Siobhan Baillie

Siobhan Kathleen Baillie (born 28 August 1981) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Stroud since the 2019 general election. Prior to her parliamentary career, she was a family law solicitor, councillor, and worked for a charity.

Early life

Baillie was born in Crawley, West Sussex, in September 1981 and grew up in North Yorkshire. She left school at the age of 17, and worked as a legal secretary. Baillie attended a law school at weekends, and qualified as a family law solicitor in 2010. As a solicitor she was listed in The Legal 500 directory. Baillie also worked as the head of policy and communications for the charity, OnePlusOne.

Political career

Baillie was a councillor in the London Borough of Camden from 2014 to 2018 representing the ward of Frognal and Fitzjohns. As an opposition member she served on the Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee and during the 2016/2017 civic year she chaired a review of mental health service provision for young people.

She stood for the Bermondsey and Old Southwark seat in the 2017 general election, coming in third behind the Labour, and Liberal Democrats candidates with 13% of the votes. Baillie had previously attempted to be selected in the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency in the same election, and in the Barnet and Camden London Assembly seat in the 2016 election but was not shortlisted in either.

Baillie was selected as the Conservative candidate for Stroud on 31 July 2018. Baillie supported the UK remaining within the EU in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum but during the election campaign indicated that she now supported Brexit to honour the result of the referendum. At the 2019 general election, she was elected as MP with a majority of 3,840 (5.8%). The seat had previously been represented by Labour Co-op politician David Drew since the 2017 election. Baillie is the first woman to represent the constituency. She has been a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee since March 2020.

After elected to the House of Commons, Baillie was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Ministry of Justice.

Personal life

Baillie is married. On 1 February 2020, she announced that they were expecting their first child.