Here’s my pick of five Liberal Democrats to follow on Twitter to entertain, inform and motivate:

Floella Benjamin

The worst moment I’ve had ahead of giving a speech was when I realised I’d be speaking on a panel immediately after Lib Dem peer (and favourite on the 2015 adoption meeting circuit) Floella Benjamin. Not exactly an easy act to follow unless you wish to appear boring, dull and insipid in the afterglow of her brilliance. Luckily for me, her talk was so beautifully idiosyncratic and different that my following effort was obviously nothing comparable to hers in any way save that we both spoke in English (except when she didn’t).

On Twitter she is just as different from the run of the mill rest of us Liberal Democrats, mixing energy, enthusiasm and positive outlook on a medium far too often dominated by cynicism, ranting and hostility.

Sean Kemp

Twice a colleague of mine in the past (at Lib Dem HQ and at Teneo Blue Rubicon), former Liberal Democrat staffer, Special Adviser and comms expert Sean Kemp has that deeply annoying knack (well, annoying to me, a gift to him) of writing tweets that make you wish you’d thought of them first. And then realise that even if you had, you wouldn’t have made them as efficiently waspish or funny.

He’s also got a bizarrely small number of followers given his brilliance. Still. Follow him now and be able to say you knew him on Twitter back in the days before he overtook Zayn Malik.

Lynne Featherstone

Councillor, GLA member, MP, peer and – most importantly – the person responsible for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, Lynne Featherstone was also the first MP to tweet from the House of Commons benches.

Her tweets are a little less focused on Haringey these days, and so of even more wider interest.

Prateek Buch

Scientist, policy expert, pamphleteer, diligent policy maker (Federal Policy Committee): this is just the sort of person we need more of in the party. And he tweets.

Tim Farron

He leads the party. He tweets. You should follow him.

Oh yes, there are more than five…

Five is your lot for this post, but it’s by no means an extensive list. The comment thread awaits for other suggestions, such as, ahem, myself…

You can also use the excellent tool TweetShelf to keep on top of what people are saying on Twitter.