I am just quickly posting this now in between appointments and I will do some commentary later.

The Federal Returning Officer Crispin Allard sent this email out giving the results of the Federal Committee elections:

I can confirm that today we have completed the count for the internal federal elections, following an initial delay.

The results can be found below:

Federal Board:
Hannah Kitching; Janey Little; Prue Bray

Federal Board – Councillor Rep:
Lucy Nethsingha

Federal Council:
Adrain Hyyrylainen-Trett; Aiden Van de Weyer; April Preston; Candy Piercy; Caroline Leaver; Caron Lindsay; Charley Hasted; Dominic Martin; Donna Harris; Gareth Roberts; Hannah Perkin; Humaira Sanders; Janice Turner; Jenny Wilkinson; Keith Moffit; Rachel Barker; Richard Cole; Sarah Cheung Johnson; Simon McGrath; Teresa Cooper; Victor Chamberlain

Federal Council – Councillor Rep:
Sudhakar Achwal; Tim Pickstone; Thalia Marrington

Federal Policy Committee:
Abrial Jerram; Antony Hook; Duncan Brack; Katie Mansfield; Laura Gordon; Lucy Nethsingha; Martin Horwood; Mohsin Khan; Nick Harvey; Phil Bennion; Rebecca Jones; Richard Cole; Rosie Shimell; Simon McGrath; Zoe Hollowood

Federal Policy Committee – Councillor Rep:
Susan Juned; Thalia Marrington

Federal Conference Committee:
Alison Jenner; Callum Robertson; Chris Adams; Chris Maines; Eleanor Kelly; Gareth Epps; Jennie Rigg; Jess Brown-Fuller; Kath Pinnock; Nick da Costa; Sarah Teather; Shaffaq Mohammed

Federal International Relations Committee:
Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett; Allessandra Rossetti; Ann Keeling; David Chalmers; Eleanor Rylance; Hannah Bettsworth; Irina von Wiese; Khadija El Morabit

ALDE Delegation:
Chloe Hutchinson; Helen Belcher; Irina von Wiese; Jacqueline Bell; Phil Bennion; Rowan Fitton

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that, on 12 November, Josh Babarinde was elected as President, and Victoria Collins was elected as Vice President with responsibility for ethnic minorities.The Federal Returning Officer team extend our sincere thanks to all candidates for putting themselves forward, and to every member who engaged in the process and made their voice heard.

A few quick thoughts:

Had the quotas been applied as written in the constitution, it is likely that one of the three women elected for Federal Board would have been replaced by a man.  The brilliant Neil Fawcett who has been on the Board for, I think, at least the last 9 years, lost his seat as a result. The women elected are all absolutely fantastic and a superb mix of skills. Prue knows the party inside out and is an experienced councillor. Janey is a policy powerhouse who is brilliant at working collaboratively and constructively across the Party. Hannah knows everything there is to know about campaignng across the whole country but particularly in the north and we will benefit from her insight.

The results are good for gender balance generally.  12/21 on Federal Council, 4/6 on ALDE, 6/8 on FIRC, 6/12 on FCC. FPC is the lowest with 6/15 but both Councillor reps are women.

From the LDV team, Charley and I have both been elected to Federal Council. As Mark Valladares wrote recently, it’s been a bit of a nightmare in its first three years, but I am very hopeful that this cohort of people can get it on track.  I am very grateful to him and people like Richard Flowers, Stephen Robinson, Prue Bray and James Gurling for their wisdom and insight. We will really miss them. I am so looking forward to welcoming Donna Harris, Caroline Leaver, Richard Cole and Victor Chamberlain eall experienced councillors who know a thing or two about effective scrutiny.

Congratulations to everyone who has been elected and commiserations to those who have not. In many cases and in an electorate of this size, it really can be a handful of votes that can be the difference between winning and losing. It’s been a long and stressful process this time round and we all need to take a breath and concentrate on making the party the best it can be for the next three years.

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