{{Short description|British politician (born 1951)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Use British English|date=April 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Baroness Ludford | honorific_suffix = | image = Official portrait of Baroness Ludford crop 2, 2024.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2024 | office = [[Member of the European Parliament]] <br/> for [[London (European Parliament constituency)|London]] | term_start = 10 June 1999 | term_end = 22 May 2014 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = [[Seb Dance]] | office1 = [[Islington London Borough Council|Islington Borough Councillor]]<br />for Clerkenwell Ward | term_start1 = 7 November 1991 | term_end1 = 10 June 1999 | predecessor1 = Paul Matthews | successor1 = Isabelle Humphreys | office3 = [[Member of the House of Lords]] | status3 = [[Lord Temporal]] | term_label3 = [[Life peer]]age | term_start3 = 30 September 1997 | term_end3 = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|3|14|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Halesworth]], East Suffolk, England | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Steve Hitchins | relations = | children = | alma_mater = [[London School of Economics|LSE]] | party = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] | occupation = }} '''Sarah Ann Ludford, Baroness Ludford''' (born 14 March 1951) is a British-Irish [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician and member of the [[House of Lords]]. She served as a [[Member of the European Parliament]] (MEP) for London from 1999 until 2014.
==Early life and education== Ludford was born in the [[Blyth Rural District]] of [[East Suffolk (county)|East Suffolk]] to an English father and an Irish mother and grew up in [[Hampshire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://twitter.com/SarahLudford/status/1322991530878160902|title=Yes @D0Sullivan; what it gave me (born in Suffolk, raised in Hants, uni in Lon, all S Eng) was a sense that there was a wider dimension to my identity|author=Sarah Ludford|via=Twitter|date=1 November 2020|accessdate=10 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://twitter.com/SarahLudford/status/750170577596473344|title=My mother wd hv been 98 today. Born July 5th 1918 in Dublin; mother Irish, fthr English.|author=Sarah Ludford|via=Twitter|date=1 November 2020|accessdate=10 March 2021}}</ref> On a scholarship, she attended the independent [[Portsmouth High School (Southsea)|Portsmouth High School]]. She went on to graduate with a [[Bachelor of Science]] and a [[Master of Science]], both from the [[London School of Economics]]. She subsequently qualified as a [[barrister]], joining [[Gray's Inn]] in 1979.<ref>[http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/21307/Sarah-Ludford-LUDFORD Debrett's People of Today] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140527184815/http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/21307/Sarah-Ludford-LUDFORD |date=27 May 2014 }}</ref>
==Political career== Ludford was created a [[life peer]] as '''Baroness Ludford''', of [[Clerkenwell]] in the [[London Borough of Islington]] on 30 September 1997,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54913|date=7 October 1997|page=11279}}</ref> after serving as a [[Councillor]] for the [[London Borough of Islington]] 1991–99. Having unsuccessfully fought [[London Central (European Parliament constituency)|London Central]] in [[1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1989]] and [[1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|1994]], she was elected MEP for [[London (European Parliament constituency)|London]] at the [[1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|European Parliament election in 1999]] and returned in [[2004 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2004]] and [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009]], before losing her [[seat]] in [[2014 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2014]].<ref name=Standard>[https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/european-elections-london-bucks-ukip-voting-trend-as-labour-doubles-mep-9434585.html European Elections] at ''[[London Evening Standard]]''.</ref>
A 2008 rule change by the [[European Parliament]], which disqualified MEPs from [[dual mandate#European Parliament|simultaneously serving]] as members of their national legislature, initially prevented Ludford from taking her seat in the House of Lords in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|UK Parliament]] due to her re-election to the European Parliament in the [[2009 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom|2009 election]].<ref>In October 2008, the European Parliament's rules changed precluding MEPs from the right to sit and vote in any member-state's national parliament, thus enforcing their suspension. This satisfied the new European Parliament rules and hence, Baroness Ludford, the only [[Member of the European Parliament|British parliamentarian]] to whom this applied at the time, was not allowed to vote in the [[House of Lords|Lords]] while serving as an [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]].</ref>
She remains a member of the Liberal Democrat groups [[Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel|Friends of Israel]] and [[Liberal Democrat Friends of Turkey|Friends of Turkey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.libdemvoice.org/sarah-ludford-my-first-party-conference-memories-1332.html|title=Sarah Ludford: my first party conference memories}}</ref>
==Political positions== A longstanding opponent of capital punishment, Baroness Ludford has been pressing European drug companies not to supply executioners in the United States with sedatives.<ref>Steven Erlanger (30 April 2014), [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/us/outrage-across-ideological-spectrum-in-europe-over-flawed-lethal-injection-in-us.html Outrage Across Ideological Spectrum in Europe Over Flawed Lethal Injection in U.S.] ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> Ludford has expressed support for [[LGB Alliance]].<ref>{{cite web | last=Milton | first=Josh | title=Liberal Democrats shut down LGB Alliance's party conference claim | website=PinkNews | date=13 July 2022 | url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/07/13/lgb-alliance-liberal-democrats-conference/ | access-date=19 July 2024}}</ref>
==Other activities== * [[Fair Trials International]], Patron * [[Justice (organisation)|JUSTICE]], Vice President<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sarah Ludford |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/sarah-ludford |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ludford lives in [[Islington]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url= https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/baroness-warns-over-islington-pollution-3685388|title=Baroness warns over Islington pollution|journal=Islington Gazette|first=Tom|last=Marshall|date=1 August 2011|accessdate=10 March 2021}}</ref> She was married to Steve Hitchins, Leader of [[Islington Borough Council]] (2000–06),<ref>[http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2013/dec/former-lib-dem-council-leader-steve-hitchins-named-new-chairman-whittington-hospital www.camdennewjournal.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101205105/http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2013/dec/former-lib-dem-council-leader-steve-hitchins-named-new-chairman-whittington-hospital |date=1 January 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6347266/British-MEPs-exploit-loophole-to-pay-relatives-to-work-for-them.html|title=British MEPs exploit loophole to pay relatives to work for them|author=Jon Swaine and Bruno Waterfield|date=16 October 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> until his death in September 2019.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Sarah Ludford}} *[http://www.burkespeerage.com/ www.burkespeerage.com] *[http://www.sarahludfordmep.org.uk/ Sarah Ludford MEP] official site *[https://archive.today/20070314010122/http://www.europarl.eu.int/members/expert/groupAndCountry/view.do?partNumber=1&group=1550&country=GB&language=EN&id=4529 Sarah Ludford] profile at the European Parliament *[http://www.libdems.org.uk/sarah_ludford] profile at the site of the Liberal Democrats
{{Current Liberal Democrat Peers}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludford, Baroness Ludford, Sarah}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:1951 births]] [[Category:20th-century women MEPs for England]] [[Category:21st-century women MEPs for England]] [[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]] [[Category:Councillors in the London Borough of Islington]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers]] [[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs]] [[Category:MEPs for England 1999–2004]] [[Category:MEPs for England 2004–2009]] [[Category:MEPs for England 2009–2014]] [[Category:People educated at Portsmouth High School (Southsea)]] [[Category:People from Halesworth]] [[Category:Politicians from Hampshire]] [[Category:Politicians from Suffolk]] [[Category:English people of Irish descent]] [[Category:Women councillors in England]] [[Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]