Leader of the Liberal Democrats

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. 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 officeTenurePrime Minister —David Steel(born 1938)Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale3 March 198816 July 1988ThatcherRobert Maclennan(1936–2020)Caithness and Sutherland1Paddy Ashdown(1941–2018) Yeovil16 July 1988(Elected)9 August 1999MajorBlair2 Charles Kennedy(1959–2015) Ross, Skye and Inverness West(1999–2005)Ross, Skye and Lochaber(2005–2006) 9 August 1999(Elected) 7 January 2006—Menzies Campbell(1941–2025)North East Fife 7 January 20062 March 200632 March 2006(Elected)15 October 2007Brown —Sir Vince Cable(born 1943)Twickenham15 October 200718 December 20074 Nick Clegg(born 1967) Sheffield Hallam 18 December 2007(Elected) 16 July 2015Cameron5Tim Farron(born 1970)Westmorland and Lonsdale16 July 2015(Elected)20 July 2017May6 Vince Cable(born 1943) Twickenham 20 July 2017(Unopposed) 22 July 20197Jo Swinson(born 1980)East Dunbartonshire22 July 2019(Elected)13 December 2019Johnson —Baroness Brinton(born 1955)Life Peer13 December 20191 January 2020Ed Davey(born 1965)Kingston and Surbiton—1 January 202027 August 2020Mark Pack(born 1970)Extraparliamentary8Ed Davey(born 1965)Kingston and Surbiton27 August 2020(Elected)IncumbentTrussSunakStarmerBurnham

Timeline

Career-based timeline

Leaders in the House of Lords

Leader of the Liberal Democrats

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