A former Labour minister has joined the board of Liberal Judaism as its new external affairs officer.

Gillian Merron was a health minister in the Labour administration from 2009-10 after previous roles as an under-secretary at the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office.

The Lincoln MP lost her seat in the 2010 election after 13 years in the city, where she became an active member of the small Jewish community.

Lucian Hudson, Liberal chairman for the past three years, has been re-elected, along with vice-chairmen Simon Benscher and Jackie Richards.

Liberal Judaism’s council unanimously decided to set up four key action groups, tackling “areas where we could be even more successful as a movement, building membership and driving engagement”, Mr Hudson explained. The groups cover public relations, strategy, finance and social justice.