Dame Cheryl Gillan, Welsh Secretary under David Cameron and staunch opponent of HS2 – obituary

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.

After five years as Shadow Welsh Secretary, she proved a competent Secretary of State able to work with a Labour-dominated Cardiff Bay administration. But while she wanted to stay in Cameron’s Cabinet when he reshuffled it in 2012, the trenchancy of her opposition to HS2 made it hard for her to continue.

She was primarily opposed to the line because of its impact on the Chilterns. But while her campaigning led to several miles more of HS2 being buried in a tunnel, she continued out of government to campaign against the project.

Before the 2010 election, Cheryl Gillan joined her parliamentary neighbour David Lidington in describing the planned route as an “outrage”, and she promised to “defy the party whip; be very, very sure of that”.

In January 2012, the Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, confirmed that HS2 would go ahead. She said it was her understanding that “the Welsh Secretary is already on side.”

Following the announcement, Cheryl Gillan said: “We’ve got already got some good changes, and I’m looking at what further possibilities there will be”. Asked whether she would stay in the Cabinet, she added: “I am not resigning. ... I’m exceedingly loyal to my party and my Government and I will remain so.”

Three days later, it emerged that she had sold her 17th-century home in Amersham, less than a mile from the route of HS2, the previous November. Labour demanded an inquiry into whether she had breached the Ministerial Code by selling a property whose value stood to be directly affected by government policy. Cheryl Gillan attributed the move (to Epsom) to her elderly husband’s mobility problems.

When in July 2017 HS2 Ltd awarded one of the main construction contracts to Carillion, she asked the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, to confirm that he had “carried out due diligence on [the company] and that the taxpayer is not in reality carrying unacceptable risks”. When six months later Carillion collapsed, she renewed her call for the entire project to be cancelled.

Her ongoing concern over HS2 led her to identify other threats to the 324 square mile Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, notably from housing development, and press for it to be designated a National Park.

Dame Cheryl was a founder member of the All-Party Group for London’s Green Belt, and president of the Buckinghamshire Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Her other great interest was space policy. Her husband, John Leeming, had been director of the British National Space Centre. In 1993, after his retirement, they set up a consultancy. In the Commons, Cheryl Gillan became secretary of the All Party Group on Space, and a board member of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology.

Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan was born on April 21 1952 at Llandaff, Cardiff, the daughter of Maj Alan Gillan, a steelworks manager, and the former Mona Freeman. She was brought up on the family farm near Usk, and educated at Cheltenham and the College of Law.

In 1976 she joined the International Management Group as its European director for administration. From 1984 to 1986 she was an award-winning international and special events director for British Film Year.

Five years followed as marketing manager for Ernst & Young, before in 1991 she moved to Kidsons Impey, another international accountancy firm, as marketing director. Next, she set up Leeming Consultants with her husband.

Cheryl Gillan joined the Conservatives at 16, was a founder member in 1983 of Women & Families for Defence, and chaired the Bow Group in 1987-88.

She fought Greater Manchester Central in the 1989 Euro-elections, and in October 1991 was chosen to succeed Sir Ian Gilmour at Chesham & Amersham, which she took at the 1992 election with a 22,000 majority.

At Westminster she served on the Science and Technology Select Committee; joined, but soon left the Positive Europe Group; and voted against lowering the age of homosexual consent. From October 1994 she was PPS to Lord Cranborne, Leader of the Lords.

In July 1995 John Major brought her into his government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Education, responsible for schools, employment and women’s issues.

After her party’s rout at the 1997 election, Cheryl Gillan backed William Hague for the leadership; he appointed her a trade and industry spokesman. In 1998 he moved her to the foreign affairs team. Two years followed in the whips’ office, then in 2003 she became Shadow Minister for Home, Constitutional and Legal Affairs.

When Cameron became party leader in December 2005, he made her Shadow Welsh Secretary. She had previously voiced doubts over devolution, but now made it plain she supported the Assembly and held open the possibility of devolving further powers.

Cheryl Gillan came in for some criticism when the Daily Telegraph published MPs’ expenses claims in 2009. She had claimed for dog food – a “mistake”, she said – and £305.50 to cure “noise problems” with her boiler.

A subsequent review of MPs’ expenses by Sir Thomas Legg found that she had also claimed £1,884 more than her mortgage bill on her second home in Battersea. She was ordered to repay the money.

When the 2010 election resulted in deadlock and Cameron entered a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, Cheryl Gillan became Welsh Secretary, and a privy counsellor.

In May 2012 she unveiled a Green Paper proposing to cut the number of constituency Assembly members from 40 to 30, and increase regional list members from 20 to 30. It was not well received.

That September she was dropped from the government, her junior minister David Jones taking her place. Out of office, she took an active part in the Council of Europe, becoming vice-president of its political affairs and democracy committee.

As joint chair of the 1922 Committee, it fell to her in June 2019 to collect nominations for the leadership after Theresa May stood down, and the following month to announce the Boris Johnson had been elected.

Cheryl Gillan was appointed DBE in 2018.

She married John Leeming in 1985. He died in 2019, and she is survived by two stepsons.

Dame Cheryl Gillan, born April 21 1952, died April 4 2021