Baroness Shirley Williams of Crosby, Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords to visit the Totnes Constituency. (Totnes & Brixham Liberal Democrats)

Totnes & Brixham Liberal Democrats <info@totneslibdems.org.uk>

Baroness Shirley Williams of Crosby, Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords to visit the Totnes Constituency.

July 2, 2003 12:00 AM

Totnes Constituency Liberal Democrats are delighted to welcome Baroness Shirley Williams of Crosby to the Constituency on Sunday July 20th. when she will speak at a lunch/tea to be held at 'Libertas, Buckland Tout Saints Nr. Kingsbridge by kind permission of Johnny and Rosalind Spears. Everyone is welcome to attend and tickets are available from Rosalind ( Tel: 01548 853653) to include the talk, swimming and either lunch or tea.

Baroness Williams has had a long and distinguished career at the forefront of British politics having been first elected to Parliament in 1964 as the Labour member for Hitchen. She served in the Wilson and Callaghan Governments of the 60s and 70s culminating in being Secretary of State for Education and Paymaster General from 1976 - 1979.

She is probably best remembered as being one of the 'Gang of Four' that broke away from the Labour party to form the Social Democratic Party in 1981. She was elected as the party's first M.P. in 1982,when she became the member for Crosby, and was president of the party from 1982 until 1988 when the SDP merged with the Liberal Party to form the Liberal Democrats, a move she strongly supported.

Having lost her seat in the Commons due to boundary changes, Baroness Williams re-entered Parliament in 1993 as a Liberal Democrat Peer in 1993 and was elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords in 2002.

This is a golden opportunity to meet and listen to one of the leading political figures of recent times in beautiful and informal surroundings.