Jacqueline-Anne Gasson ( – 14 June 2020) was a British politician. She was an elected councillor and member of

South Glamorgan County Council South Glamorgan County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir De Morgannwg) was the local government authority that administered the county of South Glamorgan, Wales from its creation in 1974 until its abolition in 1996. History Local government in England and ...

and

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dinas a Sir Caerdydd) is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

between 1988 and 2012. From 2004 to 2005, she was Lord Mayor of

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, the first ever member of the Liberal Democrats to hold this post.

Political career

Gasson, a former member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

, was elected to the Cardiff council in 1988 as a member of the Liberal Democrats, just after the party's formation. She represented Caerau, a ward in west

in a traditionally Labour area.Phillip Nifiel
''Labour fight for a second seat starts with Ernest.''
South Wales Echo, 24 May 2004. Retrieved 29 December 2011. She made her mark in the early 1990s raising concerns about Cardiff's social services provision. In 1992,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 2001 she contested Cardiff West at the general election but failed to be elected. For the year 2004 to 2005 Gasson became Lord Mayor of Cardiff and was the first Liberal Democrat to hold this officePhillip Nifiel
''What your Lord Mayor costs.''
South Wales Echo, 15 June 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2011. (though Cardiff has had

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

mayors in the past, for example

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...

). She later claimed she had used this period to successfully create links between local businesses and universities. "I've always believed the role f mayorshould have a high status because the Lord Mayor is the flag waver for the city. I attended hundreds if not thousands of functions when I was in office" she later said. In October 2004 the Lord Mayor pulled out of a gala dinner in protest because of the invitation of a homophobic Christian evangelist

Luis Palau Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

. Gasson was a member of the South Wales Police Authority. At the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in 2006 Gasson (then age 68) spoke about her personal experience as a victim of rape 40 years earlier. The conference was discussing the policy of granting anonymity to men accused of rape.Brendan Carli
''Anonymity for rape suspects backed''
The Telegraph, 19 September 2006. Retrieved 29 December 2011. In the May 2012 local government elections, Gasson lost her council seat, after 24 years service. "It has been a privilege and an honour, but national trends have beaten us", she said. Gasson died on 14 June 2020.

References

External links

Cardiff Council member profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasson, Jacqui 1930s births 2020 deaths 20th-century Welsh politicians 20th-century Welsh women politicians 21st-century Welsh politicians 21st-century Welsh women politicians Councillors in Cardiff Liberal Democrats (UK) mayors Mayors of Cardiff Members of South Glamorgan County Council Politicians from Cardiff Social Democratic Party (UK) politicians Women mayors of places in Wales Women councillors in Wales Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates