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Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Most senior politician within the Liberal Democrats in the United Kingdom

Field	Value
post	Leader
body	the Liberal Democrats
incumbent	Sir Ed Davey
image	Official portrait of Ed Davey MP, 2024.jpg
incumbentsince	27 August 2020
Acting: 13 December 2019 – 27 August 2020
member_of
formation	3 March 1988
appointer	Liberal Democrats membership
inaugural	David Steel and Bob Maclennan
website

Acting: 13 December 2019 – 27 August 2020

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 office	Tenure	Prime Minister	Liberal Democrats}}"	—	Thatcher	1979–1990	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	1	Major	1990–1997	Blair	1997–2007	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	2	Liberal Democrats}}"	—	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	3	Brown	2007–2010	Liberal Democrats}}"	—	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	4	Cameron	2010–2016	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	5	May	2016–2019	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	6	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	7	Johnson	2019–2022	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	—	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	—	Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"	8	Truss	2022	Sunak	2022–2024	Starmer	2024–present
David Steel(born 1938)	[[File:DavidSteel1987 (cropped) 2.jpg	130x130px]]	Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale	3 March 1988	16 July 1988		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Robert Maclennan(1936–2020)	[[File:RobertMacLennan1987 cropped.jpg	130x130px]]	Caithness and Sutherland	Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Paddy Ashdown
(1941–2018)	[[File:ASHDOWN Paddy.jpg	127x127px]]	Yeovil	16 July 1988
(Elected)	9 August 1999
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Labour Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Charles Kennedy
(1959–2015)	[[File:Charles Kennedy MP (cropped).jpg	138x138px]]	Ross, Skye and Inverness West
(1999–2005)
Ross, Skye and Lochaber
(2005–2006)	9 August 1999
(Elected)	7 January 2006		Labour Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Sir Menzies Campbell
(1941–2025)	[[File:Sir Ming Campbell MP 2008 cropped.jpg	133x133px]]	North East Fife	7 January 2006	2 March 2006		Labour Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
2 March 2006
(Elected)	15 October 2007		Labour Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Labour Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Sir Vince Cable
(born 1943)	[[File:Vince Cable, March 2008.jpg	151x151px]]	Twickenham	15 October 2007	18 December 2007		Labour Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Nick Clegg
(born 1967)	[[File:Nick Clegg official portrait.jpg	133x133px]]	Sheffield Hallam	18 December 2007
(Elected)	16 July 2015
Labour Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Tim Farron
(born 1970)	[[File:Tim Farron 01, July 2016.jpeg	133x133px]]	Westmorland and Lonsdale	16 July 2015
(Elected)	20 July 2017		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray"
Sir Vince Cable
(born 1943)	[[File:Vince Cable closeup.jpg	133x133px]]	Twickenham	20 July 2017
(Unopposed)	22 July 2019
Jo Swinson
(born 1980)	[[File:Jo Swinson (cropped).jpg	126x126px]]	East Dunbartonshire	22 July 2019
(Elected)	13 December 2019		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Baroness Brinton(born 1955)	[[File:Official portrait of Baroness Brinton (cropped).jpg	133x133px]]	Life Peer	13 December 2019	1 January 2020		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Sir Ed Davey
(born 1965)	[[File:Ed Davey election infobox.jpg	133x133px]]	Kingston and Surbiton		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray; height:65px"
1 January 2020	27 August 2020	Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Mark Pack(born 1970)	[[File:Mark Pack 1044027 (49641743682) (cropped).jpg	133x133px]]	Extraparliamentary		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Sir Ed Davey
(born 1965)	[[File:Official portrait of Ed Davey MP crop 3, 2024.jpg	138x138px]]	Kingston and Surbiton	27 August 2020
(Elected)	Incumbent		Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Conservative Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"
Labour Party (UK)}}; border-bottom:solid 0 gray; border-top:solid 0 gray"

Timeline

DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy ImageSize = width:1050 height:auto barincrement:12 Period = from:03/03/1988 till: TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:130 left:20 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:01/01/1990 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1989

Define $today =

Colors = id:leader value:rgb(0.98,0.65,0.10) legend: Leader_of_the_Liberal_Democrats id:acting value:rgb(0.99,0.82,0.55) legend: Acting_party_leader

Legend = columns:1 left:150 top:50 columnwidth:150

TextData = pos:(20,55) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Position held:"

BarData = bar:Steel bar:Maclennan bar:Ashdown bar:Kennedy bar:Campbell bar:Cable bar:Clegg bar:Farron bar:Swinson bar:Davey bar:Brinton bar:Pack

PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till

bar:Steel from: start till: 16/07/1988 color:acting text:"David Steel"

bar:Maclennan from: start till: 16/07/1988 color:acting text:"Bob Maclennan"

bar:Ashdown from: 16/07/1988 till: 09/08/1999 color:leader text:"Paddy Ashdown"

bar:Kennedy from: 09/08/1999 till: 07/01/2006 color:leader text:"Charles Kennedy"

bar:Campbell from: 07/01/2006 till: 02/03/2006 color:acting from: 02/03/2006 till: 15/10/2007 color:leader text:"Menzies Campbell"

bar:Clegg from: 18/12/2007 till: 16/07/2015 color:leader text:"Nick Clegg"

bar:Farron from: 16/07/2015 till: 20/07/2017 color:leader text:"Tim Farron"

bar:Cable from: 15/10/2007 till: 18/12/2007 color:acting from: 20/07/2017 till: 22/07/2019 color:leader text:"Vince Cable"

bar:Swinson from: 22/07/2019 till: 13/12/2019 color:leader text:"Jo Swinson"

bar:Davey from: 13/12/2019 till: 27/08/2020 color:acting from: 27/08/2020 till: end color:leader text:"Ed Davey"

bar:Brinton from: 13/12/2019 till: 31/12/2019 color:acting text:"Sal Brinton"

bar:Pack from: 01/01/2020 till: 27/08/2020 color:acting text:"Mark Pack"

Leaders in the House of Lords

Main article: Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords

Notes

References

Sources

Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats

References

(13 December 2019). "Who will be the next Lib Dem leader after Jo Swinson loses her seat?".
(8 May 2015). "Nick Clegg resigns as Lib Dem leader". The Guardian.
(9 May 2015). "Every major British political party – except the Conservatives – currently led by a woman". The Independent.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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