“We aren’t dead”: the new Lib Dem president Sal Brinton on her party’s prospects

The Lib Dem peer who has just taken up the party's presidency talks electoral strategy, the Lord Rennard case, and why Nick Clegg shouldn't have made coalition look like “a marriage”.

By Anoosh Chakelian

(Photo By â€œCoalition is a contract, not a marriageâ€. Photo: YouTube screengrab)

“Congratulations, damn it!” This is the note Sal Brinton’s father, Tim, the former Conservative MP for Gravesham, sent with a bunch of flowers to his daughter when she was first elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor in 1993.

“Engagement in politics is more important than having rows in the family over what you believe in,” Brinton chuckles after telling me this story. “I think that’s the one thing we agreed on!”