John Ault is a former

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

politician in England. He is now an academic, election observer, and writer.

Personal life

Ault was raised in

Grappenhall Grappenhall is a suburb of Warrington in the civil parish of Grappenhall and Thelwall, which had a population of 9,377 at the 2001 census. History Grappenhall is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 with the name ''Gropenhale'' and with a val ...

, Cheshire attending The Grange School, Hartford. He studied for an Open degree at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

and subsequently received his PhD from the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

in 2014.

Political career

Ault entered local politics in 1992 being elected to the Appleton Parish Council at the age of 21. He contested the Wyre parliamentary constituency in the same year and South Lancashire European Parliamentary constituency in 1994 – where the future leader of the Liberal Democrats,

Tim Farron Timothy James Farron (born 27 May 1970) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2017. He has also served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland and Lonsdale since 2005, before which he worked ...

, acted as Ault's election agent. Having moved to Cornwall to become election agent to future Liberal Democrat MP, Colin Breed, he contested Calstock in the 1997 Cornwall County Council Elections. Working for the Liberal Democrats he was agent for the Eddisbury,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

, Preston and Ogmore by-elections between 1999 and 2002 and contested the Methyr Tydil and Rhymney Welsh Assembly Seat in 2003. Having returned to Cornwall in 2003 he won the Rame division of

Cornwall County Council Cornwall County Council ( kw, Konteth Konsel Kernow) was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in south west England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 2009. History Cornwall County Counc ...

, defeating the present Member of Parliament for South East Cornwall,

Sheryll Murray Sheryll Murray (formerly Sheryll Hickman; born 4 February 1956) is a British Conservative Party politician and former receptionist. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South East Cornwall at the 2010 general election. ...

in 2005. Following the UK referendum on the Alternative Vote in 2011 Ault was Chair of the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...

from 2011 to 2012. In 2009, Ault stood in the Cornwall Council election for the Falmouth Trescobeas division, coming in third place. In the 2013 elections, he contested the Mabe, Perranarworthal and St Gluvias division, again coming third. Ault stood again for the Mabe, Perranarworthal and St Gluvias seat in a by-election in 2014. He failed to win the seat by just 1 vote. Ault also appeared on BBC's

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where he won ‘The Fastest Political Party’ in Season 2 of the show in 2003.

Election observation

Ault is also involved in international and UK election observation in his role as Director of Democracy Volunteers. He has observed international elections in the

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and

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as well as UK elections and referendums.

Academic career

In 2008, Ault became a member of staff at the University of Exeter (Penryn) where he now lectures politics as an Associate Research Fellow and is director of the Cornish Audio-Visual Archive (CAVA).

Publications

Books

''Liberal Democrats in Cornwall – Culture, Character or Campaigns?'', Amazon 2015 ''By-elections: Essays of the Nations'' (Nationalist Expression), Amazon 2015 ''Thirty Days in February'', Amazon 2016

Academic articles

The Inter-War Cornish By-Elections: Microcosm of 'Rebellion'? in ''Cornish Studies'', Volume 20, Number 1, 1 May 2012, pp. 241–259(19)(ed. Philip Payton) The other Rathbone: Beatrice, the trans-Atlantic envoy, Issue 71 ''Women's History Magazine'', Spring 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ault, John Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter Academics of the University of Exeter English male writers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Year of birth missing (living people) Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Members of Cornwall County Council People educated at The Grange School, Northwich