Shirley Williams

Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, PC ( born July 27, 1930 in London) is a British politician ( Liberal Democrats ) and lecturer.

Life and work

Shirley Vivien Teresa Brittain Catlin is the daughter of political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin (1896-1979) and his wife, the writer and journalist Vera Brittain Mary ( 1893-1970 ).

In 1955 she married the English philosopher Bernard Williams, who held professorships at various universities in the UK and the U.S. and was raised to knighthood in 1999. They had a daughter ( Rebecca ). The marriage was divorced in 1974. In 1987 she married the Harvard professor Richard E. Neustadt ( † 2003). 2009 her autobiography " Climbing the Bookshelves " was released.

Williams was a member of the House of Commons, from 1964 to 1974 for Hitchin and 1974-1979 for Hertford and Stevenage for the Labour Party from 1981 to 1983 Crosby for the Social Democratic Party. From February 28 1974 to April 8, 1976, she was Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection ( Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection). 10 September 1976 to 4 May 1979, she was then Minister of Education and Sciences ( Secretary of State for Education and Science). At the same time, she held the post of Paymaster General ( Paymaster General ).

In 1981, she founded as part of the then so-called Gang of Four ( other members, Roy Jenkins, David Owen and Bill Rodgers ), the Social Democratic Party, because they on Labour more and more dissatisfied with the influence of the left wing and her House of mandate by the had lost Labour defeat in 1979. For the SDP pulled her in 1981 in a by-election as the first elected on that party member again to the British parliament.

In 1983 she lost, although a member of the SDP Board, again her parliamentary seat and was able to win even with the elections in 1987 due to the British electoral system no. She advocated then decisively in 1988 by merger of the SDP led the Liberal Party to the Liberal Democrats. Nevertheless, she moved in 1988 to the United States and was also the draft of the Constitution of Russia participates. In 1993 she returned to England and was raised in the same year to the peerage. Thus they got a seat in the House of Lords (House of Lords) and became the successor of Bill Rodgers, now Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, in June 2001, parliamentary leader of the Liberal Democrats. In June 2004, it was followed in this office Tom McNally, Baron McNally.

Party

Williams was 1964-1981 Labour member, then joined the Social Democratic Party ( SDP). This closed in 1988 largely with the Liberals to the Liberal Democrats together. From 1982 to 1987 Williams had been the first president of the SDP.

Works

Swell

  • Biography on the House of Lords side (English )
  • Shirley Williams in Hansard (English)
  • Life peer
  • Minister of Education (United Kingdom)
  • Minister of Science (United Kingdom)
  • Paymaster General
  • Member of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
  • Member of the House of Lords
  • Labour Member
  • Member of the Social Democratic Party ( United Kingdom)
  • Liberal Democrats Member
  • Honorary Doctor of the University of Cambridge
  • Briton
  • Politicians ( 20th century)
  • Politicians ( 21st century)
  • Born in 1930
  • Woman
William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank United Kingdom general election, 1983 Liberal Party (UK) Integrated Authority File
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