Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Leader of Liberal Democrats
Incumbent Tim Farron MP since 16 July 2015
Member of	LibDems Frontbench team LibDems Federal Executive
Appointer	Liberal Democrats membership
Inaugural holder	David Steel and Robert Maclennan
Formation	3 March 1988
Website	libdems.org.uk/tim farron

The Liberal Democrats are a political party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament also elect a Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Group 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 SDP, served as joint interim leaders.

In the event that the leader dies, resigns or loses his or her seat in Parliament, the deputy leader serves as interim leader until a leadership election takes place. This has occurred twice, 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.

List of Leaders and Deputy Leaders of the Liberal Democrats

Leader				Deputy Leader				Prime Minister
№	Name Constituency	Portrait	Term of office	№	Name Constituency	Portrait	Term of office	Prime Minister
—	David Steel¹ MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (1938–) & Bob Maclennan² MP for Caithness and Sutherland (1936–)		3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988						Thatcher 1979–90
—			3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988
1	Paddy Ashdown MP for Yeovil (1941–)		16 July 1988 – 9 August 1999	1	Russell Johnston MP for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber (1932–2008)		16 July 1988 – 13 April 1992
				1			16 July 1988 – 13 April 1992		Major 1990–97
				2	Alan Beith MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed (1943–)		13 April 1992 – 12 February 2003		Major 1990–97
									Blair 1997–2007
2	Charles Kennedy MP for Ross, Skye and Inverness West until 2005 MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2005 f(1959–2015)		9 August 1999 – 7 January 2006
2			9 August 1999 – 7 January 2006	3	Menzies Campbell MP for North East Fife (1941–)		12 February 2003 – 2 March 2006
3	Sir Menzies Campbell³ MP for North East Fife (1941–)		2 March 2006 – 15 October 2007	4	Vincent Cable MP for Twickenham (1943–)		29 March 2006 – 26 May 2010
3	Sir Menzies Campbell³ MP for North East Fife (1941–)		2 March 2006 – 15 October 2007						Brown 2007–10
—	Vincent Cable (acting.⁴) MP for Twickenham (1943–)		15 October 2007 – 18 December 2007
4	Nick Clegg⁵ MP for Sheffield Hallam Deputy Prime Minister: 2010–15 (1967–)		18 December 2007 – 16 July 2015
				5	Simon Hughes MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark Minister of State for Justice and Civil Liberties: 2013–15 (1951–)		9 June 2010 – 28 January 2014		Cameron 2010–16
				6	Sir Malcolm Bruce MP for Gordon (1944–)		28 January 2014 – 7 May 2015		Cameron 2010–16
5	Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale (1970–)		16 July 2015 – present						Cameron 2010–16
5	Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale (1970–)		16 July 2015 – present						May 2016–present

Notes:

¹ Joint acting leader, as the last leader of the Liberal Party before the merger.
² Joint acting leader, as the last leader of the Social Democratic Party before the merger.
³ Acting leader between the resignation of Charles Kennedy on 7 January 2006 and his own election as leader on 2 March 2006.
⁴ Acting leader between the resignation of Menzies Campbell on 15 October 2007 and the election of a new leader on 18 December 2007.
⁵ Deputy Prime Minister as part of the Liberal–Conservative Coalition; resigned on 8 May 2015 following the 2015 general election, but formally retained leadership until a successor was chosen.^[1]^[2]

Liberal Democrat Leaders in the House of Lords

The Liberal Democrat peers elect the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords. The first four Leaders had been members of the Labour Party who left to form the Social Democratic Party in 1981 before merging with the Liberal Party in 1988. Lord Wallace of Tankerness had been a member of the Liberal Party before the merger. Lord Newby had been a civil servant before joining the SDP.

Leader in the House of Lords
#	Leader	Took office	Left office
1	The Lord Jenkins of Hillhead (Roy Jenkins)	16 July 1988	19 December 1997
2	The Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank (William Rodgers)	19 December 1997	7 June 2001
3	The Baroness Williams of Crosby (Shirley Williams)	7 June 2001	24 November 2004
4	The Lord McNally (Tom McNally)	24 November 2004	15 October 2013
5	The Lord Wallace of Tankerness (Jim Wallace)	15 October 2013	13 September 2016
6	The Lord Newby (Dick Newby)	13 September 2016	to present

References

↑ "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

External links

Liberal Democrat History Group

Liberal, Social Democrat and Liberal Democrat leadership elections

Liberals	1967 1976

SDP	1982

Liberal Democrats	1988 1999 2006 2007 2015

Liberal Democrats

Leadership

Leaders	Steel (Liberal) Maclennan (SDP) Ashdown Kennedy Campbell Clegg Farron

Deputy Leaders	Johnston Beith Campbell Cable Hughes Bruce

Leaders in the Lords	Seear (Liberal) Diamond (SDP) Jenkins Rodgers Williams McNally Wallace

Presidents	Wrigglesworth Kennedy Maclennan Maddock Dholakia Hughes Scott Farron Brinton

Leadership elections

Leadership	1988 (Ashdown) 1999 (Kennedy) 2006 (Campbell) 2007 (Clegg) 2015 (Farron)

Deputy Leadership	2003 (Campbell) 2006 (Cable) 2010 (Hughes) 2014 (Bruce) Next

Structure

MPs and Frontbench	Current Members of Parliament Frontbench team Chief whip

Frontbench in opposition	Frontbench Team of Paddy Ashdown (1997–1999) Frontbench Team of Charles Kennedy (1999–2006) Frontbench Team of Menzies Campbell (2006–2007) Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2007) Frontbench Team of Nick Clegg (2007–2010) Frontbench Team of Tim Farron (2015–)

State parties	English Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats Welsh Liberal Democrats

Regional parties	London Liberal Democrats Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats

Committees	Federal Executive Federal Policy Committee Federal Conference Committee

SAOs	LGBT+ Liberal Democrats Liberal Youth (Liberal Youth England, Liberal Youth Scotland, IR Cymru (Liberal Youth Wales)) Women Liberal Democrats Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidates Association

Related organisations

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Beveridge Group Cambridge University (Presidents/Chairs) Christian Forum Friends of Israel Friends of Turkey History Group Liberal International British Group Oxford University (Presidents) Social Liberal Forum

History and related topics

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