Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock

The Right Honourable The Baroness Maddock
Lady Maddock during the 2009 Liberal Democrat Party Conference
President of the Liberal Democrats
In office 1 January 1999 – 31 December 2000
Preceded by	Robert Maclennan
Succeeded by	Navnit Dholakia
Member of Parliament for Christchurch
In office 29 July 1993 – 8 April 1997
Preceded by	Robert Adley
Succeeded by	Christopher Chope
Personal details
Born	(1945-05-19) 19 May 1945
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrat
Spouse(s)	Lord Beith (2001-)

Diana Margaret Maddock, Baroness Maddock and Lady Beith (born 19 May 1945),^[1] is a Liberal Democrat politician.

Education and Early Career

Diana Maddock was educated at Shenstone Training College^[2] and Portsmouth Polytechnic^[3] (now the University of Portsmouth) and was a teacher of English as a foreign language until she started a family and got involved in politics in the mid-1970s.

Political career

Maddock joined the Liberal Party in 1976, and was elected to Southampton City Council in 1984 until she was elected to parliament in 1993. During this time she was leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council. She unsuccessfully contested Southampton Test at the 1992 general election, coming third.

She was elected as Member of Parliament for Christchurch at a by-election in 1993 that was caused by the death of Robert Adley, but lost the seat at the 1997 election to the Conservative candidate Christopher Chope. She was made a life peer as Baroness Maddock, of Christchurch in the County of Dorset, in 1997.^[4] She is a co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group.

From 1998 to 2000 she was President of the Liberal Democrats.^[5]

In 2005 she was elected a member of Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council, for Berwick North ward, as Councillor Diana Beith.^[6] The council was abolished in 2009 and the Borough was absorbed into the new unitary authority of Northumberland County Council. In the election for Berwick North ward of the new council, held in May 2008, her successor as the Liberal Democrat candidate was defeated.^[7]

Personal life

She is married to Lord Beith, formerly MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed.^[8] She and her husband are one of the few couples who both hold titles in their own right.

Styles

• Miss Diana Derbyshire (1945–1966)
• Mrs Diana Maddock (1966–1997)
• The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Maddock (1997–2000)
• The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Maddock, Mrs Beith (2000–2008)
• The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Maddock, Lady Beith (2008–)

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Diana Maddock
• Baroness Maddock profile at the site of Liberal Democrats