Chris Rennard's long relationship with the Liberals, and
later the Liberal Democrats, began when a compassionate Liberal candidate
helped his disabled mother receive her widowed mother allowance. By his
20s Rennard was the most successful election campaigner his party has ever
known.


He helped the Liberal Party win power in Liverpool in the
1970s and campaigned for Shirley
Williams and Roy Jenkins in famous by-elections which helped the Liberal SDP
Alliance to compete for power before its acrimonious collapse in the late 80's.
He was then responsible for a series of spectacular by-election victories that
rescued his party's fortunes and he oversaw a huge increase in the party's number
of MPs and elected representatives. Liberal leaders Paddy Ashdown, Charles
Kennedy, Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg would all rely on him as the party
grew to the peak of its success.


This volume of memoirs spans his first 30 years in politics
(to 2006) and includes the highs and lows of his party during the leaderships
of Paddy Ashdown (including his hopes for coalition with Tony Blair) and
Charles Kennedy, (including the latter's enforced resignation after revealing
publicly his problem with alcohol).


There will never be a better inside account of a political
party, or contemporary history of the Liberal Democrats. Winning Here is
a record that shows how election campaigns are really fought and won and how
party leaders change and parties develop. Similarly, there will never be a
commentator better placed to tell this story.