1. (+1) Vince Cable

LibDem Treasury Spokesman

There’s no doubt that Cable is the most respected LibDem politician in the country – not just in his own party, either. He bitterly regretted not standing for the leadership and if anything happened to Clegg, he would surely be elected by acclamation.

  1. (-1) Nick Clegg

Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Nick Clegg clings to the top spot by virtue of his position rather than his performance since becoming leader of the party less than a year ago. However, he has avoided the mistakes of previous leaders and doesn’t micro-manage. He realises he has to differentiate the LibDems from the two main parties to avoid further squeeze, and has therefore been more radical than his predecessors.

  1. (-) Chris Huhne

Home Affairs Spokesman

Urbane, charming and just a bit monochrome, Chris Huhne knows he has power and he wields it. He refused the lower profile position of Foreign Affairs spokesman and demanded to have Home Affairs. His narrow defeat by Clegg in the leadership election enabled him to stand his ground.

  1. (New) Chris Fox

 

  1. (+4) Danny Alexander

Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg

MPs do not normally make good chiefs of staff, but Danny Alexander wields enormous power and influence in the Clegg team, not least because he is in charge of writing the next LibDem manifesto. He also has a seat in Clegg’s frontbench team as Work & Pensions Spokesman. A rising star, even if he has no profile outside the party.

  1. (+1) David Laws

Spokesman on Children, Schools & Families

Probably the most right wing LibDem MP in the Commons, he was the architect of the so-called Orange Book agenda, which encouraged the LibDems to adopt a low tax policy and free market solutions. Unpopular with the beard and sandals brigade at the time, Laws has won the day. A shy, sometimes awkward man, Laws is the David Willetts of the Liberal Democrats, with enough intelligence to fill two brains.

 

  1. (NEW) Baroness Scott

 

  1. (+41) John Sharkey

PR to Nick Clegg

John Sharkey was part of the Saatchi & Saatchi team which advised Margaret Thatcher during the 1987 general election campaign. He is very much a man who acts in the shadows, but is important enough to have an ‘in tray’ in the Leader’s office.  He’s tasked with advising Clegg on how to break the two party stranglehold – so far to little effect. He rose to become joint Managing Director of Saatchi & Saatchi with special responsibility for the Turkish government's preparation of its case for entry into the European Union,

  1. (+4) Tom McNally

Leader of the LibDems in the House of Lords

A genial figure, Lord McNally started political life as head of James Callaghan’s political office. Elected to the Commons in 1979 he defected to the SDP two years later. He was one of the key players in the overthrow of Charles Kennedy. He was elected leader of LibDem peers unopposed, succeeding Shirley Williams in 2004.

  1. (-5) Paddy Ashdown

Leader of the LibDems 1988-1999

It was Ashdown who led the LibDems to an electoral breakthrough in 1997 and for that reason alone he is revered by LibDems. He remains influential and was even rumoured to be thinking about seeking the Party’s Presidency. His sojourns in Bosnia and Kosovo mean he’s the only leading LibDem to have actually run a country since the days of Lloyd George, and for that reason alone he deserves his high ranking. Nowadays, he is quite active in the House of Lords, a chamber he is said to loathe.

 

  1. (NEW) Lord Oakeshott

 

  1. (27)  Polly MacKenzie

Chief Political Adviser to Nick Clegg

One of the LibDems’ brightest young talents, Polly Mackenzie was Clegg’s Chief of Staff when he was Home Affairs Spokesman and resigned her post to be part of his leadership campaign team. She has great influence over policy and writes most of Nick Clegg’s important speeches. Party bigwigs are encouraging her to stand for Parliament.

  1. (+20) Tavish Scott

Leader, Scottish Liberal Democrats

Scott was elected leader of the Scottish LibDems three weeks ago and faces an uphill struggle to make the party’s voice heard north of the border. He served in the Lab/Lib Scottish Executive as Minister for Transport prior to May 2007.

  1. (+2) Evan Harris

LibDem MP for Oxford West & Abingdon

One of the doughtiest LibDem campaigners, Harris is an inveterate ‘taker-upper’ of causes, the latest being the pro abortion campaign. Strangely for a LibDem, he is also a powerful advocate of animal experimentation. Another LibDem who finds the concept of collective responsibility a strange one, he returned to the LibDem front bench in 2005 after a two year period caring for his very ill girlfriend.

  1. (-4) Baroness Williams

Former Leader of the LibDems in the House of Lords

Although she no longer holds an official position Shirley Williams is seen as the Grandmother of the Liberal Democrats. She exerts huge influence on LibDem Peers, which was amply demonstrated in their stance on the Lisbon Treaty, which ran counter to that of the party leadership. After Nick Clegg and Charles Kennedy she is probably the LibDems’ most recognized face on TV.

  1. (NEW) Richard Allan

 

  1.  (+4) Anthony Lester

LibDem Peer

The co-founder of the anti discrimination think tank the Runnymede Trust, Lord Lester was also known as a close acolyte of Roy Jenkins. He joined Gordon Brown’s Government of All the Talents as an adviser on constitutional reform. He is better known as a human rights lawyer than a Liberal Democrat.

  1. (+7) Duncan Brack

Chair, Conference Committee

Former LibDem Policy Director Brack is one of the few LibDems who everybody seems not only to like but also respect. He was for a number of years a senior policy director at Chatham House and more recently was behind the Reinventing the State book, which challenged the more liberal economic position of the Orange Book crowd. His position as Chair of the LibDem Conference Committee means he exerts huge power, due to its policymaking role. He edits the Journal of Liberal History.

  1. (-6) Charles Kennedy

Leader of the LibDems 1999-2006

The LibDems are still suffering from a collective guilt complex for what happened to Charles Kennedy. Their reputation as the ‘nice’ party disappeared in one fell swoop. Kennedy has adopted a low profile but is gradually adopting the mantle of ‘wise old sage’. He’s quick to defend himself if anyone criticizes his period as leader by reminding them of the electoral successes the party enjoyed under his stewardship.

  1. (+2) Paul Burstow

Chief Whip

Burstow spent two years as LibDem Health spokesman but was dropped by Charles Kennedy after the 2005 election. A year later he was elected Chief Whip by LibDems MPs following Ming Campbell’s election as LibDem leader. He has established a reputation for firmness in a party where whipping is considered as difficult as herding cats.

  1. (+7) Lynne Featherstone

Equality & Youth Spokesman

Feisty and telegenic, Lynne Featherstone was a leading cheerleader for Chris Huhne and as a consequence has been somewhat sidelined by Nick Clegg. She is one of the LibDems’s leading bloggers and a doughty constituency campaigner, having overturned a Labour majority of more than 10,000. In a party with comparatively few leading women, she deserves more prominence.

  1. (+1) Lord Shutt

LibDem Chief Whip in the House of Lords

A Life Peer since 2000, David Shutt figures prominently on this list not just because of his role as chief whip in the Lords. He is also chairman of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which has become a large provider of funds to the LibDems in recent years, to the tune of several millions of pounds.

  1. (-15) Simon Hughes

Outgoing President of the Liberal Democrats

After twenty years as a leading player in LibDem politics – often described as the best leader they never had - Hughes’s star is now on the wane. In various leadership contests he was always the bridesmaid but never the bride. A party man to his core, Hughes never really acquired the aura of gravitas which leadership requires. His popularity within the party, however, remains undiminished.

  1. (-12) Norman Baker

Transport Spokesman

The maverick’s maverick, Baker is seen as an obsessive, even by his party colleagues. He recently published a book asserting that Dr David Kelly was murdered. He’s viewed as the very antithesis of a team player, but is an effective media operator despite his less than matinee idol looks.

  1. (+1) Steve Webb

Environment Spokesman

Deeply cerebral, Webb was tipped as a possible leadership candidate a year ago, but decided instead to back Nick Clegg. He made his reputations as a pensions and social security expert, but since his move to the environment brief has disappeared from public view. Heavily into new media and blogging, Webb is seen very much as following the Simon Hughes tradition of grassroots political campaigning.

  1. (-7) Norman Lamb

Health Spokesman

A tenacious constituency campaigner, Lamb has established himself as a key player in the LibDem frontbench team. As his PPS, he was among the first to recognize there was a Charles Kennedy problem. As Trade & Industry spokesman he suffered a blow when the party rebuffed his plans to privatise parts of the Post Office, but he had the last laugh when he drove the policy through a year later.

  1. (+2) Jonathan Oates

Liberal Democrat outgoing Director of Communications

Jonny Oates quits his post as LibDem Communications Director after the LibDem conference, but is expected to retain a great deal of influence in the Cowley Street HQ. Suave and debonair, he has tried to refashion the whole LibDem communications structure with some success. A former party agent in Kingston.

 

  1. (-24) Lord Rennard

Chief Executive, Liberal Democrats

Built his reputation as Head of Campaigns and winning seemingly hopeless by elections and marginal parliamentary seats. Lord Rennard is one of the great political campaigners of our age, yet his star is said to be on the wane after the last three lamentable by election performances in Crewe, Henley and Glasgow East. However, early tensions between him and Nick Clegg appear to have abated.

  1. (-14) Lord Carlile

Former LibDem MP

A former LibDem MP for Montgomeryshire (1983-97), Alex Carlile is now better known as the Government’s independent reviewer of anti terror legislation and a leading QC. He caused consternation among his LibDem colleagues by supporting the government’s line on 42 days detention for terror suspects. He successfully defended Paul Burrell against charges that he had stolen items from the estate of Princess Diana.

 

  1. (+14) Sarah Teather

Spokesman on Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform

A sparky media performer, Sarah Teather has never really matched up to her potential following her famous by election win in Brent East in 2003. Her star is on the wane, at least in part due to the fact that her seat disappears at the next election and she is tipped to lose the new seat of Brent Central to the incumbent Labour MP Dawn Butler.

  1. (+8) Alison Suttie

Deputy Chief of Staff to Nick Clegg

As head of Nick Clegg’s Private Office, Suttie holds real power and is the real gatekeeper to the LibDem leader. Like Sue Nye in Gordon Brown’s office, she controls who gets to see Clegg and who doesn’t. Suttie and Clegg go back a long way as she worked for him when he was an MEP. She was one of the few people from Ming Campbell’s office who were retained. Clegg places huge faith and trust in her.

  1. (NEW) Hilary Stephenson
  2. (NEW) Richard Kemp

 

  1. (-14) Baroness Neuberger

LibDem Peer

Best known for her ‘Thought for the Day’ slots on the Today Programme, Rabbi and Baroness Julia Neuberger recently became part of Gordon Brown’s Government of All the Talents when he recruited her to advise on volunteering. Her book The Moral State We’re In received much critical acclaim.

  1. (-21) Ed Davey

Foreign Affairs Spokesman

Davey has been seen as a rising star of the LibDems, but his star seems to be very much on the wane. His period as Foreign Affairs spokesman has been disastrous, with an ill-judged walkout from the Commons chamber, and it recently emerged that he only got the job because Chris Huhne turned it down. Still chairs the Campaigns & Communications Committee, but may be set for demotion in Clegg’s next reshuffle.

 

  1. (-2) Sir Menzies Campbell

Leader of the Liberal Democrats, 2006-7

When Ming Campbell resigned the LibDem leadership ten months ago he more or less bowed out of internal LibDem politics. His lasting influence lies in the internal party reforms he set in motion, particularly in the operation of the Party HQ in Cowley Street. He remains a popular figure on the media on foreign policy issues, and his memoirs published earlier this year were far more gossipy than many had expected.

  1. (+1) John Shipley

Leader, Newcastle City Council

Newcastle is one of the largest local authorities run by the LibDems. Shipley has led the transformation of the LibDems’ electoral fortunes in the city and is in much demand as a speaker, as LibDems in other parts of the country seek to learn the lessons of the Newcastle experience.

  1. (NEW) Kirsty Williams

 

  1. (+9) Richard Grayson

Former Liberal Democrat Director of Policy

If there were a league table for nice LibDems, Richard Grayson would top it. An accomplished historian, Grayson is still one of the party’s most influential policy figures, despite quitting his post as Director of Policy many years ago. A prominent opponent of the so-called Orange Book tendency, he is one of the three inspirations behind the left of centre ‘Reinventing the State’ group of LibDems.

  1. (NEW) Paul Scriven
  2. (NEW) Jo Swinson
  3. (-6) Mark Pack

Head of Innovations, LibDem HQ

Mark Pack is the man charged with developing the Liberal Democrat presence on the internet. A constant hive of activity, he is also behind the successful Liberal Democrat Voice blog, on which he plays the part of attack dog, with a constant stream of blogposts highlighting scandals in other parties. He has recently overseen a revamp of the LibDems’ national website.

  1. (-2) Dorothy Thornhill

Mayor of Watford

Dorothy Thornhill overcame tough opposition to become the first directly LibDem mayor in 2002 and she was re-elected in 2006. Watford is a target seat for the LibDems at the next election and her tenure as mayor will prove crucial to their fortunes.

  1. (NEW) Neil Sherlock
  2. (-) David Howarth

Shadow Solicitor General

David Howarth is one of the Party’s leading thinkers on constitutional issues and has led the campaign for Fixed Term Parliaments. A leading acolyte of Chris Huhne, he also firmly opposes closer ties with the Labour Party. He is one of the three editors of the left-leaning Reinventing the State book.

  1. (NEW)  Daniel Radcliffe
  2. (NEW) Mark Littlewood
  3. (NEW) Willie Rennie
  4. (NEW) Fiona Hall

 

  1. (-32)Lembit Opik

Housing Spokesman

Second only to Charles Kennedy in the entertainment stakes, Opik is currently attempting to be elected President of the LibDems, a powerful position in the party’s structure. His reputation has taken a beating over his on-off relationship with one of the Cheeky Girls. Opik’s huge ambition is masked by a willingness to act of the fool , something many LibDems are tiring of.