Sarah Wollaston is a British Conservative Party politician. She is the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Totnes, and Chair of the Liaison Committee and the Health Select Committee in the House of Commons.
Wollaston was born in Woking, Surrey, and studied medicine at Guy's Hospital in London. She qualified in 1986 and worked as a junior hospital doctor and then as a general practitioner . After more than twenty years in clinical practice, Wollaston ran for political office. She was the first person to be selected as the parliamentary candidate for a major British political party through a postal open primary; during the campaign, she emphasised that she was not a career politician, and had actually had a real job. As the Conservative Party candidate for Totnes at the 2010 general election she won the seat with an increased majority, increasing it further in 2015.
She rebelled against the Cameron-Clegg government on several key votes—voting in favour of a referendum on British membership of the European Union in 2011, for a cut in the EU budget in 2011, and against military intervention in Syria in 2013. She has been a vocal proponent of minimum unit pricing for alcohol and has spoken out against political patronage in Westminster. Initially a prominent Eurosceptic, in June 2016, she announced that she was no longer supporting the Vote Leave campaign in the referendum on European Union membership, and would vote to remain in the EU.In a House of Commons debate on the rollout of Universal Credit on Wednesday, 18 October 2017, Wollaston said she would defy the Conservative Party whip during the debate and side with the Labour Party, who called for the suspension of Universal Credit.
Wollaston was elected as Chair of the Liaison Committee on 13 November 2017.
Quoted in The Economist, 6th April 2013, p. 36
Quoted in The Economist, 6th April 2013, p. 36
