Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (; 21 April 1952 – 4 April 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2010 to 2012.
Before her parliamentary career, Gillan was a marketing executive for several companies. She was first elected to the House of Commons in 1992 and served as an MP for 29 years. She was a junior minister for Education and Employment from 1995 to 1997 in John Major's government. After 1997, she served as a Conservative whip and as a spokesperson for Trade and Industry, foreign affairs and home affairs. She was the Shadow Welsh Secretary from 2005 to 2010. She served in David Cameron's cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales after the 2010 general election until a reshuffle in September 2012. She was awarded a damehood in the 2018 New Year Honours.
Early life
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan was born in Llandaff, a district of Cardiff, in 1952. Her father, Major Adam Mitchell Gillan, was a former British Army officer and a director of a steel company, while her mother, Mona Elsie Freeman, was a Wren. She was brought up in South Wales and her family farms near Usk. She was educated at Elm Tree House and Norfolk House primary schools in Cardiff before her family left Wales when she was aged 11. Gillan attended the independent Cheltenham Ladies' College and the College of Law. She was a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Business career
Gillan joined the International Management Group in 1977 before becoming a director with the British Film Year in 1984. In 1986, she was appointed a senior marketing consultant at Ernst & Young before becoming a marketing director with Kidsons Impey from 1991 to 1993. She became a Freeman of the City of London in 1991 and was a member of the Livery of the Worshipful Company of Marketors.
Political career
Gillan was chairman of the Bow Group from 1987 to 1988. She unsuccessfully contested the Greater Manchester Central seat in the 1989 European Parliament election. She was elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election for the Buckinghamshire seat of Chesham and Amersham. She won the seat with a majority of 22,220 and remained the MP until her death. She made her maiden speech on 25 June 1992.
In her early years in Parliament, Gillan served on the select committees for Science and Technology (1992–1995) and for Procedure (1994–1995). She was also the Secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Space and a board member of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in 1995. In 1994, she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal, Viscount Cranborne.
In July 1995, Gillan joined the government as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Education and Employment. In this role, she expanded the specialist schools programme to include Arts and Sports colleges, something she considered to be one of her proudest achievements in politics. After the 1997 general election – with the Conservative Party now in Opposition – she became a spokesperson for Trade and Industry as well as for education in June 1997 (with there being so few Conservative frontbenchers left that several held more than one shadow post). During this time, she opposed the abolition of the Assisted Places Scheme. From June 1998, shadow minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and International Development. From September 2001 until June 2003, she served in the whip's office. In December 2003, she became a shadow minister for Home, Constitutional and Legal Affairs.
Gillan represented the British Islands and the Mediterranean on the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) from 2000 until 2003 and was later elected treasurer of the CPA from 2003 until 2006. She was a member of the Parliamentary Association of NATO from 2003 to 2005.
She was the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism, and responsible for introducing the Autism Act 2009 through a Private Member's Bill.