Rosalind Mary Grender, Baroness Grender (born 19 August 1962), known as Olly Grender, is a former Head of Communications for the Liberal Democrats and a party

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

Education

Grender was educated at

Putney High School Putney High School is an independent all-girls school in Putney, London. Often referred to as simply Putney, the school admits students from the ages 4–18. Founded in 1893 it is a member of the Girls' Day School Trust, a union of 26 schools ...

, an independent day school for girls in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient pa ...

in south west London, followed by Kingston College of Further Education in

Kingston-upon-Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

, also in south west London, and

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

Life and career

In the 1980s, Grender was a member of the

National League of Young Liberals National League of Young Liberals (NLYL), often just called the Young Liberals, was the youth wing of the British Liberal Party. It was in existence from 1903 to 1990. Together with the party's student wing, the Union of Liberal Students (ULS), th ...

' Green Guard. After working as a researcher for the Liberal Democrats, Grender became a speech-writer to

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internat ...

in the late 1980s, being awarded a MBE in the

1996 Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in sup ...

list. She was Director of Communications for the Liberal Democrats from June 1990 to June 1995 and Director of Communications for

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locat ...

from June 1995 to October 1999, before joining LLM Communications in 2000. Grender sometimes appears on British television, espousing Liberal Democrat points of view. Grender appeared on Question Time on 21 November 2013, as one of an unusually small panel of three. Over the course of a year, up to September 2011, Grender blogged for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members o ...

'' magazine. At the beginning of August 2013, it was announced that Grender was to become a Liberal Democrat

, and would be a working member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

. Her peerage was created on 4 September 2013 under the title Baroness Grender, of Kingston upon Thames in the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames. She delivered her maiden speech on 28 November 2013. Discussing the diversity of the House of Lords in an interview with Paul Waugh, published in

The House Magazine ''The House'' is a weekly political magazine relating to the British Houses of Parliament, published by Dod's Parliamentary Communications. History and profile It was founded in 1976 by MPs including Mike Thomas, Richard Faulkner and Patrick C ...

in October 2012, Grender stated: "What you don’t get is a hairdresser, what you don’t get is a bus driver. And why don’t you get those people? Because it’s unaffordable for most people to do this kind of thing unless you are relying on a partner." The comment attracted adverse media comment from some commentators, though a number of others stated that they believed the comment had been taken out of context, and defended Grender.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grender, Baroness Grender, Rosalind Living people Alumni of Staffordshire University Liberal Democrats (UK) officials Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Liberal Democrats (UK) life peers British public relations people Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Putney High School Place of birth missing (living people) 1962 births