Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

50
Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey bigraphy, stories - British politician

Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey : biography

29 April 1942 –

Lynda, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey PC (née Bates; born 29 April 1942) is a British Conservative politician who was Member of Parliament for Wallasey from 1974 to 1992. She served as Minister of State for Overseas Development and Africa at the Foreign Office, in the Conservative government from 1989 to 1997.

Baroness Chalker headed the British delegation which participated in the first Tokyo International Conference on African Development in October 1993.Japan, Ministry for Foreign Affairs:

She was educated at Roedean (where she was head girl), Heidelberg University, Queen Mary, University of London and the Polytechnic of Central London, and worked as a statistician and market research manager, including a spell with Shell-Mex and BP, before entering Parliament as MP for Wallasey, Merseyside, succeeding the former Cabinet minister Ernest Marples. She held a number of government posts, including spells as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Security from 1979–82 and at the Department of Transport from 1982–83. In 1983 she became Minister of State at Transport, being appointed Minister for Europe in 1986. Chalker was granted a life peerage as Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, of Leigh-on-Sea in the County of Essex in 1992, after losing her seat at the General Election of that year.

She jointly holds the 20th century record for continuous government service, along with Kenneth Clarke, Malcolm Rifkind, Tony Newton and Patrick Mayhew, as she held office for the entire duration of the Conservatives’ eighteen years in power.

Post Parliament

Baroness Chalker is the Chairman of Africa Matters Limited, an independent consultancy which provides advice and assistance to companies initiating,developing or growing their activities in Africa. She is Chairman of Pasco Risk Management and a member of the international advisory boards of Lafarge et Cie. In addition, Lady Chalker sits on the Board of Trustees of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF – www.icfafrica.org) an organization that works to remove the barriers of trade facing African nations.

Baroness Chalker is the Coordinator of Nigeria’s of Honorary International Investor Council, first for President Obasanjo, then President Yar ‘Adua and now for President Goodluck of Nigeria. She is also a Consultant for Uganda’s Presidential Investors Roundtable (PIRT) that advises the President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, on ways to improve Uganda’s investment climate and competitiveness.

Lady Chalker is a Member of the Board of Trustees of Sentebale, a Charity set-up to reach Lesotho’s most needy and vulnerable children, many of whom are the victims of extreme poverty and Lesotho’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. She is also the Founder of the , which seeks to support the improvement of healthcare in Africa.

Baroness Chalker held the position of Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility and Reputation Committee for Unilever retiring in May 2007 having served three terms of three years. Lynda joined the Board of Unilever as an Advisory Director in 1998 becoming a Non-Executive Director in 2004. She also served on Africa Advisory Board of Renaissance Capital. Lady Chalker is a former Chairman of the Medicines for Malaria Venture, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease endemic countries. She is a former Non-Executive Director of Group Five (Pty).

She was awarded the Livingstone Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 2000. http://www.rsgs.org/awardsandmedals/