[2][3] She was educated at St. Patrick's Catholic High School in Coatbridge, attending at the same time as John Reid, and graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BA in Economics.

She was subsequently public affairs director of the Daily Record and Sunday Mail, working for media proprietor Robert Maxwell.

[5] The disclosure that she was able to work French lessons into her ministerial diary,[7] raised questions about the relevance of Scottish Secretary's job post-devolution.

[10] On 7 July, she took the title Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke, of Airdrie in the County of Lanarkshire,[11] six days later becoming a House of Lords member.

[13] In 2010–11 Liddell was a member of the independent Philips inquiry into the 1994 Scotland RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre, established by the Secretary of State for Defence.