Jane Dodds  Jane Dodds (born 13 September 1963) is a Welsh politician serving as Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats since 2017. She was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brecon and Radnorshire at the seat's 2019 by-election, a position she held until she was defeated in the general election later the same year. She was the shortest-serving female MP in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Dodds was born and raised in Wrexham, North Wales. She attended Ysgol Morgan Llwyd and is a fluent Welsh speaker. She studied at Cardiff University before going on to train to become a social worker, and worked for the Salvation Army in Child Protective Services for 27 years before being elected. During this time she also worked in a number of local authorities, for Cafcass, as well as having led the Children's Section of the Refugee Council. She currently lives in Hay-on-Wye with her husband Patrick. Dodds moved to London in early 2000 and was a member of the Labour Party until 2003. She left the party following Labour's decision to take part in the Invasion of Iraq in early 2003, with Dodds being a strong opponent of military intervention. In 2005 she joined the Liberal Democrats following a meeting with Susan Kramer, then the Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, and quickly became active in the local Richmond party. Dodds stood for Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council for the Liberal Democrats in the 2006 local elections, being elected as one of three councillors in the North Richmond ward. In 2008 she was appointed as Cabinet Member for Performance in the Lib Dem run administration, where she was responsible for the performance of the authority and ensuring that residents get value for money. She narrowly failed to retain her seat in 2010 by a narrow margin of 19 votes, despite coming top of the three Liberal Democrat candidates. She also contested a by-election for the same ward in 2012, following the resignation of one of the sitting Conservative Councillors. During the by-election she was the victim of false leaflets produced in her name, which were produced to look like official Liberal Democrat literature. She narrowly missed out on re-election by 146 votes. In November 2012 Dodds returned to Wales and moved to Welshpool. In early 2013 she stood for, and was selected as, the Parliamentary candidate for Montgomeryshire, which the Liberal Democrats had held from 1983 to 2010 by Alex Carlile and then Lembit Öpik. She contested the seat in both the 2015 and 2017 General Elections, as well as the corresponding Welsh Assembly constituency of Montgomeryshire in 2016.