Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
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The Right Honourable The Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne |
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Member of the European Parliament for South East England |
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In office 10 June 1999 – 4 June 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Catherine Bearder |
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Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon |
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In office 11 June 1987 – 1 May 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Peter Mills |
| Succeeded by | John Burnett |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
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Assumed office 3 November 1997 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Emma Harriet Nicholson 16 October 1941 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Other political affiliations |
Liberal Democrats (1995–2016) |
| Occupation | Politician |
Emma Harriet Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (born 16 October 1941) is a British politician, who has been a life peer since 1997. She was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon in 1987, before switching to the Liberal Democrats in 1995. She was also Lib Dem Member of the European Parliament for South East England from 1999 to 2009. On 10 September 2016 she announced she was re-joining the Conservative Party "with tremendous pleasure" and would sit on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords.
Born in Oxford and a descendant of the family which founded London gin distillers J&W Nicholson & Co, Lady Nicholson is the third of four daughters of Sir Godfrey Nicholson, Bt and his wife, Lady Katharine (the fifth daughter of the 27th Earl of Crawford). She was diagnosed as deaf at the age of 16. She was educated at St Mary's School, Wantage and the Royal Academy of Music. Prior to her political career, she was a computer programmer and systems analyst from 1962 to 1974, and a director of the Save the Children Foundation from 1974 to 1985.
Lady Nicholson contested the constituency of Blyth in 1979, but was defeated. She was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon in 1987, having acting as vice-chairman of the Conservative Party between 1983 and 1987. She defected to the Liberal Democrats in 1995, telling Robin Oakley, the BBC's then Political Editor: "The Conservative Party has changed so much, while my principles have not changed at all. I would argue that it is not so much a case of my leaving the party, but the party leaving me". She describes her crossing the floor in her biography 'Secret Society' published in 1996.
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