Education
Magdalen College; Eton College.
Magdalen College; Eton College.
In September 2014, Rendel was selected as Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2015 general election for the seat of Somerton and Frome in Somerset, however, he lost to the Conservative candidate, David Warburton. After a gap year volunteering in Africa, he worked in the finance department of Shell Oil Company. His father was a foreign correspondent for The Times, and he is a great-grandson of civil engineer Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel, and a great-great-nephew of Liberal Member of Parliament Stuart Rendel.
He became a Newbury District Councillor from 1987 to 1995, and fought and lost the Newbury seat in the 1992 general election, gaining 37% of the vote.
He held on to his seat in 1997 and 2001 with reduced majorities, but at the 2005 election he was defeated by the Conservative candidate Richard Benyon. In May 2006, Rendel was re-selected by local party members as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the Newbury seat for the 2010 election.
At the general election in May 2010 he was defeated by the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Richard Benyon, whose majority grew to 21%.
At the time he lost his seat he was the Liberal Democrats" spokesman on Higher and Further Education. He first came to national attention for supporting the Newbury bypass, and stood in the 1999 election for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats, but came fifth of five candidates, losing to Charles Kennedy. Rendel was a directly elected member of the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive committee until 2014.
After the election, Rendel was the only member on the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive to vote against the recommendation that the party form a coalition government with the Conservative Party.
51st United Kingdom Parliament. 52nd United Kingdom Parliament. 53rd United Kingdom Parliament]
He was the Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Newbury from 1993 to 2005.
Educated at Eton College, Magdalen College, Oxford and Street Cross College, Oxford, Rendel was a member of the winning University of Oxford boat race crew of 1974.