Education
Lawrence studied at Upperthorpe College in Darlington, and the Open University.
Lawrence studied at Upperthorpe College in Darlington, and the Open University.
She then became election agent for neighbouring Member of Parliament Nick Ainger in the 1992 General Election and leader of the Labour Group on Pembrokeshire County Council on its formation as a Unitary Authority before being adopted as Parliamentary candidate for the Preseli Pembrokeshire constituency. Lawrence was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist, and became Member of Parliament for Preseli Pembrokeshire in the 1997 election. She was a new Labour loyalist, working on environmental, rural and Welsh language issues.
She was Chair of the Welsh Group of Labour MPs at Westminster from 2003 to 2004 and Chair of the Parliamentary All-Party Group for National Parks until leaving Westminster in 2005.
When supporting a government campaign aimed at reducing teenage pregnancy, she revealed that she had given birth to a daughter when she was 17, who was subsequently adopted. She was strongly anti-hunting with dogs and supported legislation to outlaw the practice in the United Kingdom. Lawrence stood down from Parliament at the 2005 general election, at which the Preseli Pembrokeshire seat was gained by the Conservative"s Stephen Crabb.
In 2005 Lawrence was a founding signatory of the Henry Jackson Society principles, advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including when necessary by military methods.
52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament]
She was Labour Member of Parliament for the Welsh seat of Preseli Pembrokeshire, from 1997 until 2005. Lawrence worked for the Trustee Savings Bank and became a member of Dyfed County Council Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and Pembrokeshire Police authority.
She was a member of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 1997 to 2001, and a member of the Department of Trade & Industry Department of Trade and Industry Select Committee from 2001 until becoming a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department of Trade & Industry to Jacqui Smith who was then Minister of State at the Department of Trade & Industry.
