Federal Communications and Elections Committee

Chair - Baroness Kath Pinnock

Kath is a councillor for Cleckheaton ward on Kirklees Council, having been first elected in 1987 and was also Leader of the Council for six years.

She has been actively involved with ALDC both as Chair and President.

Baroness Pinnock has been a member of the House of Lords since 2014 where she is spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities.

Outside of her political life, Kath has been a non executive director on the board of Yorkshire Water. She is currently a school governor and Vice-Chair of the University of Huddersfield Council.

Party Leader - Ed Davey MP

Ed is a lifelong campaigner for strong public services, a fair economy and a thriving natural environment. He was first elected as MP for Kingston and Surbiton in 1997 and has been Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020.

Ed describes the core values that drive him as compassion, community and fairness. As Leader, he is fighting for a fair deal that puts real power in people’s hands and holds the already powerful to account.

Find out more about Ed here

Federal Party President - Mark Pack

Dr. Mark Pack is the Party's President and an author with books including: 101 Ways To Win An Election and Bad News: what the headlines don’t tell us.

Mark worked for the Liberal Democrats 2000-2009, including a period as Head of Innovations. In 2015 he wrote with David Howarth a seminal pamphlet on the Party’s strategy: The 20% Strategy: building a core vote for the Liberal Democrats.

Outside the Liberal Democrats, he has worked in IT in both the public and private sectors and between 2009 and 2019 was a Communications & Crisis Consultant. He's also been a Visiting Lecturer at City University in the Journalism Department.

To contact Mark or to invite him to a Liberal Democrat event, please see here.

Visit Mark's Twitter account.

Chief Whip (Commons) - Wendy Chamberlain MP

Wendy was elected as the MP for North East Fife in December 2019. She holds the Scotland; Wales; Northern Ireland; Constitutional Affairs; and International Development Portfolios at Westminster, and is the Party Chief Whip.

Following her degree in English from Edinburgh University, she joined Lothian and Borders Police in 1999, serving for 12 years as a Police officer. After a period in a variety of operational policing roles, Wendy moved into HR and Learning & Development, during which time she worked for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and in the Business Management Unit of the Scottish Police College. She also worked part-time as a Communications Lecturer for the then Lauder College (now Fife College) in Dunfermline.

Wendy left the Police in 2011 and following a career break to look after her young children, joined the MoD contractor, Right Management, working at MoD Caledonia, Rosyth, as the Scottish Regional Employment & Training Manager on their military resettlement contract, supporting service veterans into positive employment outcomes.

In 2015, she commenced employment as a Capability and Development Manager with a global drinks manufacturer. Always engaged in her local community, Wendy has held committee roles on a variety of parent bodies and became the first female Board Member of the Camanachd Association (the governing body for the amateur sport of shinty) in 2017.

Federal Board Representative - Jeremy Hargreaves

Jeremy is a freelance consultant and non-executive in public services, with a background in the NHS, local government, education and consulting.

He has been Chair of the Lib Dem European Group (LDEG), a parliamentary candidate, chaired party policy working groups on taxation, public services and wellbeing, and is Vice-Chair of the Party’s Federal Policy Committee (FPC).

Jeremy believes passionately in Britain’s place in Europe; a secure international order; and a fair society.

He is committed to finding ways to communicate Liberal Democrat values in a clear vote-winning message, supported by strong policies, and effective management and implementation of the Party’s strategy.

Federal Board Representative - Neil Fawcett 

Neil Fawcett is a leading party campaigner and trainer. He works as Chief of Staff to Layla Moran MP and helps coordinate campaigning for the Lib Dems in Oxfordshire. He is a County, District and Town Councillor in his home town of Abingdon and is a Cabinet Member on the Vale of White Horse District Council. He has worked in various roles in the party since his first job as Youth & Student Officer.

House of Commons Representative - Tim Farron MP 

Tim is the Member of Parliament for Westmorland and Lonsdale and a former party leader. His win in 2005 ended a 95 year rule by the Tories, winning by 267 votes. In the 2010 General Election, Tim maintained his seat and achieved an 11.1% swing from the Conservatives.

He was elected as President of the Liberal Democrats in January 2011 by an all members ballot. Tim was re-elected in autumn 2012, until handing over the role at the beginning of January 2015. In his role as Party President, Tim oversaw the move to a new LDHQ on Great George Street; the appointment of a new Chief Executive; and the introduction of paid interns to Party HQ.

Tim’s proudest achievement is leading the campaign which achieved a rise in party membership, making the Liberal Democrats the first governing party in recent history to have increased its membership whilst in power.

In January 2015, he was appointed to the Liberal Democrat General Election Cabinet as the Party's Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs spokesperson. Tim was re-elected in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections.

House of Lords Representative - Baroness Lynne Featherstone

Lynne was a minister during the coalition 2010 - 2015 in both the Home Office and DFID. She was first elected to Parliament as MP for Hornsey & Wood Green in 2005. Originator and architect of the same-sex marriage law, Lynne also introduced and spearheaded the Government work on FGM.

She is currently in the Lords and prior to being elected to Parliament, was Leader of the Opposition on Haringey Council 1998-2002, and a councillor there until 2006. Lynne was a member of the London Assembly 2000 - 2005 where she was Chair of Transport in London and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

ALDC Representative - Prue Bray MBE

Lib Dem Councillor for Winnersh since 2000, Prue is Leader of the Opposition on Wokingham Borough Council and the lead member for Children's Services there. She is a school governor, parish councillor, Neighbourhood Action Group member and trustee of a local charity.  In 2023, Prue was awarded an MBE for her services to politics, both locally and nationally.

Prue has been a long standing party volunteer with roles ranging from Chair of the Party’s English Candidates Committee, where she oversaw the selection and approval of parliamentary candidates, to Vice Chair for the English Party.

Since 2020, Prue has served as Chair of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners (ALDC), which supports councillors and campaigners across the country. There, she has helped revolutionise the Party’s campaign capacity, culminating in a strong set of local election results. In 2021 she was the recipient of the Leader’s Award.

English Party Representative - Iain Donaldson 

Iain works as the Research Administrator for the Manchester Self-Harm Project at the University of Manchester. His previous roles have included working in the finance department at the University and Pensions Administration in the private sector. He served as a Manchester City councillor for 19 years, has been a parliamentary candidate three times and a parliamentary agent twice. He has served as a School Governor and as a trustee of a Youth Charity.

Scottish Party Representative - Charles Dundas

Welsh Party Representative - Pete Roberts

Co-opted Member -  Lord Tim Razzall 

Tim has 24 years’ experience as a Councillor in Richmond upon Thames and 13 years as Deputy Leader and Chair of Policy and Resources.

A member of the House of Lords since 1997, Lord Razzall has been a front bench Spokesperson on Trade and Treasury matters since 1998 and currently as Spokesperson for Manufacturing.

Tim was the last Treasurer of the Liberal Party and was Treasurer of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999.

He Chaired the 2001 and 2005 election campaigns, our most successful since 1929.

Tim was a solicitor until 1995, specialising in Company Law. Since then he has run his own Corporate Finance practice.

Chair of the Joint Candidates Sub-Committee - Alison Suttie (co-opted member)

A Member of the House of Lords since October 2013, Alison worked for over ten years in the House of Commons as well as ten years in the European Parliament. She was Press Secretary to Pat Cox during his time as President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004. She was Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, from June 2010 to October 2011 during the Coalition Government. She was head of the Liberal Democrat Leader’s Office from 2006 to 2011.

Since 2012 Alison has worked on projects in several parliaments, including in Jordan, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. She is engaged in advocacy and youth engagement projects in North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia and is an Ambassador for the homelessness charity, Depaul International.

She is currently the Party’s Northern Ireland Spokesperson in the House of Lords.

Alison speaks fluent Russian and French and is learning Arabic.

Federal Chief Executive - Mike Dixon (ex officio member)

Mike is CEO of the Liberal Democrats. He joined a few days before the General Election in 2019.

He has led charities for ten years, working with young people, substance use, crime and advice. He has led campaigns, research, service design, operational delivery and digital transformations.

Before his work in charities, Mike worked as a special adviser in Government, as a researcher, and briefly in advertising.

He lives in Oxford with his family and two cats.

ALDC Chief Executive (ex officio member)

Tim Pickstone (left)

Tim Pickstone is Chief Executive of the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC). He has served as a Liberal Democrat councillor in Greater Manchester for 22 years, after which he was elected to the newly created Cumberland Council where he is now our group leader. 

Tim is the Liberal Democrat Lead Member on the Improvement and Innovation Board in the Local Government Association.  

Outside the Liberal Democrats Tim is a charity trustee, school governor and a parish councillor.

Ed Stephenson (right)

Ed is Deputy Chief Executive of ALDC.

He has previsouly worked in various campaign roles across the Party, including for Hazel Grove Liberal Democrats and Manchester Liberal Democrats. 

Outside of the Party, Ed is a School Governor and lives with his partner Lisa and their dog Bonnie in Stockport.

Director of Communications - Baroness Olly Grender (staff)

Baronness Grender’s career has spanned the world of politics, government, the voluntary and corporate sectors.  She has run communications operations and campaigns in all four.  She was drawn into the Liberal Party by Community Politics in 1981 and has worked for the Party locally and nationally since. 

Olly spent a year at No10 as the Deputy Director of Communications for the Government where she co-ordinated the Liberal Democrats communications operation on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister, promoting issues such as the Lower Tax Thresholds.

She headed up Communications under Paddy Ashdown’s leadership from 1990 to 1995. Prior to that she was a speech writer and had responsibility for housing and transport policy in his office.

Olly was elected by the Party to the Peers interim panel in 2006 and became a Peer in 2013.  For over four years she was the Director of Communications for Shelter.

Director of Field Campaigns - Dave McCobb (staff)

Cllr Dave McCobb is the party’s Director of Field Campaigns. He took over the role in March 2020, rebuilding the Party’s ground campaigning capacity in the wake of the 2019 General Election.

He has led winning campaigns at all levels over an 18 year career in the Party. Dave is also the longest-serving Lib Dem councillor in Hull, representing the Beverley ward from 2002-2018 and its successor the Beverley & Newland ward since 2018.