1. Sarah Wollaston was born on 17 February 1962 and is a British former Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament for Totnes from 2010 to 2019.
53 Facts About Sarah Wollaston
1. 2.
Sarah Wollaston was chair of the Health Select Committee from 2014 to 2019 and chair of the Liaison Committee from 2017 to 2019.
3.
Sarah Wollaston was selected as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Totnes through an open primary; during the campaign, she emphasised that she was not a career politician and had a professional career.
4.
Sarah Wollaston was born in February 1962 in Woking, Surrey, into a military family.
5.
Whilst at secondary school, Sarah Wollaston took on a range of part-time jobs, including a Saturday job at her local branch of John Lewis.
6.
Sarah Wollaston left sixth form with high grades in science subjects at A-level, which she needed to study Medicine at university.
7.
In 1980, Sarah Wollaston entered Guy's Hospital Medical School in London as a medical student.
8.
Sarah Wollaston took an intercalated degree in pathology in the third year of her undergraduate career, gaining a Bachelor of Science degree in the subject.
9.
Sarah Wollaston embarked on a career in hospital paediatrics but, after five years as a junior doctor in London, she moved to Bristol to train as a general practitioner, qualifying as a family doctor in 1992.
10.
Sarah Wollaston then moved to Devon to work as a part-time GP in a town on the edge of Dartmoor.
11.
Sarah Wollaston remains on the medical register, but ceased practising medicine in 2010 on her election to Parliament.
12.
Sarah Wollaston joined the Conservative Party in 2006, having been spurred into politics by her opposition to the threatened closure of Moretonhampstead Community Hospital.
13.
However, Sarah Wollaston accepted that she had "no background in politics" when in 2009 she put her name forward for the selection of a candidate for the Totnes constituency, citing as qualifications "only real life experience, approachability and enthusiasm".
14.
Sarah Wollaston later said that she might not have put her name forward had she known that the selection was to be by open primary.
15.
Sarah Wollaston later supported curbs on low priced alcoholic drinks.
16.
Sarah Wollaston later said "I have no doubt that I was selected because I had no track record in politics", but one Totnes Conservative member told The Guardian of his fear that without a political background, she was the candidate Liberal Democrats could most easily defeat.
17.
The local branch of Liberal Democrats denied that they were behind rumours that Sarah Wollaston intended to continue to practise medicine on a part-time basis.
18.
Sarah Wollaston accepted that the scandal over Anthony Steen's expenses claims had damaged the Conservative Party's chances, and declined his offer of the use of his home to run the Conservative campaign.
19.
Sarah Wollaston pledged to vote in a eurosceptic direction and to support a bypass for Kingskerswell.
20.
Sarah Wollaston later said that she would not have been able to "look [her] constituents in the eye" if she had signed away her ability to speak on the issues she had been elected on.
21.
Sarah Wollaston successfully pressed the Government to take up the way the European Union's Working Time Directive applied to junior doctors' training, saying that it was causing patient care to suffer.
22.
In March 2013, Sarah Wollaston was reselected by her local Conservative Association to fight the 2015 general election as the Conservative candidate.
23.
Sarah Wollaston went on to state that "one of the things that annoys people is telling them that they didn't know what they were voting for", rejecting the idea of holding a second referendum.
24.
Sarah Wollaston was returned with a reduced majority of 13,477, despite gaining 2,031 more votes.
25.
Sarah Wollaston was appointed chair of the Liaison Committee after the election.
26.
On 20 February 2019, Sarah Wollaston resigned from the Conservative Party, along with two other MPs from her party, joining The Independent Group, later styled Change UK, a party advocating for a second referendum.
27.
Sarah Wollaston herself switched parties on 20 February 2019, but did not call a by-election.
28.
Chair of Totnes and South Devon Labour Party Lynn Alderson said Sarah Wollaston "made her views clear".
29.
Sarah Wollaston acknowledged the likely calls for her to face a by-election but refused such a proposal, stating "neither this nor a general election would answer the fundamental question that is dividing us".
30.
Sarah Wollaston was the sponsor of the Stalking Protection Act 2019.
31.
On 14 August 2019, Sarah Wollaston joined the Liberal Democrats campaigning under the slogan "Stop Brexit".
32.
Sarah Wollaston sought re-election as Liberal Democrat candidate for Totnes, but finished second to the Conservative party candidate Anthony Mangnall, losing by a margin of 12,724 votes.
33.
In March 2011, Sarah Wollaston warned David Cameron that the government's NHS reforms would result in the NHS going "belly up".
34.
Sarah Wollaston warned that the reorganisation would result in confusion with doctors being overwhelmed.
35.
Sarah Wollaston said there was a risk that Monitor, the new regulator would be filled with "competition economists" who would change the NHS beyond recognition and there was no point "liberating" the NHS from political control only to shackle it to an unelected economic regulator.
36.
When plans to introduce minimum pricing were shelved by the Government in 2013, Sarah Wollaston strongly criticised David Cameron and Department for Health Ministers, saying that the change in policy was due to lobbying by Conservative Party strategist Lynton Crosby, whose firm had strong ties to the alcohol industry.
37.
Sarah Wollaston was elected as a member of the Health Select Committee upon entering Parliament, and became chair of the Committee in June 2014 after Stephen Dorrell retired.
38.
Sarah Wollaston defeated fellow GP Phillip Lee, Caroline Spelman, Charlotte Leslie, and David Tredinnick to the role.
39.
Sarah Wollaston was re-elected to this position after the 2015 general election.
40.
Sarah Wollaston said the Government should publish details of agency charges as transparency would "drive changes to behaviour".
41.
Sarah Wollaston was reckoned by the Health Service Journal to be the 20th-most influential person in the English NHS in 2015.
42.
Sarah Wollaston voted in favour of allowing same-sex marriage in 2013, writing that "people who are gay should be allowed to celebrate their love and commitment in a context that society understands".
43.
Sarah Wollaston rebelled against the Government to vote against setting up a Royal Charter to regulate the press, claiming that many of the activities which had led to the proposal were already illegal and were being exploited to justify censoring the free press.
44.
Sarah Wollaston was the only Conservative politician to vote for a pause in the roll-out of Universal Credit on 18 October 2017.
45.
Sarah Wollaston has often spoken out against political patronage in Westminster and the role of the payroll vote in silencing dissent amongst MPs.
46.
Sarah Wollaston has suggested that vacancies for Parliamentary Private Secretary roles should put out for application and interview to find the most qualified candidate, rather than the candidate most in favour with the government.
47.
Sarah Wollaston said that the cost could be significantly lower than that of the Totnes primary by combining local and European elections with primary elections.
48.
Sarah Wollaston said such a move could escalate into a wider conflict with hundreds of thousands of victims.
49.
Sarah Wollaston cited strong opposition to intervention by her constituents as a key factor in deciding to vote against.
50.
Sarah Wollaston initially supported the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, stating in an article in The Guardian following David Cameron's renegotiation of membership terms in February 2016 that "the prime minister has returned with a threadbare deal that has highlighted our powerlessness to effect institutional change" and that "the balance of our national interest now lies outside the EU".
51.
Sarah Wollaston suggested that leaving the EU would harm the UK's economy, leading to a "Brexit penalty".
52.
In December 2017, Sarah Wollaston voted along with fellow Conservative Dominic Grieve and nine other Conservative MPs against the government, and in favour of guaranteeing Parliament a "meaningful vote" on any deal Theresa May agrees with Brussels over Brexit.
53.
Sarah Wollaston supported the People's Vote campaign for a public vote on the final Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.