Shirley Williams

The Right Honourable The Baroness Williams of Crosby CH PC
Williams in 2014
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords
In office 7 June 2001 – 24 November 2004
Leader	Charles Kennedy
Preceded by	The Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank
Succeeded by	The Lord McNally
President of the Social Democratic Party
In office 7 July 1982 – 29 August 1987
Leader	Roy Jenkins David Owen
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	John Cartwright
Secretary of State for Education and Science
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Fred Mulley
Succeeded by	Mark Carlisle
Paymaster General
In office 10 September 1976 – 4 May 1979
Prime Minister	James Callaghan
Preceded by	Edmund Dell
Succeeded by	Angus Maude
Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection
In office 5 March 1974 – 10 September 1976
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson James Callaghan
Preceded by	Peter Walker (as Trade and Industry Secretary)
Succeeded by	Roy Hattersley
Junior ministerial offices Minister of State for Home Affairs In office 13 October 1969 – 23 June 1970 Prime Minister Harold Wilson Preceded by The Lord Stonham Succeeded by Richard Sharples Minister of State for Education and Science In office 29 August 1967 – 13 October 1969 Prime Minister Harold Wilson Preceded by Goronwy Roberts Succeeded by Alice Bacon
Shadow Cabinet offices Shadow Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection In office 4 May 1973 – 5 March 1974 Leader Harold Wilson Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Sally Oppenheim-Barnes Shadow Home Secretary In office 19 October 1971 – 4 May 1973 Leader Harold Wilson Preceded by James Callaghan Succeeded by Roy Jenkins Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Services In office 19 June 1970 – 19 October 1971 Leader Harold Wilson Preceded by Richard Crossman Succeeded by Barbara Castle
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 1 February 1993 – 11 February 2016 Member of Parliament for Crosby In office 26 November 1981 – 13 May 1983 Preceded by Graham Page Succeeded by Malcolm Thornton Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stevenage In office 28 February 1974 – 7 April 1979 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Bowen Wells Member of Parliament for Hitchin In office 15 October 1964 – 8 February 1974 Preceded by Martin Maddan Succeeded by Ian Stewart
Personal details
Born	Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Catlin (1930-07-27)27 July 1930 Chelsea, London, England
Died	12 April 2021(2021-04-12) (aged 90) Little Hadham, England
Political party	Labour (before 1981) SDP (1981–1988) Liberal Democrats (from 1988)
Spouses	Bernard Williams ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1974)​ Richard Neustadt ​ ​ (m. 1987; died 2003)​
Children	1
Parents	Sir George Catlin (father) Vera Brittain (mother)
Academic background
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford Columbia University
Academic work
Institutions	Harvard Kennedy School
Main interests	Electoral politics

Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams, Baroness Williams of Crosby, CH, PC (née Catlin; 27 July 1930 – 12 April 2021) was a British politician and academic. Originally a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP), she served in the Labour cabinet from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the "Gang of Four" rebels who founded the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981 and, at the time of her retirement from politics, was a Liberal Democrat.^[1]

Williams was elected to the House of Commons for Hitchin in the 1964 general election. She served as minister for Education and Science from 1967 to 1969 and Minister of State for Home Affairs from 1969 to 1970. She served as Shadow Home Secretary from 1971 and 1973. In 1974, she became Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection in Harold Wilson's cabinet. When Wilson was succeeded by James Callaghan, she served as Secretary of State for Education and Science and Paymaster General from 1976 to 1979. She lost her seat to the Conservative Party at the 1979 general election.

In 1981, dismayed with the Labour Party's left-ward movement under Michael Foot, she was one of the "Gang of Four"—centrist Labour figures who formed the SDP. Williams won the 1981 Crosby by-election and became the first SDP member elected to Parliament, but she lost the seat in the 1983 general election. She served as President of the SDP from 1982 to 1987 and supported the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party that formed the Liberal Democrats.

Between 2001 and 2004, she served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords and, from 2007 to 2010, as Adviser on Nuclear Proliferation to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. She remained an active member of the House of Lords until announcing her retirement in January 2016, and was a Professor Emerita of Electoral Politics at Harvard Kennedy School at the time of her death at age 90, having been one of the last surviving members of the Labour governments of the 1970s.