The federal and all the State parties have been having internal elections.

The Scottish Party announced its results on Friday with a brilliant mix of people being elected to office bearer roles and committees. Except the President – watch out for her, she’s bound to be trouble.

Returning Officer John Lawrie emailed all members:

President – Caron Lindsay
Convener – Jenni Lang
Policy Convener – Neil Casey
Conference Convener – Fraser Graham
Campaigns & Candidates Convener – Charles Dundas
Treasurer – Mike Gray
Executive Committee Members (12 Members) – Willie Wilson, Alan Reid, Jill Reilly, David Evans, Stephen Harte, Amanda Clark, Christine Murdoch, Greg Foster, Daniel O’Malley, Grant Toghill, Lauren Buchanan-Quigley, Jacquie Bell
Policy Committee Members (5 Members) – Sally Pattle, Andy Williamson, Amanda Clark, Jack Clark, Eloise Martin
Conference Committee Members (6 Members) – Paul McGarry, Mel Sullivan, Ross Stalker, Noah McGarry, Leo Dempster, Jacquie Bell
Federal Council (3 Members) – Stephen Harte, Fraser Graham, Christine Murdoch
A member of The Federal Policy Committee – Daniel O’Malley
A member of The Federal Conference Committee – Paul McGarry
A member of The Federal People Development Committee – Caron Lindsay

Congratulations to everyone elected and commiserations to everyone who didn’t make it this time.

We have our youngest committee member in Noah McGarry, who is 14 but wise beyond his years. He has been elected to Conference Committee after impressing so many conference go-ers with his speeches and supporting role to his Dad, Paul, the former Conference Convener. He wants to make Conference accessible and enjoyable for young people.

Joking aside, I was thrilled to be elected President and it made me particularly happy that whatever the outcome of the election, Scotland would have had a Gaelic-speaking President. Flora Sharp and I are both learning Gaelic and are very supportive of efforts to encourage and support its use.

You might notice regular LDV contributor Stephen Harte amongst the names. He will be continuing on both the Executive and Federal Council.

There had been a four way contest for Conference Convener which was narrowly won by Fraser Graham who you may know from his role on the Federal Conference Committee and for being even taller than Jon Ball.

Jenni Lang saw off a challenge from former President Willie Wilson to continue in her role as Convener.

We have a really strong team to take us forward into the May election.

In our final Executive meeting of the year, chief Exec Paul Trollope and leader Alex Cole-Hamilton updated. us on the campaign plans. We are way ahead of where we have previously been at this stage and there is a feeling of quiet confidence that we have the tools we need to make some big steps forward in May. The by-election victory in Fort William on Thursday was particularly encouraging. Even when Charles Kennedy was MP, Lochaber was a tricky area for us but 40% of the vote was a great result.

If you are in Edinburgh over Christmas and you like cherry bakewell flavours, you might like to head to the Voyage of Buck where we had our Christmas lunch. The Cherry and Almond Sour is probably the nicest drink I have ever had in my life.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social