Leader of the Liberal Democrats

Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Incumbent
Sir Vince Cable
since 20 July 2017
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. 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 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 (if there is one) 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. The current leader is Vince Cable, who was elected unopposed following the resignation of previous leader Tim Farron.[1]

Leaders in the House of Commons

Leader
(Birth–Death)		 Portrait Nation of birth Constituency Took office Left office Prime Minister (term)
David Steel[lower-alpha 1]
(1938–)		  Scotland Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale 3 March 1988 16 July 1988 Thatcher 1979–90
Bob Maclennan[lower-alpha 2]
(1936–)		  Scotland Caithness and Sutherland
Paddy Ashdown
(1941–)		  British Raj Yeovil 16 July 1988
(Elected)		 9 August 1999
Major 1990–97
Blair 1997–2007
Charles Kennedy
(1959–2015)		  Scotland Ross, Skye and Inverness West
(1999–2005)
Ross, Skye and Lochaber
(2005–2006)		 9 August 1999
(Elected)		 7 January 2006
Menzies Campbell[lower-alpha 3]
(1941–)		  Scotland North East Fife Acting:
7 January 2006 -
2 March 2006
2 March 2006
(Elected)		 15 October 2007
Brown 2007–10
Vince Cable[lower-alpha 4]
(1943–)
(Acting)		  England Twickenham 15 October 2007 18 December 2007
Nick Clegg[lower-alpha 5]
(1967–)		  England Sheffield Hallam 18 December 2007
(Elected)		 16 July 2015
Cameron 2010–16
Tim Farron
(1970–)		  England Westmorland and Lonsdale 16 July 2015
(Elected)		 20 July 2017
May 2016–
Sir Vince Cable
(1943–)		  England Twickenham 20 July 2017
(Unopposed)		 Incumbent

Living former party leaders

There are six living former party leaders. From oldest to youngest:

Leader Term of office Date of birth
The Lord Maclennan of Rogart 1988 26 June 1936
The Lord Steel of Aikwood 31 March 1938
The Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon 1988–1999 27 February 1941
The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem 2006–2007 22 May 1941
Sir Nick Clegg 2007–2015 7 January 1967
Tim Farron MP 2015–2017 27 May 1970

Leaders in the House of Lords

See also

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 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

  1. ↑ "Farron quits as Lib Dem leader over clash between faith and politics". BBC News. 14 June 2017. Lay summary.
  2. ↑ "Nick Clegg resigns as Lib Dem leader". The Guardian. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "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
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.