington,Baroness Liddell defended Annington via a letter to the British Defence Secretary saying she was "shocked" by the Government's approach.

Parliamentary career[edit]

She first contested the Parliamentary constituency ofEast Fifeat theOctober 1974 general election.

House of Commons[edit]

Liddell was first elected to Parliament in 1994, at the closely contestedMonklands East by-electionfollowingJohn Smith's death. She was appointed aPrivy Councilloron 27 October 1998.[5]

She wasSecretary of State for Scotlandfrom 2001 to 2003, a position whose powers had been transferred to theScottish Executiveafterdevolutionin 1999. In addition, she angered the monks ofBuckfast Abbeywhen she called on them to stop sellingBuckfastinScotland.She was dubbedMinister forMonarch of the Glenafter several visits to the set of the hit BBC series.[4]

The disclosure that she was able to work French lessons into her ministerial diary,[6]raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's jobpost-devolution.The role was abolished as a full-time position in 2003, when theScotland Officewas rolled into theDepartment for Constitutional Affairs.

She took up appointment asBritish High Commissioner to Australiain the summer of 2005,[7]and was succeeded in the role byBaroness Amosin October 2009.[8]

House of Lords[edit]

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in theDissolution Honours Listthat she would be created alife peer.[9]On 7 July, she took the titleBaroness Liddell of Coatdyke,ofAirdriein the County ofLanarkshire,[10]six days later becoming aHouse of Lords member.[11]She is a member ofLabour Friends of Israel.[12]In 2010–11 Liddell was a member of the independent Philips inquiry into the1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crashon theMull of Kintyre,established by theSecretary of State for Defence.[13]

Personal life[edit]

She married Alistair Liddell in 1972; they have one son and one daughter.[14]

Publications[edit]

  • Liddell, Helen (1990).Elite.Century.

References[edit]

  1. ^Publications, Europa (2003).The International Who's Who 2004.Psychology Press. p. 1004.ISBN978-1-85743-217-6.
  2. ^"Helen's secret shocks the Pope".The Daily Telegraph.
  3. ^"Business News".Coventry Telegraph.30 March 2001. Archived fromthe originalon 23 July 2011.
  4. ^ab"Jackie Ashley meets Helen Liddell, the Scottish secretary".The Guardian.27 January 2003.Retrieved21 March2022.
  5. ^"Helen Liddell Appointed to Transport Minister Post",Local Government Chronicle,19 May 1999
  6. ^"Helen Do-little".The Daily Telegraph.London. 6 February 2002. Archived fromthe originalon 22 March 2007.Retrieved4 May2010.
  7. ^Tempest, Matthew (2 April 2004)."Liddell set to be Australian high commissioner".The Guardian.London. Archived fromthe originalon 14 May 2011.Retrieved4 May2010.
  8. ^"Change of British High Commissioner to Australia"(Press release).British High Commission, Canberra.3 July 2009.Archivedfrom the original on 31 August 2011.Retrieved10 July2009.
  9. ^"Peerages, honours and appointments".10 Downing Street.28 May 2010.Archivedfrom the original on 1 June 2010.Retrieved24 June2010.
  10. ^"No. 59485".The London Gazette.12 July 2010. p. 13181.
  11. ^"Helen Liddell goes to the Lords".BBC News Online.13 July 2010.Archivedfrom the original on 16 July 2010.
  12. ^"LFI Supporters in Parliament".Labour Friends of Israel.Retrieved8 September2019.
  13. ^Lord Philip;Lord Forsyth of Drumlean;Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke;Malcolm Bruce(13 July 2011).The Mull of Kintyre Review(PDF).House of Commons.ISBN978-0-1029-5237-7.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 31 May 2016.Retrieved13 July2011.
  14. ^Debrett's People of Today[permanent dead link]

Further reading[edit]

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

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
forMonklands East
1994–1997 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
forAirdrie and Shotts
1997–2005 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Economic Secretary to the Treasury
1997–1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of State for Transport
1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Scotland
2001–2003 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British High Commissioner to Australia
2005–2009 		Succeeded by
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