Shirley Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby

Shirley Williams, The Baroness Williams of Crosby PC (born 27 July 1930) is a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister, she was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. In 2001-2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and now serves as Advisor on Nuclear Proliferation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Williams ... more

Shirley Williams, The Baroness Williams of Crosby PC (born 27 July 1930) is a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister, she was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981. In 2001-2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and now serves as Advisor on Nuclear Proliferation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Williams also serves as Professor Emerita of Electoral Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Born Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Catlin, Williams is the daughter of a political scientist and philosopher Sir George Catlin, and pacifist and writer Vera Brittain. She was educated at Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth, St Paul's Girls' School, London, and Somerville College, Oxford, where she was an Open Scholar. As a member of the OUDS she toured the USA playing the role of Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear. She was... less