President's Report: 100 things @ 100 days

Hello lovely Liberal Democrats!

This week, we reached 100 days since I took office as Party President - and what an honour it’s been so far!

I’ve been working with incredible members, activists, councillors, parliamentarians and staff across our party to help us to reach more people - voters, donors, volunteers, media and more - with our liberal message and to reinforce our position as the last line of defence against populism and division in our country.

Below are 100 things that I’ve been doing since I was elected to play my part in that fight as Party president. It’s not an exhaustive list but I hope it gives a flavour of what I’ve been up to!

(p.s. It’s in a random order, so please don’t read too much into that!)

1. Launched our local General Election campaign in Sheffield Hallam with brilliant PPC Sophie Crossthorn
2. Appeared on BBC Question Time - twice! - making the Liberal Democrat case to millions of viewers
3. Pounded the pavements with Lisa Smart and Team Hazel Grove in the mission to win overall control of Stockport Council
4. Challenged racist Reform MP Sarah Pochin live on LBC over her comments that seeing Black and Asian people on TV ‘drives her mad’
5. Joined Team Edinburgh to campaign for Sanne Dijkstra-Downie in her Holyrood campaign
6. Spoke to the New Statesman for a feature on how Liberal Democrats have a 'moral duty' to challenge Reform and defend democracy
7. Met with trans and non-binary party members at a roundtable to hear their aspirations for our party and recommitted to standing up against transphobia
8. Knocked on doors with Mike Ross and Team Hull ahead of the Hull City Council elections
9. Campaigned alongside Team Cardiff to get Rodney Berman elected to the Senedd this May (and recruited some new deliverers!)
10. Kicked-off the process from the Federal Board to ensure a new party strategy is presented to Conference this cycle, as is required by the Constitution (watch this space for ways to contribute!)
11. Set the wheels in motion to develop an internal party vehicle to support more working class members to stand as candidates - watch this space!
12. Joined the panel of BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenessberg and called out Reform's divisive rhetoric
13. Chaired two meetings of our Federal Board
14. Called out Donald Trump's Bugsy Malone-style international mobster behaviour on Sky News
15. Sat down with the Sunday Times Magazine to make the case for liberalism as an antidote to populism
16. Called out Nigel Farage over his alleged history of anti-semitism in The Guardian
17. Called out Trump's appalling intervention in Venezuela in Parliament
18. Held Reform and the Conservatives to account on GB News over their 'egging on' of British participation in Trump's Iranian war at the beginning
19. Pounded the pavements with Team Southwark ahead of the local elections
20. Challenged Home Secretary over the Labour Government's cruel immigration reforms in the Commons
21. Scheduled a visit to our Team in Birmingham to help them secure a seismic result in May!
22. Canvassed alongside Will Forster and Team Woking as part of the West Surrey campaign
23. Called out Trump over his threats to invade Greenland in the Commons
24. Campaigned alongside Jackie Pearcey in Gorton and Denton, where we ensured voters had a Liberal choice to back
25. Delivered leaflets with Team Brent in an effort to win Queens Park ward from Labour
26. Went viral for telling Donald Trump to go f**k himself after he insulted troops and families who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, with Sky News, Good Morning Britain, PoliticsJoe, the London Economic and others all reporting on it.
27. Spoke at the Conference Rally about our liberalism and our role in defeating populism from both the left and the right
28. Championed a new Customs Union with the EU on the Quiet Riot podcast
29. Called out Tory MP Nick Timothy over his Islamophobic views and comments during Eid, which was picked up by the Huffington Post
30. Appeared on the Crossbench Podcast about how Liberal Democrats are the last line of defence against populism
31. Challenged Nigel Farage over storming out of Parliament, contrary to parliamentary protocol
32. Called out the Labour Government in Parliament over their disastrous NICs rise and its impact on businesses
33. Made our case on Good Morning Britain for the emergency fuel costs package
34. Called for EHRC guidance on single sex spaces to be published and for dignity of trans and non-binary people to be protected, featured in Pink News
35. Spoke out against the unfair student loans regime in Parliament
36. Urged the Home Secretary in Parliament to give people seeking asylum the right to work so that they can pay their way
37. Held failing water companies to account in the House of Commons
38. Called out the Labour Government over the undemocratic decision to suspend council elections in Parliament
39. Championed work of Lib Dem councils in Parliament such as Oxfordshire
40. Sat down for an interview with Roar News, London's biggest student newspaper, about why I'm a YIMBY and the need to build more homes
41. Spoke with York student newspaper, York Vision, about why young people should back the Liberal Democrats
42. Joined Baroness Floella Benjamin and Parliamentary colleagues to meet Windrush survivors and re-commit our party to fighting for justice
43. Accepted the New Lib Dem MP of the Year from the Patchwork Foundation for work supporting underrepresented communities
44. Joined Hina Bokhari AM at the Lib Dem Iftar at the London Central Mosque
45. Spoke at the Southwark Liberal Democrats' International Women's Day event about our party's mission to tackle violence against women and girls
46. Spoke alongside Ed at a fundraising dinner for potential new major donors in London
47. Hosted a dinner and reception for major donors at Spring Conference and teamed up with Ed and Daisy to thank them for their support, and motivate them to keep giving! (Top work to the Fundraising Team, led by Julia, for coordinating!)
48. Spoke at the fundraising dinner for Welsh Liberal Democrats ahead of the May Senedd elections
49. Spoke at Team Haringey's fundraising dinner for major donors, where they raised thousands towards their May election campaign (incredible catering from Nick Da Costa!)
50. Spoke at the East Riding of Yorkshire Party's inaugural gala dinner to raise cash for their local elections in 2027
51. Met 1-1 with a major donor to discuss our progress and ambitions for the May elections
52. Secured the support of a generous new Federal Party donor who has agreed to fund a part-time staff member in the presidential office
53. Spoke at the Young Liberal's Winter Soiree and championed several awesome YL women candidates for this May
54. Spoke at a Cambridge University Liberal Association event, followed by a Q&A
55. Spoke at the King's College London Liberal Democrat society
56. Spoke at ALDC's Kickstart training to motivate and thank our fantastic activists
57. Shared my tips, tricks and experiences with up and coming Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates at a Parliamentary Candidates Association event
58. Begun work to launch a new initiative to support more members from working class backgrounds to stand as candidates
59. Provided advice for candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds to stand as Liberal Democrat candidates
60. Spoke at the Liberal Democrat Campaign for Race Equality's event on diversifying our party and connected with attendees post-event to offer support
61. Met with the CEO of 50:50 Parliament to discuss how we can support more women to stand as Liberal Democrats
62. Joined a Pint and Politics event with students from the University of York Liberal Democrats
63. Brought together chairs of our diversity AOs, alongside Vice President Victoria Collins MP, to develop proposals to improve internal party diversity
64. Met with the Young Liberal Chair, Will Tennison, to discuss our strategy for engaging young people
65. Met with the Chair of University of Bristol Liberal Democrats to discuss what support our student societies need
66. Met with the Liberal Democrat Christian Forum to discuss the role of faith in politics
67. Signed the Holocaust Book of Remembrance in Parliament on behalf of Liberal Democrat members
68. Signed-off on the creation of a new AO (Lib Dems Friends of Cycling, Walking and Wheeling) after a recommendation from the Federal People and Development Committee
69. Proposed and passed a Conference motion to trigger a review into diversity, inclusion and representation on internal party committees
70. Canvassed with Brent and Tower Hamlets local parties to try secure more council seats in London
71. Welcomed first-timers to Conference at their dedicated reception
72. Took party members' questions about the work of the Federal Board from the Spring Conference stage
73. Judged and presented the Party Awards to some of our most committed members
74. Updated the new member pack with an anti-populist call to action and pushed for a youth-specific welcome pack
75. Pushed senior media executives to give Liberal Democrats due coverage on their platforms
76. Wrote to new Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten to learn lessons from his D66 on triumphing as a liberal party
77. Joined our Federal International Relations Committee to stress the importance of learning from our sister parties' fights against populism globally
78. Launched a review into the 2025 internal party elections, led by former MP Tom Brake
79. Met with the Elections Minister to urge for the cancelled local government elections to be reinstated
80. Met with Electoral Commission CEO, Vijay Rangarajan, to discuss how to support candidate diversity and candidate safety
81. Supported the efforts to get F10 ratified so that we can turbocharge our candidate selection process
82. Met with Regional Party Chairs from across the country to discuss challenges and opportunities in their patches
83. Met with the Liberal Democrat Local Government Association Executive to discuss how to even better honour the critical role of councillors in our party
84. Met with a group of Liberal Democrat council leaders across the country to hear about what local government needs from the Federal Party and from government
85. Met with Director of Campaigns Dave McCobb to propose items of electoral strategy ahead of the May elections
86. Pushed for the party to turbocharge its social media resourcing at my first Federal Communications and Elections Committee meeting (the party has since created 5 new social media roles - great work Media Team!)
87. Interviewed candidates to Chair the Federal Elections and Campaigns Committee (welcome back Lord Mark Pack!)
88. Interviewed for the role of Party Treasurer, our lead fundraising supremo (congratulations Tilly McAuliffe!)
89. Helped shape fundraising support for key seats at a meeting of the Federal Finance and Resources Committee
90. Set priorities for party policy development alongside fellow Federal Policy Committee members at the FPC away day
91. Set the agenda for Conference with fellow Federal Conference Committee members at a bumper day-long meeting
92. Hosted Ed in sunny Eastbourne on his local elections tour
93. Attended the Party Body Forum to listen to what our amazing Affiliated Organisations (AOs) need and provide support
94. Drove the process to appoint fantastic new and continuing members to internal party committees this term
95. Consistently relayed member feedback to Ed Davey, Mike Dixon and senior party staff
96. Recruited a dedicated member of staff, Sam - Presidential Assistant, to support me in my work as Party President day-to-day
97. Hosted fortnightly presidential surgeries, meeting members to discuss their ideas and issues
98. Called out Trump's appalling intervention in Venezuela in Parliament
99. Opened and closed my first Conference as Party President
100. Launched my Substack newsletter (today!) to reach new audiences and keep members up to date with what I'm doing - please do sign up!

That’s my 100 @ 100!

Lots done and lots more to do.

Thank you for your support - and good luck to all those teams with elections on May 7th!

Josh