This autumn, conference representatives will elect members of the major committees responsible for running the party. If you have strong views that we should do things differently, then why don’t you stand? We are a democratic organisation, but our decisions will only reflect what members actually want if people do put themselves forward.

Information about the elections has now been published, and the deadline for nominations is 24 September. You only have to get two voting conference representatives to support you, and you don’t even have to be a conference rep yourself to stand.

Of course actually standing for election is not for everyone - I’m very aware that it does require a time commitment which is not everyone is able to give, particularly if you live a long way from London. But in that case please make sure you ask your local party voting representatives how they plan to vote, and of course if you are a voting conference rep yourself, do use this once-in-every-two-years opportunity to question candidates about what they will do. And of course if they’re already members of the committee, challenge them about what they do on it - and give them your own views. As a candidate in recent years I have received perhaps one or two requests for my views in each election - I’d like to see voters using the opportunity much more to question candidates. Several candidates put their contact details at the bottom of their manifesto - do use them!

We now have elections to these committees every two years, and the committees up for election are the three major party committees: the Federal Policy Committee (FPC), Federal Conference Committee (FCC), Federal Executive, (FE) - and then the two international ones: members of the party’s International Relations Committee (IRC) and the delegation to the Council of ELDR, our European party.

And one significant change, I think, since the last time these elections were run back in 2006, is the significant growth in members of these committees, and potential candidates for them, who have a blog. I think this can be quite useful: from the candidate’s point of view they are a good way of getting yourself known among a wider group of people - but from a voter’s point of view, they are also an excellent way of getting to know more about the candidate, the views and positions they have taken on issues, and just more generally who they are.

Perhaps appropriately, several of members of the Federal Policy Committee now write a blog. So I’d urge you to take a look at them to find out more about these people who do have some quite significant influence over the policies that our party develops, and our general policy direction. Of the 15 directly-elected members of the committee (there are also some other members, representing MPs, MEPs, councillors and other groups), I can find the following six who now have a blog: David Boyle, Jo Hayes, Linda Jack, Neil Stockley, Alex Wilcock and myself.

Finally, there are also elections this year to the interim peers list (ie people whom the party leader is supposed to nominate Lib Dem recipients for peerages from). This tends to dominate attention as it has all the right ingredients for a good story, of status, and perceived immodesty by those who out themselves forward. And if you think that you could usefully serve the party effectively in the House of Lords then of course by all means put yourself forward. I would observe, however, that the excitement and general interest generated by the interim peers election tends to be out of all proportion to the likelihood of even successful candidates in that election ever actually making it to the House of Lords!