Bakewell was born Catherine Mary Green in
Bristol in 1949. Bakewell joined the Liberal Party in 1974. She became the
Yeovil constituency secretary, and went on to become to be an assistant to Yeovil
MP Paddy Ashdown. Bakewell worked with Ashdown for twenty years, eventually running the Leader's Office after the
1997 elections. Bakewell was first elected to
Somerset County Council in 1993, serving as Leader from 2001 to 2007, standing down in 2013. Bakewell was a member of the 2007 Councillors Commission which investigated the incentives and barriers to serving on Local Authorities. Bakewell has served as a Liberal Democrat District Councillor for the Coker
electoral ward in
South Somerset since 2009. taking her title for the local village of Hardington Mandeville where she lives. She made her maiden speech in the
House of Lords that November during a debate on housing, the speech addressed affordable housing and the impact of the
under-occupancy charge. She served as a director for the
Leadership Centre for Local Government. ==References==