GOV.UK
Minister of State
Baroness Goldie DL
Biography
Baroness Goldie is a Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence having been appointed in July, 2019. She was a Baroness in Waiting and Government Whip in the House of Lords for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Ministry of Defence from July 2016 to July 2019.
Baroness Goldie was a Scottish Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland Region from 1999 until 2016. She was the Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2005 until 2011.
She joined the House of Lords in October 2013.
Baroness Goldie has lived most of her life in the village of Bishopton in Renfrewshire. She attended Kilmalcolm Primary school and Greenock Academy. She studied at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, graduating with an LLB in 1971.
She was a solicitor and partner with Glasgow law firm Donaldson, Alexander, Russell and Haddow from 1978 to 2006. She is an Elder in the Church of Scotland and sits on the West of Scotland Advisory Board of the Salvation Army.
Minister of State
Spokesperson in the House of Lords on all defence matters, responsible for corporate governance, international arms control and counter-proliferation, European Union (EU) and Asia/Far East defence engagement.
Responsibilities include:
- corporate governance including transformation programme; single departmental plan, risk reporting and health, safety and security
- EU relations, including Brexit (excluding No Deal planning)
- engagement with retired senior Defence personnel and wider opinion formers
- arms control and counter-proliferation, including strategic export licensing and chemical and biological weapons
- UK Hydrographic Office
- Statutory Instrument programme
- Australia, Asia and Far East defence engagement
- Defence Fire and Rescue
- safety and security
- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland devolved authorities
- ship wrecks, museums and heritage
- ministerial correspondence and PQs
Previous roles in government
-
Baroness in Waiting (Government Whip)
- 2016 to 2019