FORMER cabinet minister Baroness Shirley Williams was in Dorset to back the Liberal Democrat candidate defending a wafer-thin majority for her party.

Baroness Williams was back in good health after having to postpone a talk in Poole last month because of illness.

Baroness Williams was a Labour cabinet minister before becoming one of the ‘Gang of Four’ who founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981.

The politician, who went to Talbot Heath School in Bournemouth between 1944-47, visited Corfe Hills School to talk about her life in Parliament and answer students’ questions.

She was accompanied by Vikki Slade, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mid-Dorset and North Poole, and Annette Brooke, who held the seat for the party before standing down at the end of the last parliament.

Mrs Brooke had a majority of just 269 votes over the Conservatives at the general election of 2010, making the seat one of the most closely fought in the country. It was recently named by a national newspaper as number five on a list of 10 ‘must-win’ seats for the Tories.

Baroness Williams spoke to an audience of Corfe Hills and Parkstone Grammar pupils about the Lib Dem record in government. She praised Mrs Brooke’s 14 years in the House of Commons and discussed the issue of women in parliament.

Students asked Mrs Slade about her priorities, which included raising the number of apprenticeships, providing homes for local families, protecting the local environment and enhancing the local economy to restore the fortunes of high streets.

Baroness Williams said “Mid-Dorset and Poole is one constituency that has proved its independence by voting for an MP that is outside the conservative regime in the county – one of the finest constituency members in the House of Commons, a person of conscience and reform.

“Annette Brooke will be seriously missed but in Vikki Slade she has a worthy successor, a local woman who understands both politics and business.”

Afterwards, Baroness Williams spoke to party supporters at Mrs Slade's business Molly's Cafe in Broadstone.

Her talk, The 20th Century – The Century of Violence, was due to take place at Poole’s Lighthouse last month and is to be rescheduled after her last-minute cancellation.

The other candidates for the seat are; Michael Tomlinson (Conservative), Patrick Canavan (Labour), Mark Chivers (Green), Richard Turner (UKIP).