Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey PC (née Bates; born 29 April 1942) is a British Conservative politician who was Member of Parliament for Wallasey from 1974 to 1992. She served as Minister of State for Overseas Development and Africa at the Foreign Office, in the Conservative government from 1989 to 1997.

Baroness Chalker headed the British delegation which participated in the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development in October 1993.^[1]

She was educated at Roedean (where she was head girl), Heidelberg University, Queen Mary, University of London and the Polytechnic of Central London, and worked as a statistician and market research manager, including a spell with Shell-Mex and BP, before entering Parliament as MP for Wallasey, Merseyside, succeeding the former Cabinet minister Ernest Marples. She held a number of government posts, including spells as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Security from 1979–82 and at the Department of Transport from 1982–83. In 1983 she became Minister of State at Transport, being appointed Minister for Europe in 1986.

Chalker was granted a life peerage as Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, of Leigh-on-Sea in the County of Essex in 1992,^[2] after losing her seat at the General Election of that year.

She jointly holds the 20th century record for continuous government service, along with Kenneth Clarke, Malcolm Rifkind, Tony Newton and Patrick Mayhew, as she held office for the entire duration of the Conservatives' eighteen years in power.

Post Parliament

Baroness Chalker is the Chairman of Africa Matters Limited, an independent consultancy providing advice and assistance to companies initiating,developing or growing their activities in Africa.^[3] She is a member of the international advisory board of Lafarge and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa.

Baroness Chalker is the Coordinator of Nigeria's of Honorary International Investor Council, first for President Obasanjo, then President Yar ‘Adua, then President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. She is also a Consultant for Uganda's Presidential Investors Roundtable (PIRT) that advises the President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, on ways to improve Uganda's investment climate and competitiveness.^[4]

Baroness Chalker is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law. It does so by making available, discreetly and in confidence, the experience of former leaders to today’s national leaders. It is a not-for-profit organization composed of former heads of government, senior governmental and international organization officials who work closely with Heads of Government on governance-related issues of concern to them.^[4]

Lady Chalker is a Member of the Board of Trustees of Sentebale, a Charity set-up to reach Lesotho's neediest children, many of whom are the victims of extreme poverty and the HIV/AIDS epidemic of that area. Chalker founded the Chalker Foundation, which seeks to support the improvement of healthcare in Africa.

Lady Chalker held the position of Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Committee for Unilever retiring in May 2007 having served three terms of three years. She joined the Board of Unilever as an Advisory Director in 1998 becoming a Non-Executive Director in 2004. She also served on Africa Advisory Board of Renaissance Capital.

Lady Chalker is a former Chairman of Pasco Risk Management and former Chairman of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease endemic countries. She is a former Non-Executive Director of Group Five (Pty). She was awarded the Livingstone Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 2000.^[5]

Lady Chalker was shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for her work with Africa Matters, and she remains in the directory of the Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who publication.^[6]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lynda Chalker
• Lynda Chalker biodata, qub.ac.uk; accessed 10 August 2014.

Ministers of State for Europe 1979–1990 Hurd Rifkind Chalker Maude 1990–1997 Garel-Jones Heathcoat-Amory Davis 1997–2007 Henderson Quin Hoon Vaz Hain MacShane Alexander Hoon 2007–2010 Murphy Flint Kinnock Bryant 2010–2015 Lidington

Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom Minister of Overseas Development Castle Greenwood Bottomley Prentice Hart Wood* Hart* Prentice* Judd* Hart* Marten* Raison* Patten* Chalker* Secretary of State for International Development Short Amos Benn Alexander Mitchell Greening * Served as Minister for Overseas Development as a Minister of State at the Foreign Office