20 Facts About Sandra Osborne

Sandra Currie Osborne is a Scottish Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock from the 2005 to 2015 general elections.

Sandra Osborne was first elected as MP for the Ayr constituency in 1997, and resigned from a government job in 2003 over the Iraq War.

Sandra Osborne was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2013.

Sandra Osborne was educated at Camphill Secondary School in Paisley.

Sandra Osborne later attended evening classes before going on to Jordanhill College where she gained the Diploma in Community Education.

Sandra Osborne was the councillor for Whitletts on Kyle and Carrick District Council and South Ayrshire Council where she served as Convener of Community Services.

Sandra Osborne is a member of the trade union Unite and has been active in the Labour Party since 1976, serving for a time as Ayr CLP Secretary.

Sandra Osborne was selected as a Labour candidate in Ayr from an all-women shortlist.

Sandra Osborne served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Helen Liddell, the Secretary of State for Scotland, from June 2002 until she stepped down in March 2003 over her opposition to going to war with Iraq.

Sandra Osborne believed this should not have gone ahead without a second UN resolution.

Sandra Osborne had previously served as PPS to George Foulkes, Minister of State at the Scotland Office and to his predecessor in that post, Brian Wilson.

Sandra Osborne has served as Chair of the Scottish Group of Labour MPs and member of the Scottish Executive of the Labour Party.

Sandra Osborne has served as Chair of the All Party Group on Meningitis.

Sandra Osborne was a member of the Kerley Committee on the Renewal of Local Democracy, providing a minority report opposing proportional representation.

In June 2004, Sandra Osborne was selected as the Labour candidate for the new constituency of Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, where she was returned at the 2005 general election with a majority of 9,997 votes.

Sandra Osborne served on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010.

Sandra Osborne was Secretary of the All Party Group on Colombia and the Women, Peace and Security Group.

On 6 May 2010, Sandra Osborne was re-elected as MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock with a majority of 9,911 votes.

Sandra Osborne was reappointed to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2013.

Sandra Osborne's husband is Alastair Osborne, who was the Labour candidate in the same Ayr constituency in 1992 that Sandra Osborne gained for her party in 1997.