On Thursday 18th of November 2010, the Institute of Welsh Politics is very pleased to welcome the Rt. Hon. Cheryl Gillan MP to deliver its 12th Annual Lecture.
Cheryl Gillan was elected Member of Parliament for Chesham and Amersham in April 1992. She was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Wales by David Cameron in December 2005 and following the General Election of May 2010 she was appointed Secretary of State for Wales.
Her lecture at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, is entitled ‘Respect: The New Politics’.
The lecture will look at the changing relationship between the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government, and between Westminster and the National Assembly following May’s General Election.
Born in Llandaff, Cardiff and educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and the College of Law, her previous occupations include working on the International Management Group, Director of British Film Year, Senior Marketing Consultant, Ernst and Young, and Marketing Director of Kidsons Impey.
Since entering Parliament, she has been a Member of the Select Committee on Science and Technology, Secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Space, a Member of the Select Committee on Procedures and a Board Member of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in 1995.
She has also represented the British Islands and the Mediterranean on the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (the CPA) and was elected Treasurer of the CPA from 2003-06.
Cheryl was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Lord Privy Seal, Leader of the House of Lords from 1994 until July 1995, before being appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Employment.
During these last eighteen years, she has been the Frontbench Spokesman for Trade and Industry, the Frontbench Spokesman for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, an Opposition Whip and a Shadow Minister for Home, Constitutional and Legal Affairs.
Speaking ahead of the lecture, Professor Roger Scully, Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics, said that he was “delighted that Cheryl Gillan had agreed to deliver the Institute of Welsh Politics’ Annual Lecture for 2010.”
“As the first Conservative Secretary of State for Wales in thirteen years, and one holding office during the crucial period leading to the referendum next March, she occupies a highly important position.”
“We greatly look forward to hearing what she has to say, and learning more about the thinking of the UK government on the future of devolution”, he added.
