Lib Dem leadership election timetable and other issues for the Federal Board

Next Saturday is the first meeting of the new Liberal Democrat Federal Board (FB), which will see a mix of old and new faces either around the table or joining via video conference. It'll also be my first outing chairing the Board, so with a bit of luck, we'll have finished by Monday lunchtime…

Watch out for my report on the party website which will follow a few days after, but as lots of people have been asking, it's worth noting in advance some of the key points we'll have on the agenda.

Timetable for the party leadership election

Before Christmas, the Board agreed that the party should take some time to reflect on lessons from 2019 and so rather than immediately kicking-off the leadership contest it held over setting the timetable until our January meeting.

Quite a range of opinions have been expressed as to what the ideal timeline is (from ASAP to taking more time to reflect and learn). The Board will, therefore, be making its best efforts to pick the right answer when we meet.

Confirmation of plans for elections review

The independent review of our European and general election campaigns is being organised by the Federal Audit and Scrutiny Committee (FASC), which gives it an added degree of independence from those involved in running those campaigns.

The Board will hear the latest on those plans and, hopefully, agree with them.

News of the panel chair and members, along with further ways to feed in your views in addition to the initial survey, will follow.

Party internal elections

There are nearly 50 posts of various sorts to fill across different party committees, review teams and posts. The Board will be looking at the timetable for these, so keep an eye out for the advertisements of all these posts soon after.

There will be lots of important ways for people to get more involved in the party - and getting a diverse range of skilled applicants will be a real boon for getting things right in how we run the party.

The Board will also be kicking off the required review after each round of all-member elections, so watch out too for news on how we'll be reviewing the conduct of the elections just before Christmas for the federal committees and President.

And not on the agenda…

Because the Federal Board's remit is meant to be strategic, there are many important things which don't naturally fall to it because they are more operational in nature or because they fall to another part of the party. Our support for devolution in public government is meant to be matched by devolution in how we operate as a party. As a result, being important is not synonymous with being on the FB's agenda.