Mark Anthony Pack, Baron Pack (born 27 July 1970) is a British politician who has served as the

president of the Liberal Democrats The president of the Liberal Democrats chairs the Federal Board of the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom. The responsibilities of the president are similar to that of chairman of the Conservative Party or chairman of the Labour Party, al ...

since 1 January 2020. After the party's leader,

Jo Swinson Joanne Kate Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is a former British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from July to December 2019. Swinson was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dunbartonshire ( ...

, lost her seat in the 2019 December election, Pack served as acting leader alongside

Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, leader of the Liberal Democrat party since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State ...

from 1 January 2020 to 27 August 2020, when Davey was elected as leader.

Education

Pack read History and Economics at the

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

from 1988 to 1991. He then undertook a PhD in history, studying nineteenth-century elections, initially at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

, before transferring back to the

to complete it, in 1994.

Career

Pack worked as an IT administrator, before working for the Liberal Democrats from 2000 to 2009. He then worked in communications consultancy for MHP Communications, and then Teneo (at the time under the Blue Rubicon brand), from 2009 to 2019. Pack was on the editorial board for the ''Journal of Liberal History''. He was a visiting lecturer at City University. While working for the Liberal Democrats, Pack was Head of Innovations, running the party's 2001 and 2005 Internet general election campaigns. He was the Campaign Manager for the Hornsey & Wood Green constituency from 1998 to 2005. Pack is a long-time Liberal Democrat blogger. He was co-editor of the blog ''Liberal Democrat Voice'' until 2013. Since 2011, he has edited ''Liberal Democrat Newswire'', his monthly email newsletter about the party. Pack stood to be the president of the Liberal Democrats in 2019, with his candidacy supported by MPs

Layla Moran Layla Michelle Moran ( ; born 12 September 1982) is a British Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician. She has served as the Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee since September 2024, and has been Member of Parliamen ...

and

Tom Brake Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London from 1997 to 2019. He was appointed Director of the cross party pressure group Unl ...

, and MEP Catherine Bearder among others. The only other candidate was MP

Christine Jardine Christine Anne Jardine (born 24 November 1960) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh West since 2017. She has been the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, and ...

. Pack was elected by 14,381 (58.6%) to 10,164 votes (41.4%) and began his term on 1 January 2020. As

, previously the leader of the party, had lost her seat in the December general election, the deputy leader

and the party president acted as co-leaders until a new permanent leader could be elected. Pack thus assumed the acting co-leader role on starting his presidential term on 1 January 2020. Pack ranked 5 out of 50 on the Top 50 Influential Lib Dems of 2020 list. Pack was announced to be appointed to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as a Liberal Democrat

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 20 December 2024 as part of the 2024 Political Peerages. He was created ''Baron Pack, of Crouch Hill in the London Borough of Islington'' on 29 January 2025.

Bibliography

Books

*''101 Ways To Win An Election'', with Edward Maxfield (2012) *''Bad News: What the Headlines Don't Tell Us'' (2020)

Journal articles

*With Darren Lilleker and Nigel Jackson, "Political Parties and Web 2.0: The Liberal Democrat Perspective", ''Politics'', Volume 30(2), 2010, p. 105-112. *"Obama: The marketing lessons", ''Journal of Direct, Data and Marketing Practice'', Volume 12(1), 2010, p. 2-9. *"The Victory Lab: Full of secrets, but can they swing an election?", ''Journal of Direct, Data and Marketing Practice'', Volume 14(4), 2013, p. 3490353.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pack, Mark 1970 births Living people Presidents of the Liberal Democrats (UK) Leaders of the Liberal Democrats (UK) Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers Life peers created by Charles III Alumni of the University of York Alumni of the University of Exeter British male writers British bloggers 21st-century British politicians