Christine Anne Jardine (born 24 November 1960) is a

Scottish Liberal Democrat The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...

politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, the Cabinet Office and

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since July 2022. She was elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Edinburgh West in 2017. She previously served as Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Treasury, Europe, Exiting the European Union and International Trade from 2020 to 2022. She was the

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson is the spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on matters relating to the work of the Home Secretary and Home Office. The office holder is a member of the Liberal Democrat frontbench team. The post e ...

from 2019 to 2020.

Education and early career

Jardine was educated at Braidfield High School and the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, where she graduated with a MA (Hons). She is a former journalist, who worked for BBC Scotland and was editor of the Press Association in Scotland. She also taught journalism at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

Robert Gordon University Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU, is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthropist), ...

and the

University of the West of Scotland The University of the West of Scotland ( gd, Oilthigh na h-Alba an Iar), formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, Blantyre, South Lanar ...

. In 2011 Jardine was appointed Scotland media adviser to the Coalition Government, working under

Nick Clegg Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...

. That same year, she was the Lib Dem candidate for Inverness and Nairn at the

2011 Scottish Parliament election The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to Members of the 4th Scottish Parliament, elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, ...

, where she finished fourth. In May 2013, she was selected as the candidate for the upcoming

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in Aberdeen Donside, this time coming third. In 2015, she lost to

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

in the election for the Westminster constituency of

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. Jardine is a Vice-Chair of the

All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life is a cross-party group of members of the British Parliament and Peers that supports better end-of-life options, including assisted dying. They believe that, subject to legal safeguar ...

Political career

She was elected for the Edinburgh West constituency in the 2017 general election, succeeding independent MP

Michelle Thomson Michelle Rhonda Thomson (née Perks; born 11 March 1965) is a Scottish businesswoman and Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk East since May 2021. Thomson is the co-fou ...

who had been elected as a member of the SNP. Jardine received 18,108 votes and 34.4% of the overall vote. She served as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home Affairs and Women and Equalities from August 2019 to August 2020, and was also the Justice Spokesperson from August 2019 to October 2019. and sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster. Jardine retained her seat at the 2019 general election and increased her majority from 2,988 (5.7%) to 3,769 (6.9%). She was promoted to trade, treasury and Brexit spokeswoman in September 2020. On 11 July 2022, Jardine was appointed Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Scotland.

Personal life

Jardine was married for 30 years to Calum Macdonald, the Digital Editor for the Herald and Times Group. He died of a heart attack aged 55 during the 2017 General Election campaign. In 2021, she talked about it with

Gloria De Piero Gloria De Piero (born 21 December 1972) is a British television and radio presenter, and former Labour Party politician. Prior to her political career, she was the political editor of GMTV. A member of the Labour Party, she was first elect ...

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. She has one daughter.

References

External links

Appearances
on

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

*
All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jardine, Christine Living people Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs UK MPs 2017–2019 UK MPs 2019–present Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies Scottish journalists Scottish women journalists 21st-century Scottish women politicians 21st-century Scottish politicians 1960 births People educated at Braidfield High School Politicians from Glasgow 21st-century British women politicians