16 Facts About Sandra Gidley

Sandra Julia Gidley MRPharmS is a British pharmacist and politician who served as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Romsey in Hampshire from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conservative candidate Caroline Nokes.

Sandra Gidley finished her education at the University of Bath, where she was awarded a BPharm Diploma in 1978.

Sandra Gidley became a locum pharmacist in 1982 before joining Safeway as a supermarket pharmacy manager in 1992, and joined Tesco in the same position in 1999 where she remained until her election to the House of Commons.

On 17 July 2019, Sandra Gidley was announced as the first female President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

Sandra Gidley was followed by another woman, Claire Anderson, in 2021.

Sandra Gidley joined the Liberal Democrats in 1994, was elected as a councillor to the Test Valley Borough Council in 1995 and was, in 1997, the youngest ever female mayor of Romsey.

Sandra Gidley won the by-election, on 4 May, with a majority of 3,311 votes and won in the 2001 and 2005 general elections.

Sandra Gidley was appointed as the party's spokeswoman on women's issues and older people from 2001.

In January 2006, as Kennedy faced allegations of a drink problem, Sandra Gidley was one of 11 members of the front-bench team to write to Kennedy asking him to resign.

Sandra Gidley chaired her party's Gender Balance Task Force, an initiative to get more women into politics.

Sandra Gidley was found to have "accepted one-off cash payment from the owners of an apartment block close to Parliament in return for agreeing to pay higher rent levels".

Sandra Gidley stood unsuccessfully in the 2013 Hampshire County Council election against incumbent Conservative Councillor Roy Perry, former Member of the European Parliament and the father of Caroline Nokes, the Conservative candidate who defeated her in 2010.

Sandra Gidley appeared on the BBC and admitted that the Lib Dems had 'screwed up'.

Sandra Gidley did not know of or raise specific allegations.

Sandra Gidley was for many years a voluntary antenatal teacher with the National Childbirth Trust and has been involved with many charitable organisations.

Sandra Gidley enjoys badminton, and lists reading, cookery and the theatre amongst her hobbies, and is a supporter of Macmillan Cancer Relief.