Sarah Virginia Brinton, Baroness Brinton (born 1 April 1955), known as Sal Brinton, is a British politician who served as president of the Liberal Democrats from 2015 to 2020. In November 2010 she was nominated to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

, taking her place on 10 February 2011 having been created Baroness Brinton, ''of

Kenardington Kenardington is a small clustered village and the centre of a relatively small rural civil parish of the same name, in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is centred southwest of Ashford on the B2067 Hamstreet to Tenterden road. ...

in the County of Kent'' on 4 February. After Jo Swinson lost her seat at the

2019 United Kingdom general election The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats. The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote ...

, Brinton and

Sir Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 t ...

became acting co- leaders of the Liberal Democrats.

Early life and education

Brinton was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in 1955. She is the daughter of former Conservative MP Tim Brinton, and the cousin of

Mary Stocks, Baroness Stocks Mary Danvers Stocks, Baroness Stocks (née Brinton; 25 July 1891 – 6 July 1975) was a British writer. She was closely associated with the Strachey, the Wedgwood and the Ricardo families. Her family was deeply involved in changes in the Victoria ...

. Brinton was educated at

Benenden School Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day ...

and studied

stage management Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She subsequently completed a degree in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but still retains a strong interest in the arts and humanities. In 1958, a trust was establis ...

, in 1981.

Career

Beginning her career in the mid 1970s at the BBC as a television floor manager, working on programmes including '' Playschool'', ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap al ...

'' and ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'', Brinton joined the Liberal Party in 1975 and became a Cambridgeshire County Councillor in 1993. She contested the parliamentary seat of South East Cambridgeshire at the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

general elections. Brinton was

bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education ...

Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge Lucy Cavendish College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college is named in honour of Lucy Cavendish (1841–1925), who campaigned for the reform of women's education. History The college was founded in 1965 by fe ...

, from 1992 to 1997, and Selwyn College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, from 1997 to 2002. In 1997 she won the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

n entrepreneurial businesswoman of the year award. She was also founder member of the Board of the

East of England Development Agency The East of England Development Agency (EEDA) was a non-departmental public body and the regional development agency for the East of England region of England. It came into operation on 1 April 1999 and assumed the regional powers of English Par ...

from December 1998 to December 2004 (Deputy Chair from 2001 to 2004). From 1999 to 2004, Brinton chaired the Cambridgeshire Learning and Skills Council. She contested the

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

constituency at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

and 2010 General Elections coming second to Labour and the Conservatives respectively. She is a non-executive director of the Ufi Charitable Trust, a charity giving grants in the vocational educational technology sector. Brinton is a member of the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee and Vice Chair of the Federal Conference Committee. She also chairs the Liberal Democrat Diversity Engagement Group and has a particular interest in increasing the number of women, black, Asian, and minority ethnic MPs. Baroness Brinton was a member of the All Party Stalking Inquiry of 2011. In 2014, Brinton was elected as the president of the Liberal Democrats, defeating Daisy Cooper and

Liz Lynne Elizabeth Lynne (born 22 January 1948) is a British politician, and was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the West Midlands for the Liberal Democrats from the 1999 European election until she retired in 2012. Previously she had be ...

, and took up her position on 1 January 2015.

Personal life

Brinton has

rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints. Pain and stiffness often worsen following rest. Most commonly, the wrist and hands are inv ...

and so usually uses a wheelchair. She met her husband Tim when she worked at the BBC. Brinton lives with Tim and their family in

Honours

In 2003, Brinton was awarded an honorary

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

for her contribution to education, skills and learning by Anglia Ruskin University. In November 2013, she was made a Fellow of

Birkbeck, University of London , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £10 ...

. She is Patron of Christian Blind Mission UK, Trustee of the United Kingdom Committee of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

, a Trustee of the Ufi Charitable Trust, and a Director of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd.Profile
parliament.uk; accessed 20 March 2014.

References

External links

*
Baroness Brinton
Profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
Guardian – Sal Brinton: Electoral History and Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brinton, Sal Brinton, Baroness 1955 births Alumni of Churchill College, Cambridge Councillors in Cambridgeshire Fellows of Selwyn College, Cambridge Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Liberal Democrats (UK) parliamentary candidates Living people People educated at Benenden School Politics of Watford 20th-century British women politicians 21st-century British women politicians