Chris Rennard, Baron Rennard

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Christopher John "Chris" Rennard, Baron Rennard, (born 1960) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats and became the youngest ever Liberal/Liberal Democrat Life Peer as Baron Rennard, of Wavertree in the County of Merseyside in 1999.

Along with Ed Davey, Rennard is responsible for co-ordinating the Liberal Democrats' election and by-election campaigns. Former party leader Charles Kennedy has described Rennard as "a quite extraordinary figure in British politics". He is credited with many of the party's by-election victories over the past 25 years, as well as the major gains made at the 1997, 2001 and 2005 general elections. Concerning the 2001 general election, one frontbench Lib Dem is reported as saying:

"Last time people didn't follow Chris [Rennard's] instructions and the difference between those who did and who didn't – like in the Isle of Wight [which the party lost] – was very clear. The message got through." [1]

Rennard is credited with pioneering the successful Lib Dem election strategy of claiming narrow majorities when in second or even third place and ruthlessly squeezing third party votes in Tory/Libdem and Labour/Libdem marginals.

Rennard was educated at the Liverpool Blue Coat School and the University of Liverpool. He has been an active member of the Liberal and then Liberal Democrat parties since he was 12. He learnt his streetcraft from Trevor Jones, the Liberal Party's legendary agent in Liverpool. Aged 22, he was the election agent to David Alton, who won the newly formed constituency of Liverpool Mossley Hill on a record swing. Rennard became Director of Campaigns and Elections in 1989 and was Campaign Director for numerous by-election victories. In October 2003 he was appointed Chief Executive of the party. He has spent his whole adult life working for the party, although he insists that "it was never planned that way".

[edit] External links

• Lord Rennard profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
• Profile From The Guardian, July 2004.
• Announcement of his introduction at the House of Lords House of Lords minutes of proceedings, 27 July 1999