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.

Michael and his colleague Geoff Tordoff, both of whom made their careers with Shell, were committed to making sure the party ran smoothly, and they worked hard in the background to this effect. Michael’s particular talent was managing difficult people well. This was an attribute often deployed at conference, not least when intervening to rescue the conference committee chair from the aggrieved member wanting to know why their particular niche policy item had not been chosen for debate. 

I first met Michael in the mid-1970s when I was a very new candidate. He became a mentor and then a friend, and someone from whom I learned a lot. He was also a source of encouragement and support to many other Liberals, and was particularly keen to see the younger women play a full part in local and national politics. He was a gentleman, in the best possible sense of the word, and we shall miss him.

* Margaret Joachim is a Liberal Democrat activist who has held many roles in the Liberal and Liberal Democrat parties.