List of Deputy Leaders of the Liberal Democrats

Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats
Incumbent Jo Swinson since 20 June 2017
Inaugural holder	Russell Johnston
Formation	3 March 1988

This is a list of deputy leaders of the Liberal Democrats, a political party in the United Kingdom. The position of deputy leader has never formally existed in the party constitution, however since the party's foundation, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary group in the House of Commons have usually elected a deputy leader. Although often referred to as the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, this post is actually only deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary group in the House of Commons and not deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats as a whole.

Following the 2015 General Election, the Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament did not elect a deputy leader. Alistair Carmichael served on the Liberal Democrat frontbench team as Shadow First Secretary of State from 28 October 2016 until Swinson's election. Tom Brake served as Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons during is period. After the 2017 General Election, MP Jo Swinson stood for the deputy leadership and was elected unopposed.

List of Deputy Leaders of the Liberal Democrats

#	Name	Portrait	Constituency	Term began	Term ended	Concurrent Office(s)	Leader(s)
1	Russell Johnston (1932–2008)		Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber	16 July 1988	13 April 1992	President of the Scottish Liberal Democrats	Ashdown
2	Sir Alan Beith (1943–)		Berwick-upon-Tweed	13 April 1992	12 February 2003	Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Shadow Leader of the Commons
							Kennedy
3	Sir Menzies Campbell (1941–)		North East Fife	12 February 2003	2 March 2006	Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
							Campbell1
4	Sir Vince Cable (1943–)		Twickenham	2 March 2006	26 May 2010	Spokesperson for the Treasury Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills President of the Board of Trade
							Cable2
							Clegg
5	Sir Simon Hughes (1951–)		Bermondsey and Old Southwark	9 June 2010	28 January 2014	Minister of State for Justice and Civil Liberties
6	Sir Malcolm Bruce (1944–)		Gordon	28 January 2014	8 May 2015	Chair of the International Development Committee
Office not in use 8 May 2015 – 20 June 2017 Alistair Carmichael served as Shadow First Secretary of State from 28 October 2016 Tom Brake served as Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Commons from 29 July 2015 to 16 June 2017
							Farron
7	Jo Swinson (1980–)		East Dunbartonshire	20 June 2017	Incumbent	Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs
							Cable

Notes:

• ¹ Campbell served as acting leader between the resignation of Charles Kennedy on 7 January 2006 and his own election as leader on 2 March 2006.
• ² Cable served as acting leader between the resignation of Menzies Campbell on 15 October 2007 and the election of Nick Clegg on 18 December 2007.

See also

• Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)
• Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)

References

• Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats

External links

• Liberal Democrat History Group