Specified Associated Organisation

A Specified Associated Organisation is an organization of members of the British Liberal Democrats formed around a specific trait and designated by the Federal Executive as affiliates of the party. SAOs are distinguished from other Liberal Democrat pressure groups (also known as Associated Organizations) in that SAOs can review and input policies.

SAOs include the following:

ethnic minorities (LDCRE),^[1]
women (WLD),^[2]
the LGBT community (LGBT+ Liberal Democrats),^[3]
youth and students (Young Liberals),
engineers and scientists (ALDES),^[4]
parliamentary candidates (PCA)^[5]
and local councillors (ALDC).^[6]

References

^ "Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats". Ethnic-minority.libdems.org. 2010-03-08. Archived from the original on 2010-01-26. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "Women Liberal Democrats". Wld.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "DELGA: Liberal Democrats for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Action". Lgbt.libdems.org.uk. 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "ALDES". ALDES. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "PCA Encyclopedia : Welcome to the Parliamentary Candidates Association Website". Parliamentary.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
^ "Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors". ALDC. 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-04-13.

Liberal Democrats

Leadership

Leaders	Steel (Liberal) (1988) Maclennan (SDP) (1988) Ashdown (1988–1999) Kennedy (1999–2006) Campbell (2006–2007) Clegg (2007–2015) Farron (2015–2017) Cable (2017–2019) Swinson (2019) Davey (from 2020)
Deputy Leaders	Johnston (1988–1992) Beith (1992–2003) Campbell (2003–2006) Cable (2006–2010) Hughes (2010–2014) Bruce (2014–2015) Swinson (2017–2019) Davey (2019–2020) Cooper (from 2020)
Leaders in the Lords	Seear (Liberal) (1988) Diamond (SDP) (1988) Jenkins (1988–1997) Rodgers (1997–2001) Williams (2001–2004) McNally (2004–2013) Wallace (2013–2016) Newby (from 2016)
Presidents	Wrigglesworth (1989–1990) Kennedy (1991–1994) Maclennan (1995–1998) Maddock (1999–2000) Dholakia (2001–2004) Hughes (2005–2008) Scott (2009–2010) Farron (2011–2014) Brinton (2015–2019) Pack (from 2020)

Leadership elections

Leadership	1988 (Ashdown) 1999 (Kennedy) 2006 (Campbell) 2007 (Clegg) 2015 (Farron) 2017 (Cable) 2019 (Swinson) 2020 (Davey)
Deputy Leadership	2003 (Campbell) 2006 (Cable) 2010 (Hughes) 2014 (Bruce) 2017 (Swinson) 2019 (Davey)

Frontbench team
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson

Structure

MPs and Frontbench	Current members of Parliament Frontbench team Chief whip
Frontbench in opposition	Frontbench Team of Paddy Ashdown (1997–1999) Frontbench Team of Charles Kennedy (1999–2006) Frontbench Team of Menzies Campbell (2006–2007) First Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2007) Frontbench Team of Nick Clegg (2007–2010) Frontbench Team of Tim Farron (2015–2017) Second Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2017–2019) Frontbench Team of Jo Swinson (2019) Frontbench Team of Ed Davey (2020-present)
State parties	English Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats Welsh Liberal Democrats
Regional parties	London Liberal Democrats Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats
Conference	Liberal Democrat Conference
Committees	Federal Board
SAOs	LGBT+ Liberal Democrats Young Liberals (English Young Liberals, Scottish Young Liberals, Welsh Young Liberals/Rhyddfrydwr Ifanc Cymru)

Related organisations
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Beveridge Group Christian Forum Friends of Israel Friends of Turkey History Group Liberal Reform Social Liberal Forum

History and related topics
Liberal Democrats headquarters (UK) List of MPs (past and present) General election manifestos Gang of Four Limehouse Declaration Glee Club (UK politics) The Land (song) Liberator (magazine) National Liberal Club Whig Party Peelites Liberal Party Scottish Liberal Party Coalition Coupon Independent Liberal Party (Asquith) National Liberal Party (Lloyd George) Independent Liberals (Lloyd George) National Liberal Party ("Simonites") Lib–Lab pact Liberal Leave One more heave Social Democratic Party SDP–Liberal Alliance Southport Resolution The Orange Book Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement

History and related topics