biography
| name: |
Williams (of Crosby), Shirley (Vivien Teresa Brittain) Williams, Baroness
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née Catlin
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1930– )
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| biography:
| British stateswoman, born in London, UK, the daughter of Vera Brittain. She studied at Oxford, and worked as a journalist. Secretary of the Fabian Society (1960–4), she became a Labour MP in 1964. After many junior positions, she was made secretary of state for prices and consumer protection (1974–6), and for education and science (1976–9). She lost her seat in 1979, as a member of the so-called ‘Gang of Four’ became a co-founder of the Social Democratic Party in 1981, and the party's first elected MP later that year. She lost her seat in the 1983 general election, but remained as the SDP's president (1982–7). She supported the merger between the SDP and the Liberal Party. Her first husband (1955–74) was the philosopher, Bernard Williams. After her second marriage, to Harvard professor of politics, Richard Neustadt, she moved to the USA, but remains involved in British politics. She was made a life peer in 1993 and is a member of the House of Lords Committee on the European Communities. In 2000 she became leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. She is professor of electoral politics at Harvard University. |
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