How attention to litter helped make Teather the youngest MP

Sarah Teather became the youngest member of the House of Commons yesterday and provided a welcome boost to Liberal Democrat benches starved of female MPs.

As a councillor with a knack for homing in on local grievances such as litter and potholes, she also fits the traditional mould of Liberal Democrat by-election victors.

Ms Teather, a 29-year-old Cambridge-trained scientist, will leave her job at Macmillan Cancer Care Relief. She joined the Liberal Democrats as a student and was soon singled out as Westminster material.

She cut her campaigning teeth in the 2001 general election, coming third with 12 per cent of the vote in Finchley and Golders Green, the adjacent seat to Brent East. Ms Teather has also served on the Liberal Democrats' Federal Policy Committee and has chaired a working party on health policy.

Since gaining a degree in pharmacology, she has worked in the public and private sectors and as a medical journalist. Ms Teather, who comes from London, was elected last year to the Liberal Democrat-controlled Islington council, where she listed her main interest as the environment. She shares a rented flat with friends in Islington, sparking accusations that she was not as "local" as her Brent by-election material implied.

Until recently she was a member of the London Symphony Chorus - and is active in her local church. But leisure took a back seat as she fought a gruelling campaign over the summer. Staying at the home of the Lib Dem peer Earl Russell, who lives in the constituency, she put in 14-hour days. She focused relentlessly on complaints about street cleaning, graffiti and post office closures.

She also displayed an approachable style on the doorstep. Although she cashed in on disillusionment with the war on Iraq, rival parties intimated she was less au fait with the big political issues.

She becomes the sixth female Liberal Democrat MP, taking the proportion to just over 10 per cent. As a backbencher, Ms Teather is likely to pursue her interests in medical issues, but her biggest challenge will be to ensure Brent East does not return to the Labour fold.

BRITAIN'S YOUNGEST MPS

Bernadette Devlin

Elected: By-election, 1969

Age: 21

Independent MP for five years.

Now: Doing voluntary work with the disadvantaged.

Charles Kennedy

Elected: General election, 1983

Age: 23

Now: Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Matthew Taylor

Elected: By-election, 1987

Age: 24

Now: Treasury spokesman for the Liberal Democrats.