Jane Dodds

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Not to be confused with Anneliese Jane Dodds.

Jane Dodds
MS
Jane Dodds, Brecon (2019) (cropped).jpg
Dodds in 2018
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats
Assumed office
3 November 2017
LeaderSir Vince Cable
Jo Swinson
Sir Ed Davey
Preceded byMark Williams
Kirsty Williams (Acting)
Member of the Senedd
for Mid and West Wales
Assumed office
6 May 2021
Member of Parliament
for Brecon and Radnorshire
In office
1 August 2019 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byChris Davies
Succeeded byFay Jones
Personal details
Born (1963-09-13) 13 September 1963 (age 58)
Wrexham, Wales
Political partyWelsh Liberal Democrats
Spouse(s)Patrick Dodds
EducationCardiff University
WebsiteOfficial website

Jane Dodds MS (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician who has served as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election, but was an MP for only three months before being defeated in the general election later the same year.

In May 2021, Dodds was elected to the Senedd on the Mid and West Wales list. This made her the only Welsh Liberal Democrat Member of the Senedd (MS) in the 6th Senedd.

Early and personal life[]

Dodds was born and raised in a Welsh-speaking family in Wrexham, North Wales. She attended Ysgol Morgan Llwyd before studying social care at Cardiff University. After university she trained to become a social worker,[1] and worked for the Salvation Army in Child Protective Services for 27 years before being elected. During this time she also worked in a number of local authorities and for Cafcass, and also at one stage led the Children's Section of the Refugee Council.

She currently lives in Hay-on-Wye with her husband Patrick.[1]

Political career[]

London[]

Dodds moved to London in early 2000 and was a member of the Labour Party until 2003. Being a strong opponent of military intervention, she left the party following its decision to take part in the invasion of Iraq in early 2003.[2] In 2005 she joined the Liberal Democrats following a meeting with Susan Kramer – who was at the time the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park – and quickly became active in the local Richmond party.

Dodds stood for Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council for the Liberal Democrats in the 2006 local elections, and was elected as one of three councillors in the North Richmond ward.[3] In 2008 she was appointed as Cabinet Member for Performance in the Lib Dem-run administration, where she was responsible for the performance of the authority and ensuring that residents obtained value for money.[4] She narrowly failed to retain her seat in 2010 by a narrow margin of 19 votes, despite obtaining the highest vote among the three Liberal Democrat candidates.

She also contested a by-election for the same ward in 2012, following the resignation of one of the sitting Conservative councillors. During the by-election she was the victim of false leaflets produced in her name, which were produced to look like official Liberal Democrat literature.[5] She narrowly missed out on re-election by 146 votes.

Wales[]

In November 2012, Dodds returned to Wales and moved to Welshpool to help care for her elderly mother. Early the following year she was selected as the parliamentary candidate for Montgomeryshire, which Alex Carlile and later Lembit Öpik had held for the Liberal Democrats from 1983 to 2010. Dodds contested the seat in both the 2015 and 2017 general elections, as well as the Welsh Assembly constituency of Montgomeryshire in 2016. She came second on all three occasions, the Welsh Conservatives retaining both seats.

Dodds was elected as the Welsh Liberal Democrats Leader in November 2017, defeating Aberaeron Councillor Elizabeth Evans by 13% in an all-member ballot.[6]

In March 2019, Dodds was selected as the party's Westminster candidate for Brecon and Radnorshire.[7] As candidate for the constituency, Dodds attacked then-Conservative leadership candidate Boris Johnson's comments about immigrant communities where English is allegedly not spoken as a first language, describing Johnson, in Welsh, as out of touch with communities in Wales.[8] Dodds won the by-election on 1 August 2019.[9] After serving for 97 days, she failed to retain her seat at the general election of 12 December, becoming one of the shortest-serving members at Westminster.[10] The female MPs with the shortest continuous service are Labour's Ruth Dalton in 1929, at 92 days, and the Scottish National Party's Margo MacDonald who subsequently equalled that in 1973–74.[11]

Dodds led her party into the 2021 Senedd election[12] and gained a seat on the list vote in Mid and West Wales, the only seat in the Senedd to be retained by the party.[13] The seat was only held by 714 votes.[14]

Westminster elections[]

General election 2019: Brecon and Radnorshire[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Fay Jones 21,958 53.1 +4.5
Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds 14,827 35.9 +6.8
Labour Tomos Davies 3,944 9.5 -8.2
Monster Raving Loony Lady Lily the Pink 345 0.8 N/A
Christian Jeff Green 245 0.6 N/A
Majority 7,131 17.2
Turnout 41,319 74.5 +14.8
Registered electors 55,490
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats Swing +5.6
2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election[16][17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds 13,826 43.5 +14.4
Conservative Christopher Davies 12,401 39.0 -9.6
Brexit Party Des Parkinson 3,331 10.5 N/A
Labour Tom Davies 1,680 5.3 -12.4
Monster Raving Loony Lady Lily the Pink 334 1.1 N/A
UKIP Liz Phillips 242 0.8 -0.6
Majority 1,425 4.5
Turnout 31,814 59.7
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative Swing +12.0

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b Mosalski, Ruth (10 December 2019). "The General Election 2019 candidates standing in Brecon and Radnorshire". Wales Online. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  2. ^ Dodds, Jane (18 November 2019). "Is Europe the issue that brings radicalism back to Welsh Liberalism?". Institute of Welsh Affairs.
  3. ^ "Richmond Council Election Results" (PDF). LB Richmond. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. ^ "This Is Local London". 25 May 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Police Investigate Fake Election Leaflets". HuffPost UK. 12 May 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  6. ^ Madden, Sophie (3 November 2017). "Montgomeryshire candidate Jane Dodds is elected as new Welsh Lib Dem leader". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Jane Dodds selected to fight Brecon and Radnorshire". Welsh Liberal Democrats. 9 March 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Boris Johnson Claims Too Many Areas In The UK Where English Is Not The First Language". HuffPost UK. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  9. ^ "By-election loss for Tories cuts Commons majority". BBC News. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Jane Dodds' time as MP one of the shortest ever - but not quite a Welsh record". ITV News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Women's political records in the United Kingdom". Belfast: Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  12. ^ Dodds, Jane (4 March 2021). "'A strong Wales as part of the United Kingdom and European Union'". The National Wales. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Liberal Democrats nearly wiped out in Wales after losing only constituency seat to Conservatives". ITV News. 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  14. ^ Hayward, Will (8 May 2021). "Seven statistics that tell the story of Senedd Election 2021". WalesOnline. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Powys County Council. 14 November 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Brecon and Radnorshire by-election: Six candidates confirmed". talkradio.co.uk. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  17. ^ "As it happened: Lib Dems win by-election". BBC News. 1 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.

External links[]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Brecon and Radnorshire
August–November 2019 		Succeeded by
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