Constituency : Torridge and West Devon 1987-95 ( Conservative ), 1995-97
Emma gave the Liberal Democrats a belated Christmas present when she defected from the Tories, a move facilitated by her constituency neighbour Nick Harvey. She cited progressive disillusionment with the Tories and said the sight of a pregnant woman in handcuffs had been the final straw.
Emma was a baronet's daughter from Oxford. The family made their money in gin distilling. She was diagnosed deaf at 16. She was educated at St Mary's School, Wantage and the Royal School of Music. She started work as a computer programmer then became director of Save The Children in 1974. She contested Blyth from the Tories in 1979, coming third behind the renegade former Labour MP Eddie Milne. She was a vice-chairman of the Tory party between 1983 and 1987. She held Torridge and West Devon for the Tories in 1987 with a reduced majority which was further eroded by the Liberal Democrats in 1992. She was active in supporting the Kurds after the Gulf War and later accused Jeffrey Archer of embezzling some of the funds raised. She was on the left of the party calling for the banning of page three girls and the abandonment of the poll tax.
Emma did not seek to retain her seat but instead became a life peer and an MEP in 1999. She served on a number of international delegations and was particularly active in opposing international adoptions She stood down in 2009. She continued to be involved in international affairs in the Lords and became a trade envoy for Iraq in 2014.
In 2016, Emma resigned the whip to sit as a crossbencher then rejoined the Tories two months later using Theresa May's support for grammar schools as an excuse.
She is now 77.
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