Leader of the Liberal Democrats
| Leader of the Liberal Democrats | |
|---|---|
| Member of | |
| Appointer | Liberal Democrats membership |
| Inaugural holder | David Steel and Bob Maclennan |
| Formation | 3 March 1988 |
| Website | Official website |
The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the leader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democrat members of Parliament also elect a deputy leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, often colloquially referred to as the deputy leader. Under the federal constitution of the Liberal Democrats the leader is required to be a member of the House of Commons.
Before the election of the first federal leader of the party (the Liberal Democrats having a federal structure in their internal party organisation), the leaders of the two parties which merged to form the Liberal Democrats, the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), served as joint interim leaders: David Steel and Bob Maclennan respectively.
If the leader dies, resigns or loses their seat in Parliament, the deputy leader (if there is one) serves as interim leader until a leadership election takes place. This has occurred three times, with Menzies Campbell serving as interim leader following the resignation of Charles Kennedy (Campbell was elected leader in the ensuing election) and Vince Cable serving as interim leader following Campbell's resignation. Jo Swinson lost her seat in the general election held on 12 December 2019, thus ceasing to be leader; Deputy Leader Ed Davey and Party President Sal Brinton became acting co-leaders.[1] Brinton was replaced by Mark Pack following his assuming the office of party president on 1 January 2020. Davey won the Leadership election and became Leader on 27 August 2020 at the 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
Leaders
| Leader (Birth–Death) |
Portrait | Constituency | Took office | Left office | Tenure | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | David Steel (born 1938) |
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|
Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale | 3 March 1988 | 16 July 1988 | 135 days | Thatcher | 1979–1990 | |
| Robert Maclennan (1936–2020) |
|
Caithness and Sutherland | |||||||
| 1 | Paddy Ashdown (1941–2018) |
|
Yeovil | 16 July 1988 (Elected) |
9 August 1999 | 11 years, 24 days | |||
| Major | 1990–1997 | ||||||||
| Blair | 1997–2007 | ||||||||
| 2 | Charles Kennedy (1959–2015) |
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|
Ross, Skye and Inverness West (1999–2005) Ross, Skye and Lochaber (2005–2006) |
9 August 1999 (Elected) |
7 January 2006 | 6 years, 151 days | |||
| — | Sir Menzies Campbell (1941–2025) |
|
North East Fife | 7 January 2006 | 2 March 2006 | 54 days | |||
| 3 | 2 March 2006 (Elected) |
15 October 2007 | 1 year, 227 days | ||||||
| Brown | 2007–2010 | ||||||||
| — | Sir Vince Cable (born 1943) |
|
Twickenham | 15 October 2007 | 18 December 2007 | 64 days | |||
| 4 | Nick Clegg[a] (born 1967) |
|
Sheffield Hallam | 18 December 2007 (Elected) |
16 July 2015 | 7 years, 210 days | |||
| Cameron | 2010–2016 | ||||||||
| 5 | Tim Farron (born 1970) |
|
Westmorland and Lonsdale | 16 July 2015 (Elected) |
20 July 2017 | 2 years, 4 days | |||
| May | 2016–2019 | ||||||||
| 6 | Sir Vince Cable (born 1943) |
|
Twickenham | 20 July 2017 (Unopposed) |
22 July 2019 | 2 years, 2 days | |||
| 7 | Jo Swinson (born 1980) |
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|
East Dunbartonshire | 22 July 2019 (Elected) |
13 December 2019 | 144 days | |||
| Johnson | 2019–2022 | ||||||||
| — | Baroness Brinton (born 1955) |
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|
Life Peer | 13 December 2019 | 1 January 2020 | 19 days | |||
| Sir Ed Davey (born 1965) |
|
Kingston and Surbiton | 258 days | ||||||
| — | 1 January 2020 | 27 August 2020 | |||||||
| Mark Pack (born 1970) |
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|
Extraparliamentary | 239 days | ||||||
| 8 | Sir Ed Davey (born 1965) |
|
Kingston and Surbiton | 27 August 2020 (Elected) |
Incumbent | 5 years, 197 days | |||
| Truss | 2022 | ||||||||
| Sunak | 2022–2024 | ||||||||
| Starmer | 2024–present | ||||||||
Timeline
Leaders in the House of Lords
See also
- List of United Kingdom Whig and allied party leaders, 1801–1859
- Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
- Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
- Leader of the Liberal Party (UK)
Notes
- ^ Deputy Prime Minister as part of the Coalition with the Conservative Party; resigned on 8 May 2015 following the 2015 general election, but formally retained leadership until a successor was chosen.[2][3]
References
- ^ "Who will be the next Lib Dem leader after Jo Swinson loses her seat?". ITV News. 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Nick Clegg resigns as Lib Dem leader". The Guardian. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ "Every major British political party – except the Conservatives – currently led by a woman". The Independent. 9 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
Sources
- Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats