Author Archives: Margaret Joachim

Older members of the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor Liberal Party will be sorry to hear that Michael Anderson died just before Christmas.

Michael fought the 1978 Epsom by-election for the Liberals, and then the same seat in the general elections of 1979 and 1983, followed by standing in East Surrey in 1987. He then became a district councillor in Mole Valley from 1991 to 2004, chairing the council in 1995-6. He and his wife Anne had lived in Great Bookham since 1975, and Michael took a very active interest in local affairs, in particular the health service, education (as a governor of a local school), crime prevention, as a church sidesman, with U3A and the local football club, whose matches he regularly attended. He was also interested in local history, and ‘starred’ as the narrator in a film made about World War II in Bookham. 

However, Michael was probably much better known to most of us as a member of the Liberal Assembly Committee and then the Federal Conference Committee. His concern was always to ensure that Conference was as good as it could be.  Others could work on policy; he focused first on people. He was a robust and reliable chair of debates, employing a deft sense of humour – he was the person who told us that a typo in one particular submission had resulted in the assertion that ‘Education is a lifeless process’.  He was also an excellent speaker, and was exactly the person you would want to make the summation speech for your side in a complex debate.