{{Short description|British politician, life peer (born 1941)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox officeholder |honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable |name = The Baroness Nicholson<br />of Winterbourne |image = Official portrait of Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne crop 2, 2025 2.jpg |caption = Official portrait, 2025 | office = Member of the House of Lords | status = Lord Temporal | term_label = Life peerage | term_start = 3 November 1997 |office1 = Member of the European Parliament <br />for South East England |term_start1 = 10 June 1999 |term_end1 = 4 June 2009 |predecessor1 = ''Position established'' |successor1 = Catherine Bearder |office2 = Member of Parliament <br />for Torridge and West Devon |term_start2 = 11 June 1987 |term_end2 = 8 April 1997 |predecessor2 = Peter Mills |successor2 = John Burnett |birth_name = Emma Harriet Nicholson |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|10|16|df=yes}} |birth_place = Oxford, England |party = Conservative (before 1995; since 2016)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/baroness-nicholson-of-winterbourne/1164 |title=Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne |publisher=House of Commons of the United Kingdom |access-date=23 June 2020}}</ref> |other_party = Liberal Democrats (1995–Jul. 2016)<br />Non-affiliated (Jul.–Sept. 2016) |spouse = {{marriage|Sir Michael Harris Caine|1987|1999|end = died}} |children = 1 |relatives = Reginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne (uncle)<br/>John Manningham-Buller, 2nd Viscount Dilhorne (cousin)<br/>Eliza Manningham-Buller (cousin) }}
'''Emma Harriet Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne''' (born 16 October 1941) is a British politician, who has been a life peer since 1997. She was elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Torridge and West Devon in 1987, before switching to the Liberal Democrats in 1995. Nicholson was also a Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 1999 to 2009. In 2016, she announced she was rejoining the Conservative Party "with tremendous pleasure".<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37329394|title=Lib Dems' Baroness Nicholson rejoins Conservatives|date=10 September 2016|work=BBC News|access-date=23 June 2020}}</ref> In 2017, she was appointed as the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy for Kazakhstan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.kz/en/london/content-view/ambassador-erlan-idrissov-meets-with-baroness-nicholson-trade-envoy-to-kazakhstan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709173329/http://www.mfa.gov.kz/en/london/content-view/ambassador-erlan-idrissov-meets-with-baroness-nicholson-trade-envoy-to-kazakhstan|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2019|title=Ambassador Erlan Idrissov meets with Baroness Nicholson, Trade Envoy to Kazakhstan|publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan|access-date=9 July 2019}}</ref>
==Early life== Born in Oxford and a descendant of the family that founded London gin distillers J&W Nicholson & Co, Nicholson is the third of four daughters of Sir Godfrey Nicholson, Bt and his wife, Lady Katharine (the fifth daughter of the 27th Earl of Crawford). Her uncle was Lord Chancellor in the 1960s,<ref>{{cite web |title=Nicholson, Emma (1 of 7). The History of Parliament Oral History Project – Politics – Oral history {{!}} British Library – Sounds |url=https://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/The-History-of-Parliament-Oral-History-Project/021M-C1503X0062XX-0001V0 |website=sounds.bl.uk |access-date=28 June 2020}}</ref> and his daughter, her cousin Eliza Manningham-Buller, became Director General of MI5.
She was diagnosed as deaf at the age of 16.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/profile-emma-nicholson-not-her-sort-of-party-1527965.html|title=profile: Emma Nicholson: Not her sort of party|first=Andy | last=Beckett|date=31 December 1995|access-date=23 June 2020|location=London}}</ref> She was educated at St Mary's School, Wantage and the Royal Academy of Music.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
==Career== Before her political career, Nicholson was a computer programmer and systems analyst from 1962 to 1974, and a director of the Save the Children Foundation from 1974 to 1985.
She unsuccessfully contested the constituency of Blyth in the 1979 general election. She was elected a Conservative Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon in 1987, having acted as a vice-chairman of the Conservative Party between 1983 and 1987. She defected to the Liberal Democrats in December 1995,<ref>{{cite web |date=30 December 1995 |title=Major's majority cut to three Tory MP defects to Lib Dems MP's defection a severe blow to Government |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12055442.majors-majority-cut-to-three-tory-mp-defects-to-lib-dems-mps-defection-a-severe-blow-to-government/ |access-date=26 June 2022 |website=HeraldScotland }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=31 December 1995 |title=profile: Emma Nicholson: Not her sort of party |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-emma-nicholson-not-her-sort-of-party-1527965.html |access-date=26 June 2022 |website=The Independent }}</ref> telling Robin Oakley, the BBC's Political Editor: "The Conservative Party has changed so much, while my principles have not changed at all. I would argue that it is not so much a case of my leaving the party, but the party leaving me."<ref>{{cite book|title=Secret Society: Inside – and Outside – the Conservative Party |last=Nicholson |first=Emma |date=1996 |publisher=Indigo |isbn=0575400722 |location=London |oclc=36331513}}</ref>
Nicholson fought for the release of Katiza Cebekhulu, the "missing witness" in the case of the death of Stompie Seipei.<ref>{{cite news|last=Southworth|first=Phoebe|date=11 April 2019|title=Winnie Mandela's former bodyguard jailed for threatening bouncer with meat cleaver|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/11/winnie-mandelas-former-bodyguard-jailed-threatening-bouncer/|access-date=23 June 2020|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> The South African national had been part of the so-called Mandela United Football Club, the bodyguards of Winnie Mandela.<ref>{{cite news|last=Henderson|first=Mark|date=11 September 1997|title=Stompie witness 'too scared' of Winnie to testify|newspaper=The Times|url=https://archive.org/stream/NewsUK1997UKEnglish/Sep%2011%201997%2C%20The%20Times%2C%20%2365992%2C%20UK%20%28en%29_djvu.txt|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> Cebekhulu later claimed that Nicholson had demanded £50,000 from him to obtain copyright over a book she had Fred Bridgland written about him; Nicholson denied this, saying her motives were "exclusively humanitarian and honourable".<ref>{{cite news|last=Carlin|first=John|date=17 May 1998|title=An incredible journey ends in bitterness|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/an-incredible-journey-ends-in-bitterness-1158768.html|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>
As an MP Nicholson voted for Section 28 which banned schools and local authorities from promoting homosexuality<ref>{{cite web | url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1987/dec/15/local-government-bill-1 | title=Local Government Bill (Hansard, 15 December 1987) }}</ref> and denounced lesbian families as "neither normal nor natural".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Perry |first1=Sophie |title=Tory peer slammed for comment about Section 28 and Aids |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/10/14/baroness-nicholson-section-28-aids-lgbtq/ |access-date=3 February 2026 |work=PinkNews |date=14 October 2024}}</ref> She also voted against an equal age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals<ref>{{cite web |title=Amendment Of Law Relating To – Hansard – UK Parliament |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1994-02-21/debates/2cff3a37-1689-4247-bfa8-3f2f3d5da45e/AmendmentOfLawRelatingTo |access-date=23 January 2025 |website=hansard.parliament.uk }}</ref> and her opposition to gay rights led a group called the Lesbian Avengers to organise a "tea party-cum-protest" on her lawn.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/lesbian-with-a-vengeance-1589490.html | title=Lesbian with a vengeance | website=Independent.co.uk | date=July 1995 }}</ref>
She was succeeded by John Burnett, later Baron Burnett, in 1997, when Tony Blair won his landslide. That year, Nicholson was made a life peer as '''Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne''', in the Royal County of Berkshire.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=54942|page=12601|date=10 November 1997}}</ref>
==European Parliament== Nicholson became a member of the European Parliament in 1999, joining the Committee on Foreign Affairs<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/homeCom.do?language=EN&body=AFET |title=European Parliament Committees : Foreign Affairs |website=Europarl.europa.eu |access-date=12 May 2016 |archive-date=29 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229153738/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/committees/homeCom.do?language=EN&body=AFET |url-status=dead }}</ref> and serving as the committee's vice-president from 2004 to 2007. She was President of the Delegation for Relations with Iraq and President of the Committee on Women's Rights of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/empa/home/default_en.htm|title=Euromed|website=Europarl.europa.eu}}</ref> Nicholson was also a member of the subcommittee on Human Rights, the Delegation for relations with Iran and the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries (i.e. the eastern Arab world).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/alphaOrder/view.do?language=EN&id=4522 |title=Directory | MEPs | European Parliament |website=Europarl.europa.eu |access-date=12 May 2016}}</ref> She was Rapporteur for Kashmir, and in 2007 her controversial report on Kashmir was passed by a majority of 522 to 9.
During the Iraq War, Nicholson gave evidence to the United Nations that she claimed showed Iraq had "hidden material used to make weapons of mass destruction".<ref>{{cite news|date=4 February 2003|title=Briton gives inspector weapons evidence|newspaper=Cedar Rapids Gazette|agency=Associated Press|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-feb-04-2003-1771764/|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> She described the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes as a "genocide".<ref>{{cite news|last=Lyon|first=David|date=9 May 2003|title=Wetlands of Mesopotamia|work=BBC Newsnight|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/3013841.stm|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>
She has monitored elections in many countries. In 2006, Nicholson was Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Yemen. She was a member of European Union Election Observation Missions to Palestine (2005), Azerbaijan (2005), Lebanon (2005), Afghanistan (2005), Armenia (2007) and Pakistan (2008). In January and December 2005 she was a member of the United Nations Election Observation Missions to Iraq.
She also generated controversy through her strong opposition to international adoptions, which she believed had become a market and subject to corruption. While the European Parliament's Special Rapporteur for Romania's EU accession she and some others in the international<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laprimogenita.it/Documenti/romanadopt.pdf |title=Report on Intercountry Adoption In Romania |access-date=17 February 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212124919/http://laprimogenita.it/Documenti/romanadopt.pdf |archive-date=12 December 2006 }}</ref> community criticised international adoptions. Due partially to her pressure, the Romanian government in 2005 implemented legislation that ''de facto'' banned the practice, in line with practices in some of the EU member states. The measure generated controversy, mainly in the US, Israel, France, Spain and Italy, particularly from prospective parents. International and Romanian media also called attention to poor conditions in Romanian orphanages and hospitals where abandoned children remained for prolonged periods, while acknowledging some progress made in reforming child protection. In December 2005 and July 2006, the EP passed measures requesting Romania deal with outstanding pipeline cases, despite Romania having dismissed these formally through legislation after consultation with an Independent Panel of EU Experts on Family Law. Critics claimed that this panel was stacked with opponents of international adoptions. The U.S. Congress also passed repeated measures and held hearings opposing the ban.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Nicholson stood down from the European Parliament at the 2009 elections.
==House of Lords== In 2009, Lady Nicholson returned to London and resumed her political work at the House of Lords. In February 2010, she founded the All-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Business Development in Iraq and the Regions<ref>{{cite book |url=https://products.abc-clio.com/abc-cliocorporate/product.aspx?pc=A3120C |title=A Biographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Genocide: Portraits of Evil and Good |publisher=ABC-CLIO |last=Bartrop |first=Paul R. |author-link=Paul R. Bartrop |year=2012 |location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=232 |isbn=978-0313386787}}</ref> and has served as its chair.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.aei.org/events/rebuilding-lives-systems-and-confidence-after-the-arab-spring/ |title=Rebuilding Lives, Systems and Confidence After the Arab Spring |publisher=American Enterprise Institute |date=30 January 2012 |access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> She is also a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Human Trafficking, chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Foreign Affairs and speaks regularly on health care and education in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and business development in Iraq and its wider neighbourhood.<ref>{{cite web|author=Hansard, House of Lords |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldhansrd/ldallfiles/peers/lord_hansard_2110_od.html |title=UK Parliament – Archives |website=Publications.parliament.uk |access-date=12 May 2016}}</ref> In 2013 she argued that the Iraq War was "resoundingly" worth it, and claiming Liberal Democrat party members who took an opposing stance were "guilty of hypocrisy".<ref>{{cite news|last=Nicholson|first=Emma|date=19 March 2013|title=Emma Nicholson writes: Was the war worth it? ... a resounding Yes from me|work=Liberal Democrat Voice|url=https://www.libdemvoice.org/emma-nicholson-writes-was-the-war-worth-it-a-resounding-yes-from-me-33733.html|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref> She was appointed as Prime Minister's Trade Envoy for Iraq<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/baroness-nicholson-appointed-as-new-united-kingdom-trade-envoy-to-iraq |title=Baroness Nicholson appointed as new United Kingdom Trade Envoy to Iraq – News articles |website=GOV.UK |date=30 January 2014 |access-date=12 May 2016}}</ref> on 30 January 2014.
She resigned the Liberal Democrat whip in July 2016, to sit as a non-affiliated member. However, on 10 September 2016, she announced she was re-joining the Conservative Party "with tremendous pleasure" and would sit on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords. Listing her reasons for rejoining the Tories, she highlighted Theresa May's education speech on 9 September, quoting May's position on grammar schools as evidence that the prime minister "leads a party with a real commitment to delivering for the next generation and building a country that works for everyone".<ref name="BBC" /> However, the Liberal Democrats claimed that she had said her reason for leaving the party was her position on Europe.{{clarify|date=November 2022}}<ref>{{cite news|date=11 September 2016|title=Former Lib Dem peer Emma Nicholson joins Tory party|newspaper=The Guardian|agency=Press Association|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/11/former-lib-dem-peer-emma-nicholson-joins-tory-party|access-date=25 May 2020}}</ref>
Nicholson visited Kazakhstan as the Prime Minister's Trade Envoy on 28 April 2019. The six-day visit was focused on expanding trade relations with the Central Asian country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://astanatimes.com/2019/05/u-k-kazakhstan-set-to-deepen-strong-strategic-partnership-says-british-trade-envoy/|title=U.K., Kazakhstan set to deepen strong strategic partnership, says British Trade Envoy|first=Zhanna |last=Shayakhmetova |date=16 May 2019|website=The Astana Times|access-date=9 July 2019}}</ref>
She voted against gay marriage on the grounds it would degrade "the status of women and of girls".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/06/10/baroness-emma-nicholson-same-sex-marriage-equality-tweets-twitter-homophobia/ | title=Anti-trans Tory peer Baroness Nicholson condemned after launching astonishing attack on same-sex marriage |first=Reiss|last= Smith|website=PinkNews| date=10 June 2020 }}</ref><ref>Emma Harriet Nicholson @Baroness_Nichol: {{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1270703409931452416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1270703409931452416%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinknews.co.uk%2F2020%2F06%2F10%2Fbaroness-emma-nicholson-same-sex-marriage-equality-tweets-twitter-homophobia%2F|title=Because I foresaw (with some justification) that it would lead to degrading the status of women and of girls.This as we now see has happened and is continuing,so my sex are as a binary class in difficult now.|website=Twitter.com|access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
She is a supporter of the LGB Alliance and the group has thanked for her "unwavering support".<ref>{{Cite tweet | user=ALLIANCELGB | number=1557377528981078023| title=And a big thank you to Baroness Nicholson for your kind words and unwavering support}}</ref>
==Other work== Nicholson is the Executive Chairman of the AMAR Foundation,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amarfoundation.org/who-we-are/chairman/|title=The Board|website=Amarfoundation.org|access-date=25 June 2020|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807122704/https://www.amarfoundation.org/who-we-are/chairman/|url-status=dead}}</ref> which works to rebuild and improve the lives of disadvantaged communities in war-torn areas.
She is Executive Chairman of the Iraq Britain Business Council<ref>{{cite web|url=http://webuildiraq.org/|title=IBBC – Together We Build Iraq|website=Webuildiraq.org}}</ref> an organisation that facilitates business, trade investment, human resources, training and transfer of technology and know-how into the Republic of Iraq.
Nicholson is Executive Chairman of the Associatia Children's High Level Group. She co-founded its English counterpart, the Children's High Level Group (now the charity Lumos, "working to end the harm of institutionalisation & help children worldwide be reunited with family"<ref>{{cite web |title=Home – Lumos |url=https://www.wearelumos.org/ |website=Wearelumos.org |access-date=28 June 2020 }}</ref>) with novelist and philanthropist J. K. Rowling.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://charterforcompassion.org/human-rights-and-children-s-rights/jk-rowling-s-transforming-the-lives-of-disadvantaged-children|title=JK Rowling's Transforming the Lives of Disadvantaged Children|publisher=Charter for Compassion|access-date=25 June 2020|archive-date=27 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627132230/https://charterforcompassion.org/human-rights-and-children-s-rights/jk-rowling-s-transforming-the-lives-of-disadvantaged-children|url-status=dead}}</ref> Lady Nicholson is the co-chairman with the Prime Minister of Romania of the High Level Group for Romania's Children and the co-chairman with the Prime Minister of Moldova of the High Level Group for Moldovan Children.
She is also a member of the American Bar Association's Middle East North Africa Council, the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organisations Prize Committee and Freedom House International Solidarity Committee.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} She is a board member of the Foundation for Dialogue Among Civilisations,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dialoguefoundation.org/?Lang%3Den%26Page%3D29 |title=Welcome to FDC Website – Our Mission |access-date=30 March 2009 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310010730/http://www.dialoguefoundation.org/?Lang=en&Page=29 |archive-date=10 March 2009 }}</ref> the American Islamic Congress,{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} and a member of the Board of Advisors for the New York University Center for Dialogues, Islamic World.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamuswest.org|title=ISLAMUSWEST – My ISLAMUSWEST|website=Islamuswest.org}}</ref> She is vice-president of The Little Foundation, and is Honorary Advisor to the Prime Minister and Government of Iraq on Public Health and related issues.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
Nicholson was a Trustee of the Booker Prize until 2009, after which she was made an honorary vice-president. In June 2020, Nicholson referred to model Munroe Bergdorf on Twitter as "a weird creature" and shared posts Bergdorf considered transphobic, resulting in an official complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bergdorf|first=Munroe|date=1 July 2020|title=Dear Baroness Nicholson, there's a few things I need to say... {{!}} Munroe Bergdorf|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/dear-baroness-nicholson-tea-and-cake-sounds-good-but-first-there-s-a-few-things-i-need-to-say-a4485491.html|access-date=5 August 2021|website=Standard.co.uk}}</ref> This led to criticism of Booker from writers including Damian Barr,<ref>{{cite news|first=Sian |last=Griffiths|title='Are activists targeting me?' Tory peer Baroness Nicholson's despair over Booker prize trans row|newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/are-activists-targeting-me-tory-peer-baroness-nicholsons-despair-over-booker-prize-trans-row-m6rnqxflg|access-date=5 August 2021|issn=0140-0460}}</ref> Marlon James and Sarah Perry.<ref>{{cite news|date=24 June 2020|title=Authors call for removal of Booker prize vice-president over 'homophobic' views|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/24/authors-call-for-removal-of-emma-nicholson-booker-prize-foundation-over-homophobic-views|access-date=5 August 2021|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Booker subsequently announced that they would be dissolving all honorary titles and roles associated with the event.<ref>{{cite web|date=27 June 2020|title=Booker Prize: Former vice-president denies transphobia accusations after being removed from post|first=Roisin|last=O'Connor|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/booker-prize-baroness-nicholson-munroe-bergdorf-transphobia-homophobia-a9588696.html|access-date=5 August 2021|website=The Independent}}</ref>
==Personal life== On 9 May 1987, Nicholson married Sir Michael Harris Caine, with whom she had a foster son Amar Kanim, who was rescued from Iraq after surviving a napalm attack in March 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/WkiLgbPpdd/boy-in-the-photo|title=The boy in the photo|first=Jon|last=Kay|website=BBC News|date=13 May 2019|access-date=28 August 2019}} Updated 23 December 2019.</ref><ref>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1128343.ece{{dead link|date=September 2024|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> She set up the Amar Foundation to support projects in Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amarfoundation.org/|title=AMAR Foundation|website=AMAR Foundation|access-date=28 August 2019}}</ref> She is President of the Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing, which was named after her late husband.
Nicholson was widowed in 1999 and alleged negligence by hospital staff treating her husband at King Edward VII's Hospital.<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web|date=19 September 1999|title=Peer's anger after death of husband|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/sep/19/sarahryle.theobserver|first=Sarah|last=Ryle|access-date=17 February 2022|website=The Guardian}}</ref> Nicholson claims that nurses at the King Edward VII refused to call consultants and doctors despite her husband's distress when a breathing tube could not be cleared.<ref>{{cite web|date=17 July 1999|title=A very expensive way to die|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/a-very-expensive-way-to-die-1107108.html|first=Paul|last=Lashmar|first2=James |last2=Oliver|first3=Yvonne |last3=Ridley|access-date=17 February 2022|website=The Independent}}</ref> In September 1999 ''The Guardian'' reported that Baroness Nicholson was due to pursue legal action against the hospital alleging negligence.<ref name="theguardian.com"/> In light of her husband's death, Baroness Nicholson said:{{blockquote|I find it repugnant that NHS beds should be used as a final resource by the private hospitals who set themselves up as being able to cope and yet demonstrably cannot. I don't see why the NHS resource should be leached away in this way.<ref name="theguardian.com"/>}}
==Awards and honours== In 2017, Lady Nicholson received an honorary doctorate in International Leadership and Humanitarian Service from Brigham Young University in the United States for her charity and humanitarian work across the Middle East.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McKell|first1=Kalena|title=BYU grads encouraged to 'be awful'|url=http://universe.byu.edu/2017/04/28/byu-grads-encouraged-to-be-awful/|publisher=Daily Universe|date=28 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Prescott|first1=Marianne Holman|date=27 April 2017|title=Unexpected advice — 'Be awful,' BYU grads told|url=https://www.deseret.com/2017/4/27/20611297/unexpected-advice-be-awful-byu-grads-told/|newspaper=Deseret News|access-date=23 June 2020}}</ref>
{{Infobox COA wide |image = centre|120px centre|200px |escutcheon = Per pale Azure and Gules two bars gemel Ermine in chief three suns in splendour Or. |supporters = On either side a swan wings inverted and addorsed Argent beaked and legged and gorged with an ancient crown attached thereto a line reflexed over the back Or charged on the breast with an ermine spot. |motto = Numen Lumen<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2015 |page=915}}</ref> |badge = A swan naiant wings elevated and addorsed Argent beaked Or within an ancient crown the base thereof conjoined to the base of an ancient crown reversed also Or naiant therein to the dexter a swan reversed wings elevated and addorsed Argent beaked Or.}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category-inline|Emma Nicholson}} * {{Hansard-contribs | miss-emma-nicholson | Emma Nicholson }} * {{Official website|http://emmanicholson.info/ }} * [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/archive/alphaOrder/view.do?language=EN&id=4522/ Profile at the European Parliament] * [http://www.libdems.org.uk/ Liberal Democrats] * [http://www.amarfoundation.org/ AMAR International Charitable Foundation] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100128121731/http://www.webuildiraq.org/ Iraq Britain Business Council]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Torridge and West Devon | years = 1987–1997 | before = Peter Mills | after = John Burnett }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Emma}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century women MEPs for England Category:21st-century women MEPs for England Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Category:British politicians with disabilities Category:Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers Category:Daughters of baronets Category:English deaf people Category:Deaf politicians Category:Deaf royalty and nobility Category:British royalty and nobility with disabilities Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MEPs Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:MEPs for England 1999–2004 Category:MEPs for England 2004–2009 Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Devon Category:People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot Category:People educated at St Mary's School, Wantage Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:Wives of knights