Helen Liddell

British Labour Party politician

The Right Honourable

The Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke

Official portrait, 2018

British High Commissioner to Australia
In office
1 September 2005 – 1 October 2009
Monarch| Elizabeth II
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Gordon Brown
Preceded by| The Lord Goodlad
Succeeded by| The Baroness Amos
Secretary of State for Scotland
In office
24 January 2001 – 12 June 2003
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Preceded by| John Reid
Succeeded by| Alistair Darling
Minister of State for Trade and Industry
In office
29 July 1999 – 24 January 2001
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Preceded by| John Battle
Succeeded by| Peter Hain
Minister of State for Transport
In office
17 May 1999 – 29 July 1999
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Preceded by| John Reid
Succeeded by| The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston
Minister of State for Scotland
In office
28 July 1998 – 17 May 1999
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Preceded by| Brian Wilson
Succeeded by| Brian Wilson
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
In office
3 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister| Tony Blair
Preceded by| Angela Knight
Succeeded by| Patricia Hewitt
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal

Incumbent

Assumed office
7 July 2010
Life peerage
Member of Parliament
for Airdrie and Shotts
Monklands East (1994–1997)
In office
30 June 1994 – 11 April 2005
Preceded by| John Smith
Succeeded by| John Reid
Personal details
Born|  (1950-12-06) 6 December 1950 (age 74)[1]
Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Political party| Labour
Spouse|

Alistair Handerson Liddell

(m. 1972)​

Children| 2
Alma mater| University of Strathclyde

Helen Lawrie Liddell, Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke PC (née Reilly; born 6 December 1950) is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Scotland from 2001 to 2003 and British High Commissioner to Australia from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Airdrie and Shotts, previously Monklands East, from 1994 to 2005.

## Early life

[edit]

Liddell was born to Hugh Reilly, a Catholic, and Bridget Lawrie Reilly, a Protestant.[2][3] She was educated at St. Patrick's Catholic High School in Coatbridge, attending at the same time as John Reid, and graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BA in Economics.

## Early career

[edit]

Liddell worked as a BBC Scotland economics journalist from 1976 to 1977. At the age of 26, she served as the first female General Secretary of the Scottish Labour Party from 1977 to 1988. She was subsequently public affairs director of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, working for media proprietor Robert Maxwell.[4][5]

## Business Interests

[edit]

Appointed Director of Annington Limited, 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 of Annington, 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 of East Fife at the October 1974 general election.

### House of Commons

[edit]

Liddell was first elected to Parliament in 1994, at the closely contested Monklands East by-election following John Smith's death. She was appointed a Privy Councillor on 27 October 1998.[6]

She was Secretary of State for Scotland from 2001 to 2003, a position whose powers had been transferred to the Scottish Executive after devolution in 1999. In addition, she angered the monks of Buckfast Abbey when she called on them to stop selling Buckfast in Scotland. She was dubbed Minister for Monarch of the Glen after several visits to the set of the hit BBC series.[5]

The disclosure that she was able to work French lessons into her ministerial diary,[7] raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's job post-devolution. The role was abolished as a full-time position in 2003, when the Scotland Office was rolled into the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

She took up appointment as British High Commissioner to Australia in the summer of 2005,[8] and was succeeded in the role by Baroness Amos in October 2009.[9]

### House of Lords

[edit]

On 28 May 2010, it was announced in the Dissolution Honours List that she would be created a life peer.[10] On 7 July, she took the title Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, of Airdrie in the County of Lanarkshire,[11] six days later becoming a House of Lords member.[12] She is a member of Labour Friends of Israel.[13] In 2010–11 Liddell was a member of the independent Philips inquiry into the 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre, established by the Secretary of State for Defence.[14]

## Personal life

[edit]

She married Alistair Liddell in 1972; they have one son and one daughter.[15]

## Publications

[edit]

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

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Helen Liddell". 21 October 2002. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
2. ^ Publications, Europa (2003). The International Who's Who 2004. Psychology Press. p. 1004\. ISBN 978-1-85743-217-6.
3. ^ "Helen's secret shocks the Pope". The Daily Telegraph. 7 March 2001.
4. ^ "Business News". Coventry Telegraph. 30 March 2001. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011.
5. ^ a b "Jackie Ashley meets Helen Liddell, the Scottish secretary". The Guardian. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
6. ^ "Helen Liddell Appointed to Transport Minister Post", Local Government Chronicle, 19 May 1999
7. ^ "Helen Do-little". The Daily Telegraph. London. 6 February 2002. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
8. ^ Tempest, Matthew (2 April 2004). "Liddell set to be Australian high commissioner". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
9. ^ "Change of British High Commissioner to Australia" (Press release). British High Commission, Canberra. 3 July 2009. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
10. ^ "Peerages, honours and appointments". 10 Downing Street. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on 1 June 2010. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
11. ^ "No. 59485". The London Gazette. 12 July 2010. p. 13181.
12. ^ "Helen Liddell goes to the Lords". BBC News Online. 13 July 2010. Archived from the original on 16 July 2010.
13. ^ "LFI Supporters in Parliament". Labour Friends of Israel. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
14. ^ Lord Philip; Lord Forsyth of Drumlean; Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke; Malcolm Bruce (13 July 2011). The Mull of Kintyre Review (PDF). House of Commons. ISBN 978-0-1029-5237-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
15. ^ Debrett's People of Today[permanent dead link‍]

## Further reading

[edit]

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

## External links

[edit]

* Debrett's People of Today[permanent dead link‍]
* Guardian Politics Ask Aristotle – Helen Liddell
* TheyWorkForYou.com – Helen Liddell MP
* Satirical website dedicated to Helen Liddell
* Appearances on C-SPAN

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Preceded by

John Smith

|  Member of Parliament
for Monklands East
1994–1997 | Constituency abolished
New constituency |  Member of Parliament
for Airdrie and Shotts
1997–2005 | Succeeded by

John Reid

Political offices
Preceded by

Angela Knight

|  Economic Secretary to the Treasury
1997–1998  | Succeeded by

Patricia Hewitt

Preceded by

John Reid

|  Minister of State for Transport
1999  | Succeeded by

The Lord Macdonald of Tradeston

Preceded by

John Reid

|  Secretary of State for Scotland
2001–2003  | Succeeded by

Alistair Darling

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by

The Lord Goodlad

|  British High Commissioner to Australia
2005–2009  | Succeeded by

The Baroness Amos

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