Sandra Gidley

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Sandra Gidley MP

Member of Parliament for Romsey
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 May 2000
Preceded by	Michael Colvin

Born	26 March 1957 (1957-03-26) (age 51) Rosset, Denbighshire
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrat
Spouse	Bill
Children	1 son, 1 daughter
Alma mater	University of Bath
Profession	Pharmacist

Sandra Julia Gidley (born 26 March 1957) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Romsey in Hampshire.

1 Biography
2 Parliamentary career
3 Personal life
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Born Sandra Julia Rawson in Rosset, Denbighshire in Wales, she was educated widely at the Eggar's Grammar School (now Eggar's School) on London Road in Alton, Hampshire; the Afcent International School in Brunssum (now the AFNORTH International School), Netherlands; and the Windsor Girls' School in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She finished her education at the University of Bath where she was awarded a BPharm degree in 1978. She became a MRPharmS in 1979.

In 1979 she joined Badham Chemists as a pharmacist in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, until she was appointed as a pharmacy manager with GK Chemists in Gloucester in 1980. She became a locum pharmacist in 1982 before joining Safeway as a supermarket pharmacy manager in 1992, and joined Tesco in the same position in 1999 where she remained until her election to the House of Commons.

[edit] Parliamentary career

She joined the Liberal Democrats in 1994, was elected as a councillor to the Test Valley Borough Council in 1995, and in 1997 became the youngest ever female Mayor of Romsey. After Romsey's Conservative MP Michael Colvin died in a fire at his home in Tangley on February 24, 2000,^[1] Gidley was selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the resulting by-election. She won the by-election, on May 4, with a majority of 3,311 votes^[2] and has held the seat there since, winning in the 2001 and 2005 general elections. However in 2005 her majority was reduced to only 125 votes,^[3] the smallest of any Liberal Democrat MP.

She was appointed to the frontbench by Charles Kennedy after the 2001 General Election as the party's spokeswoman on women's issues and older people from 2001, with a seat in the Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team. In January 2006, as Kennedy's faced allegations of a drink problem, Gidley was one of 11 members of the Shadow Cabinet to write to Kennedy asking him to resign.^[4]

She is currently a Lib Dem shadow Minister for health working with Norman Lamb and John Pugh and a member of the House of Commons Health Select Committee.

Sandra has chaired her party's Gender Balance Task Force,^[5] an initiative to get more women into politics, although resigned that position due it its failure to make any progress and lack of funding. She chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health. Sandra is vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary groups on Men's Health, AIDS, Cancer and Domestic Violence as well as co-chair of the All Parliamentary Party Group on Mental Health.

[edit] Personal life

Sandra 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 schools. Sandra was for many years a voluntary antenatal teacher with the National Childbirth Trust and has been involved with many charitable organisations.

She enjoys a tough game of badminton, and lists reading, cookery, tug of war and the theatre amongst her hobbies, and is a supporter of Macmillan Cancer Relief.

[edit] Trivia

Sandra Gidley once appeared as a contestant on the TV quiz the Krypton Factor.
Sandra was the first female MP to have a weblog, under the name the Romsey Redhead
Sandra Gidley is the only qualified pharmacist in the house of Commons