Jacqueline Rita Lawrence (born 9 August 1948,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

) is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was Labour

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 o ...

for the Welsh seat of

Preseli Pembrokeshire Preseli Pembrokeshire (, ; cy, Preseli Sir Benfro) was one of six local government districts of Dyfed in West Wales from 1974 to 1996. Until 1987 the name of the district was Preseli. The district took its name from the Preseli Hills. Creation T ...

, from

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 ...

until

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

Early life

Lawrence studied at Upperthorpe College in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

, and the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's underg ...

. She moved to Pembrokeshire in the 1970s and learnt

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

in order to support her children through Welsh medium education. Lawrence worked for the

Trustee Savings Bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

and became a member of

Dyfed County Council Dyfed County Council ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dyfed) was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Dyfed in south west Wales. It operated between 1974 and 1996. The county council was based at County Hall, Carmarthen. History Dyfed County Co ...

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and the

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

Police authority A police authority in the United Kingdom is a public authority that is responsible for overseeing the operations of a police force. The nature and composition of police authorities has varied over time, and there are now just four dedicated "police ...

. She then became election agent for neighbouring MP Nick Ainger in the 1992 general election and leader of the Labour Group on Pembrokeshire County Council on its formation as a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

before being adopted as Parliamentary candidate for the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency.

Parliamentary career

Lawrence was selected to stand for election for Labour through an

all-women shortlist All-women shortlists (AWS) is an affirmative action practice intended to increase the proportion of female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom, allowing only women to stand in particular constituencies for a particular political p ...

, and became MP for

in the 1997 election. She was a new Labour loyalist, working on environmental, rural and

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

issues. She was a member of the

Welsh Affairs Select Committee The Welsh Affairs Select Committee (or simply the 'Welsh Affairs Committee') is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy ...

from 1997 to 2001, and a member of the DTI Department of Trade and Industry Select Committee from 2001 until becoming a

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the ...

at the DTI to

Jacqui Smith Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British broadcaster, political commentator and former Labour Party politician. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Redditch from 1997 to 2010. She served as Home Secretary from 2007 to 2009 ...

who was then Minister of State at the DTI. She was Chair of the Welsh Group of Labour MPs at Westminster from 2003 to 2004 and Chair of the Parliamentary All-Party Group for National Parks until leaving Westminster in 2005. When supporting a government campaign aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy, she revealed that she had given birth to a daughter when she was 17, who was subsequently adopted. She was strongly anti-hunting with dogs and supported legislation to outlaw the practice in the UK. Lawrence stood down from Parliament at the 2005 general election, at which the Preseli Pembrokeshire seat was gained by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Stephen Crabb Stephen Crabb (born 20 January 1973) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Preseli Pembrokeshire since 2005 and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee since 2020. A member of the Welsh Conservati ...

After Parliament

In 2005, Lawrence was a founding signatory of the

Henry Jackson Society The Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is a trans-Atlantic foreign policy and national security think tank, based in the United Kingdom. While describing itself as non-partisan, its outlook has been described variously as neoliberal and as neoconser ...

principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of

liberal democracy Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into ...

across the world, including when necessary by military methods.

Personal life

She married David Lawrence in 1968. They have two sons and one daughter.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Jackie 1948 births Living people Labour Party (UK) councillors Welsh Labour Party MPs UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 People from Darlington Alumni of the Open University Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies Members of Dyfed County Council 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Pembrokeshire constituencies Women councillors in Wales