Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings

Patricia Elizabeth Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings (born 1939) is aConservative Party politician and frontbencher in the House of Lords. She was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1989 to 1994.

Baroness Rawlings was Chairman of King's College London Council 1998–2007, and she was made a Fellow of the university in 2003. She has been President of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations since 2002, and President of the British Antique Dealers' Association since 2005. She is also a trustee of the Chevening Estate.

Education

Baroness Rawlings was educated in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. She trained as a nurse at Westminster Hospital and is an active member of the British Red Cross (she was awarded the British Red Cross national Badge of Honour in 1987). She was a mature student at University College London and studied for a postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the London School of Economics. She was awarded an Hon DLitt from the University of Buckingham in 1998.

Political career

Rawlings was elected at the 1989 European election as the MEP for Essex South West. That constituency was abolished for the 1994 European election when she was surprisingly defeated by Labour's Hugh Kerr in the new Essex West & Hertfordshire East constituency. She entered the House of Lords as a life peer with the title Baroness Rawlings, of Burnham Westgate in the County of Norfolk in 1994 and has held several frontbench positions. She served as an Opposition Whip (1997–1998), Spokesperson on Culture, Media & Sport (1997–1998), Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs (1998–2010) and International Development (1998–2010).

Since the 2010 general election, she has served as the Government Whip with responsibility for Culture, Media & Sport and for Scotland.^[1]

Controversy

In 2002, Baroness Rawlings became involved in a controversy over a 1.8-acre (7,300 m2) piece of land, owned by King's College London, and formerly owned by St Thomas' Hospital. King's had instructed Jones Lang LaSalle to value the site, resulting in a valuation of £10 million.^[2] An offer to buy the land for up to £24 million came unexpectedly from the Aga Khan Development Network, causing opposition from St Thomas’. It was rumoured that Baroness Rawlings had engineered the unsolicited offer which she strenuously denied, saying that as Chairman of King's College London Council she knew absolutely nothing about any such bid.^[3] Baroness Rawlings insisted that it was a valuable part of the King’s College London estate and that it should be sold to the highest bidder on the open market. The College eventually decided to retain the property.

Foreign orders and decorations

• Patricia Rawlings is the first British woman to be awarded the Order of the Rose (Silver), which was bestowed upon her by President Zhelyu Zhelev of Bulgaria, in recognition of her interest in Bulgaria. Rawlings is permitted to wear the decoration whenever she visits Bulgaria or goes to the Bulgarian embassy.
• For services to Anglo-Brazilian relations, she was awarded the Grand Official, Order of the Southern Cross from the Republic of Brazil in 1998.

Personal life

Patricia Rawlings was married in 1962 to businessman David Wolfson, now Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale, but divorced in 1967; both partners held noble titles in their own right. In 1971, she was engaged to American oil tycoon Ralph Stolkin, who broke off their engagemnet and demanded the return of £250,000 worth of diamonds and rubies in a High Court case. From about 1994 until 2009 Rawlings was with Rugby-educated banker the Hon Dr Paul Zuckerman, son of zoologist Baron Zuckerman.^[4]

She is an Honorary Secretary of Grillions Club, and a member of the Pilgrims Society.

External links

• Patricia Rawlings conservatives.com
• Biography of Baroness Rawlings www.parliament.uk
• Bulgarian Order of the Rose (Silver)

References