The Baroness Brinton | |
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.jpg) Official portrait, 2018 | |
| Leader of the Liberal Democrats | |
| Acting 13 December 2019 – 1 January 2020 Serving with Sir Ed Davey | |
| Deputy | Sir Ed Davey |
| Preceded by | Jo Swinson |
| Succeeded by | Sir Ed Davey &Mark Pack (acting) |
| President of the Liberal Democrats | |
| In office 1 January 2015 – 1 January 2020 | |
| Leader | Nick Clegg Tim Farron Vince Cable Jo Swinson Ed Davey ·Herself |
| Preceded by | Tim Farron |
| Succeeded by | Mark Pack |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 4 February 2011 Life peerage | |
| Lib Dem Group Leader on Cambridgeshire County Council | |
| In office May 1997 – October 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Maurice Leeke |
| Succeeded by | Julian Huppert |
| Cambridgeshire County Councillor forCastle | |
| In office 6 May 1993 – October 2004 | |
| Preceded by | J Mitten |
| Succeeded by | John White |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Sarah Virginia Brinton (1955-04-01)1 April 1955 (age 70) Paddington,London, England |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats (1988–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Liberal (1975–1988) |
| Parent |
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| Relatives | Mary Stocks, Baroness Stocks (cousin) |
| Alma mater | Central School of Speech and Drama Churchill College, Cambridge |
Sarah Virginia Brinton, Baroness Brinton[1] (born 1 April 1955), known asSal Brinton, is a British politician who served aspresident of theLiberal Democrats from 2015 to 2020. In November 2010 she was nominated to theHouse of Lords,[2] taking her place on 10 February 2011[3] having been createdBaroness Brinton,ofKenardington in theCounty of Kent on 4 February.[4] AfterJo Swinson lost her seat at the2019 general election, Brinton and SirEd Davey became acting co-leaders of the Liberal Democrats.[5][6] After Brinton's term as party president ended, her successorMark Pack also succeeded her as acting co-leader with Davey. Davey waselected as permanent leader of the party in 2020.
Brinton was born inPaddington,London, in 1955.[7] She is the daughter of former Conservative MPTim Brinton,[8] and the cousin ofMary Stocks, Baroness Stocks.
Brinton was educated atBenenden School and studiedstage management at theCentral School of Speech and Drama. She subsequently completed a degree inEnglish literature atChurchill College, Cambridge, in 1981.[9][10]
Beginning her career in the mid-1970s at theBBC as a television floor manager, working onPlayschool,Grandstand,Doctor Who, and other programmes, Brinton joined theLiberal Party in 1975[7] and became aCambridgeshire County Councillor in 1993. She contested the parliamentary seat ofSouth East Cambridgeshire at the1997 and2001 general elections.[citation needed]
Brinton served asbursar ofLucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, from 1992 to 1997,[11] andSelwyn College,Cambridge, from 1997 to 2002.[12] In 1997 she won theEast Anglian entrepreneurial businesswoman of the year award. She was also founder member of the Board of theEast of England Development Agency from December 1998 to December 2004 (Deputy Chair from 2001 to 2004).[citation needed]
From 1999 to 2004, Brinton chaired the Cambridgeshire Learning and Skills Council.[13] She contested theWatford constituency at the2005 general election, coming second to incumbentLabour MPClaire Ward. She stood at Watford at the next election in2010, this time coming second behindConservative candidateRichard Harrington and reducing Ward to a third-place finish. She is anon-executive director of the Ufi Charitable Trust, a charity giving grants in the vocational educational technology sector.[14]
Brinton is a member of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee and Vice Chair of the Federal Conference Committee.[15] She also chairs the Liberal Democrat Diversity Engagement Group, with a particular interest in increasing the number of women, black, Asian, and minority ethnic MPs.[16] Baroness Brinton was a member of the All Party Stalking Inquiry of 2011.[17]
In 2014, Brinton was elected as the president of the Liberal Democrats, defeatingDaisy Cooper andLiz Lynne, and took up her position on 1 January 2015.[18]
Brinton hasrheumatoid arthritis and so usually uses a wheelchair. She met her husband Tim when she worked at the BBC. They live together with their family inWatford.[7]
In 2003, Brinton was awarded an honoraryPhD for her contribution to education, skills and learning byAnglia Ruskin University.[19] In November 2013, she was made a Fellow ofBirkbeck, University of London.[20] She is Patron ofChristian Blind Mission UK, Trustee of the United Kingdom Committee ofUNICEF, a Trustee of the Ufi Charitable Trust, and a Director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd.[21]
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| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of theLiberal Democrats 2015–2019 | Succeeded by |
