You can take your time...

…picking a shadow cabinet when you don’t have all eyes watching, waiting for you to make clear exactly what your intentions are with regard to the party. If your leadership hasn’t been subjected to intense probing by spectators and participants alike you are not under the same pressures and scrutiny and can take stock, deliberate before revealing your hand.

Having worked as a constituency MP for the last 18 months and increased her majority in the face of a strong Labour campaign, Sarah is to join the Liberal Democrat ‘front bench’ team. She will now be responsible for the Communities and Local Government portfolio of policy.

Lib Dems Press Release. BBC News. FT.com. Guardian.

Otherwise it’s all quiet on the news front. There has not been a news posting to the BELD website since Charles visited Brent East before the election. I guess we are waiting for the State Opening of Parliament and the Queen’s Speech and for the MPs to take their seats for the 2005-09/10 parliamentary term. Whether or not reform to Local Government, devolution and the like, and further inititives to promote cohesion and community are in the policies announced this week, I’m sure we’ll be hearing from Sarah pretty soon.