The Rt Hon. the Lord Newby OBE

Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords

I was born in Rothwell, W Yorks, attended the local grammar school and then studied PPE at St Catherine’s College Oxford. I started work in HM Customs and Excise before working for the newly-formed Social Democratic Party, where I became the Party’s Chief Executive.

From 1988, I worked professionally as director of corporate affairs in a listed property development company before setting up a consultancy which specialised in corporate social responsibility advice. Politically, I worked for successive Liberal Democrat leaders and became a life peer in 1997. I was a Minister in the Coalition from 2012-5 (Deputy Government chief whip) and became Lib Dem Lords Group leader in 2016.
I have done a lot of work using sport as a tool for personal development, including establishing Sport at the Prince’s Trust, chairing International Development through Sport (part of UK Sport) and founding Sort for Life which has run programmes in the UK, Caribbean and Pakistan.