Last modified on Tue 6 Apr 2021 13.22 EDT
Although the Conservative politician Cheryl Gillan, who has died aged 68 after suffering from cancer, served as Welsh secretary from 2010 to 2012, her further prospects of cabinet office may have been reduced by her opposition to the government’s plans to build the HS2 high speed rail link through the Chiltern hills of her Buckinghamshire constituency.
She told her constituents in the safely Conservative suburban seat of Chesham and Amersham that she would defy the party whip – “be very, very sure of that” – during the 2010 general election that brought the Conservatives to power in coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Although in cabinet she abided by the principle of collective responsibility, she remained an opponent of the line.
Dame Cheryl Gillan, Welsh Secretary under David Cameron and staunch opponent of HS2 – obituary
She campaigned to protect the Chilterns against HS2 and housing development and in 2019 announced Boris Johnson s Tory leadership victory
5 April 2021 • 4:16pm
Cheryl Gillan with her dog Tizzy after he was voted Westminster Dog of the Year in 1996
Credit: Brian Smith
Dame Cheryl Gillan, who has died aged 68, was a combative Conservative MP who was Welsh Secretary in David Cameron’s Coalition, but made a greater impact campaigning against the HS2 high-speed railway being driven through her Chesham & Amersham constituency.
She was a forceful personality in the Commons, seen by some as overbearing and often rebuked by the Chair for raising bogus points of order. She was also the first woman to turn out for the Lords & Commons cricket team, having been a useful all-rounder at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
5 Apr 2021 at 17:12
I was and am proud to call Cheryl Gillan a friend. I was so sad to learn this afternoon that she had died. She had been in poor health for some time and had been devastated by the death of her beloved husband Jack Leeming at the age of 91 in 2019. She was absolutely devoted to him and cared for him lovingly in his latter years. They were a real team. He might have been older than her but they were so well matched.
I first met Cheryl in the mid 1980s when she interviewed me to be a member of the Bow Group, back in the days when it was highly respected. They didn t accept any old rif-raff! Then after she was elected we met occasionally, but it was in 2005 that our friendship blossomed. She was on David Davis s Shadow Home Affairs team and a key supporter of his in the leadership contest. She was what one call a real trooper. There were a few big egos in that team and she would delight in puncturing them. She was happy to accept any task for the team no matter how