Sandra Osborne 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 2005–10 and again from 2013. She was a member of the Defence Select Committee 2010-13 and was a member of the Council of Europe.