Featherstone was one of 49 Lib Dem MPs to lose their seat in May’s general election after she was defeated in her Hornsey and Wood Green constituency by Labour’s Catherine West, leaving the party without an energy spokesperson in the House of Commons.
Under the coalition government she served as a junior minister in the Home Office and the Department for International Development. And prior to entering the House of Commons in 2005, she spent five years as a member of the London Assembly.
Farron has also named Baroness Parminter as the party’s environment and rural affairs spokesperson.
She joined the House of Lords in July 2010 and has been actively involved in environmental and rural affairs discussions, having previously debated the Thames Tideway Tunnel, water supplies, and the Infrastructure Bill.
The Lib Dem spokesperson team includes six MPs, 10 members of the House of Lords, and six party members who are not sitting in either chamber.
On the appointments, Farron said: “It was important to me to be able to call on the advice and experience of people at all levels of our party and I believe we have an excellent team to lead the Lib Dem fight back.”
Nick Clegg was offered a shadow cabinet role, but declined and he joins Mark Williams as the only two Lib Dem backbench MPs.