What position did Sandra Osborne take from May 2005 to Apr 2010?
Sandra Osborne Sandra Currie Osborne ( née Clark , born 23 February 1956 ) is a Scottish Labour politician , who was the Member of Parliament for Ayr , Carrick and Cumnock from the 2005 to 2015 general elections . She was first elected as MP for the Ayr constituency in 1997 , and resigned from a government job in 2003 over the Iraq War . She was a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010 and again from 2013 . She was a member of the Defence Select Committee 2010-13 and was a member of the Council of Europe . Before Parliament . Osborne was born and brought up in the deprived Ferguslie Park district , in Paisley . She was educated at Camphill Secondary School in Paisley . She later attended evening classes before going on to Jordanhill College where she gained the Diploma in Community Education . After working as a community worker in Glasgow she moved to Ayrshire , where she spent fourteen years working as a counsellor with Womens Aid , based in Kilmarnock . During that time , she also studied part-time at the University of Strathclyde where she graduated with a Master of Science in Equality and Discrimination . In 1997 , she was one of the shortlisted finalists in the Scottish Woman of the Year Awards ( Glasgow Evening Times ) nominated for her work with abused women . Political career . Osborne was the councillor for Whitletts on Kyle and Carrick District Council and South Ayrshire Council where she also served as Convener of Community Services ( Housing and Social Work ) . She is a member of the trade union Unite ( formerly TGWU ) and has been active in the Labour Party since 1976 , serving for a time as Ayr CLP Secretary . In 1983 , she was a member of the Scottish contingent on the Peoples March for Jobs who walked from Glasgow to London . She was selected as a Labour candidate in Ayr from an all-women shortlist . In May 1997 , she was elected as MP for the Ayr constituency , becoming Ayrs first-ever Labour MP and first ever female MP . She was re-elected at the 2001 general election . Osborne served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Helen Liddell , the Secretary of State for Scotland , from June 2002 until she stepped down in March 2003 over her opposition to going to war with Iraq . She believed this should not have gone ahead without a second UN resolution . She had previously served as PPS to George Foulkes , Minister of State at the Scotland Office and to his predecessor in that post , Brian Wilson . She has served as Chair of the Scottish Group of Labour MPs and member of the Scottish Executive of the Labour Party . She has served as Chair of the All Party Group on Meningitis . She was a member of the Kerley Committee on the Renewal of Local Democracy , providing a minority report opposing proportional representation . In June 2004 , Osborne was selected as the Labour candidate for the new constituency of Ayr , Carrick and Cumnock , where she was returned at the 2005 general election with a majority of 9,997 votes . She served on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010 . She is also Secretary of the All Party Group on Colombia and the Women , Peace and Security Group . In 2006 , then-Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed her as a member of the UK Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ( OSCE ) . On 6 May 2010 , Osborne was re-elected as MP for Ayr , Carrick and Cumnock with a majority of 9,911 votes . In 2010 , she was elected Vice Chair of Labours backbench Foreign Affairs Committee and Chair of the All Party Equalities Group . In October 2010 , she was appointed to the Defence Select Committee and the Council of Europe . In 2011 , she was a member of the special Select Committee set up to scrutinise the Bill that became the Armed Forces Act 2011 . In January 2011 , the Speaker of the House of Commons appointed her to his Panel of Chairs . She was reappointed to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in 2013 . Family . Her husband is Alastair Osborne , who was the Labour candidate in the same Ayr constituency in 1992 that Sandra Osborne gained for her party in 1997 . The couple have two daughters and two granddaughters and live in Symington , Ayrshire . External links . - Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle : Sandra Osborne MP - TheyWorkForYou.com – Sandra Osborne MP - – General election 2010 : No question – its time to go