Christine Jardine

Christine Anne Jardine (born 24 November 1960) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh West since 2017. She was the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities and Scotland from July 2022 until July 2025.

Christine Jardine MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh West
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 June 2017
Preceded by	Michelle Thomson
Majority	16,470 (31.4%)
Liberal Democrat portfolios
2017	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
2017–2019, 2022–2025	Scotland
2019	Work and Pensions
2019	Justice
2019–2020	Home Affairs
2019–2020, 2022–2025	Women and Equalities
2020–2022	International Trade
2020-2022	Europe and Exiting the European Union
2020–2022	Treasury
2022–2024	Cabinet Office
Personal details
Born	Christine Anne Jardine (1960-11-24) 24 November 1960 (age 65) Glasgow, Scotland
Party	Liberal Democrats
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Website	www.libdems.org.uk/christine-jardine

She previously served as Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office. She was Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Treasury, Europe, Exiting the European Union and International Trade from 2020 to 2022. She was the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson from 2019 to 2020.

Early life and career

Christine Jardine was born on 24 November 1960 in Glasgow. She was educated at Clydebank High School and the University of Glasgow, where she graduated with a MA (Hons).

She is a former journalist, who worked for BBC Scotland and was editor of the Press Association in Scotland. She also taught journalism at the University of Strathclyde, Robert Gordon University and the University of the West of Scotland.

Political career

In 2011 Jardine was appointed as the Scottish media adviser to the Coalition Government, working under Nick Clegg. That same year, she was the Lib Dem candidate for Inverness and Nairn at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, where she finished fourth.

In May 2013, she was selected as the candidate for the upcoming by-election in Aberdeen Donside, this time coming third.

Parliamentary career

At the 2015 general election, Jardine stood for election to the House of Commons in Gordon, where she came second with 32.7% of the vote behind the SNP candidate Alex Salmond.

At the snap 2017 general election, Jardine was elected to Parliament as MP for Edinburgh West with 34.3% of the vote and a majority of 2,988.

She served as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Home Affairs and Women and Equalities from August 2019 to August 2020, and was also the Justice Spokesperson from August 2019 to October 2019. She sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster.

Jardine was re-elected as MP for Edinburgh West at the 2019 general election with an increased vote share of 39.9% and an increased majority of 3,769.

She was promoted to Trade, Treasury and Brexit spokeswoman in September 2020.

On 11 July 2022, Jardine was appointed Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Cabinet Office and Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Scotland.

Jardine is a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Choice at the End of Life.

At the 2024 general election, Jardine was again re-elected with an increased vote share of 50.8% and an increased majority of 16,470.

It was revealed that Jardine received a £4,000 donation from Nick Clegg in the 2024 General Election.

Jardine is a co-sponsor of Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on assisted suicide. She welcomed the Animal Welfare Bill.

In July 2025, she was sacked from the frontbench by Ed Davey. This was after she rebelled in a vote on changes to welfare benefits.

Personal life

Jardine was married for 30 years to Calum Macdonald, the Digital Editor for the Herald and Times Group. He died of a heart attack aged 55 during the 2017 general election campaign. She has one daughter.