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
—	David Steel^1 MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale (1938–) & Bob Maclennan^2 MP for Caithness and Sutherland (1936–)		3 March 1988 – 16 July 1988						Thatcher 1979–90
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
									Major 1990–97
				2	Alan Beith MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed (1943–)		13 April 1992 – 12 February 2003
									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
				3	Menzies Campbell MP for North East Fife (1941–)		12 February 2003 – 2 March 2006
3	Sir Menzies Campbell^3 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
									Brown 2007–10
—	Vincent Cable (acting.^4) MP for Twickenham (1943–)		15 October 2007 – 18 December 2007
4	Nick Clegg^5 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
5	Tim Farron MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale (1970–)		16 July 2015 – present						Cameron 2010–16
									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

See also

• List of United Kingdom Whig and allied Party Leaders 1801-1859
• List of United Kingdom Liberal Party Leaders
• Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords
• Social and Liberal Democrats leadership election, 1988
• Liberal Democrats leadership election, 1999
• Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2006
• Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2007
• Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2015

References

1. "Nick Clegg resigns as Lib Dem leader". The Guardian. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
2. "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