..............................................................................................................
Gillian Shephard
Gillian Shepherd was born in 1940 and educated at North Walsham Girls' School and Oxford University. After leaving university she became a teacher and then worked for Norfolk County Council from 1963 to 1975. She was elected to Parliament in 1987 for the constituency of South West Norfolk.
In 1988 Shephard was made PPS to Peter Lilley, then a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Social Security Department in 1989 and then in 1990 a Minister of State at the Treasury. Following the 1992 General Election she was promoted to the Cabinet as the Secretary of State for Employment, then in 1993 the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. In 1994 she became the Secretary of State for Education, with the Department of Employment being merged into the Education Department in 1995.
Following the 1997 General Election defeat for the Conservatives, Shephard became the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and then Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions in 1998. She returned to the backbenches and left the House of Commons in 2005. After the 2005 General Election she was elevated to the Peerage as Baroness Shephard of Northwold.