Gillian Shephard - Definition and Overview

The Right Honourable Gillian Shephard née Watts (born January 22, 1940) is an English Conservative politician, the member of Parliament for South West Norfolk, and a former Secretary of State.

She was educated at Oxford University after which she became a school teacher and a member of Norfolk County Council. She was elected to Parliament in 1987, and became PPS to Peter Lilley in 1988. She was made Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of Social Security in 1989, and then in 1990 Minister of State at HM Treasury. In 1991 she was given the additional role of Deputy Chairman of the Party.

After the 1992 general election, she was made Secretary of State for Employment, then Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1993. She moved to Secretary of State for Education in 1995, and stayed at the department when the Department for Employment merged into it. She remained in this position until the 1997 general election.

After the defeat of the Conservatives, William Hague made her Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, and then Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions in 1998. She returned to the backbenches in 1999.