Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings

Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings (* 1939) is a Conservative politician and frontbencher in the House of Lords.

Education

Baroness Rawlings was educated in the UK and Switzerland. She trained as a nurse at Westminster Hospital and is an active member of the British Red Cross. 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.

Previous political career

Until the 1994 European Parliamentary elections, Patricia Rawlings was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), representing the former euroconstituency of Essex South West, when she was surprisingly defeated by Labour's Hugh Kerr. 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 previously served as Opposition Whip, and spokesman on Culture & Foreign Affairs.

Controversy

In 2002 Baroness Rawlings became embroiled in controversy over a convert|1.8|acre|m2|sing=on piece of land, owned by King's College London, which St Thomas's hospital had been expected to use for a new wing. Because an offer to buy the land for up to £24 million came unexpectedly from the Aga Khan Development Network and caused a public outcry, it was rumoured that Baroness Rawlings (chair of King's College ruling council and long-term friend of the Aga Khan) had engineered the unsolicited offer. A spokesman for King's College said::"The idea that Patricia Rawlings decided it would be a jolly good idea to ring up her old friend the Aga Khan and offer him a piece of land is utterly bizarre." [http://society.guardian.co.uk/nhsfinance/story/0,8150,768566,00.html]

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 David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Sunningdale, but divorced in 1967.

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

External links

* [http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/contributor/55697 Patricia Rawlings and her BBC appearances]
* [http://society.guardian.co.uk/nhsfinance/story/0,8150,768566,00.html Hospital site may be sold to Aga Khan]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Names/Patricia.htm Bulgarian Order of the Rose (Silver)]