The new Liberal Democrat life peers

Here are the new Liberal Democrat members of the House of Lords:

• Cathy Bakewell – former leader of Somerset County Council
• Olly Grender – former Director of Communications for Shelter, former Director of Communications for the party and former Special Advisor
• Christine Humphreys – former Welsh AM and President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats
• Zahida Manzoor – former Deputy Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality
• Brian Paddick – former Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Met and London Mayor candidate
• James Palumbo – co-founder and chairman of Ministry of Sound Group
• Jeremy Purvis – former MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
• Alison Suttie – former Deputy Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg and former Special Advisor
• Rumi Verjee – businessman, philanthropist and leading force behind the party’s Leadership Programme
• Ian Wrigglesworth – Liberal Democrat Treasurer and former MP

As I, ahem, pointed out previously and it turns out correctly:

It’s 99.4% certain there will be at least one person [appointed] who hasn’t been named [in the previous speculation] and they’ll be a female, former council (group) leader from outside London.

The list if 50/50 male female – a good improvement on some previous lists over the years that have been horribly dominated by men, but still rather short of what’s needed to rectify those previous biases.