Preceded by Robert Maclennan Nationality British Succeeded by Navnit Dholakia Political party Liberal Democrat | Name Diana Baroness Party Liberal Democrats Role Politician | |
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Born 19 May 1945 (age 79) ( 1945-05-19 ) | ||
Diana Margaret Maddock, Baroness Maddock, Lady Beith (born 19 May 1945), is a Liberal Democrat politician.
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Education and early career
Diana Maddock was educated at Shenstone Training College and Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the University of Portsmouth) and was a teacher of English as a foreign language until starting a family and becoming 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. 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. She is a co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group. From 1998 to 2000, she was President of the Liberal Democrats.
In 2005, she was elected a member of Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council, for Berwick North ward, as Councillor Diana Beith. 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.
Personal life
She is married to Lord Beith, formerly MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed; the couple married in 2001. She and her husband are one of the few couples who both hold titles in their own right.