Swinson led her party through the2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democratmajority government which would revokeArticle 50 and cancelBrexit. Instead, Swinson and the Liberal Democrats sustained a net loss in seats, including her own to theScottish National Party[8][9][10] and was disqualified from continuing as party leader.[11] At less than five months, her tenure as leader was the shortest in the Liberal Democrats' history. She is also the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to havelost a Parliamentary seat.
Swinson was vocal in heropposition to the Iraq War and the Labour government's proposals fornational identity cards. She has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackleclimate change such asconserving energy in the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducinggreen taxes while reducingincome tax to offset the burden. She supports reducing thevoting age to 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics. She believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this. She opposespositive discrimination to address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their nationalparty conference in 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, "I am not a token woman".[15]
Swinson has also called for a "wellbeing index" to be introduced, to be compared againstGDP, and tabled anearly day motion on the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures. She found support from MPs such asVince Cable andAngela Eagle. Swinson cited the fact that althoughstandard of living had increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls.[18]
Swinson believed that newprisons ought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison atBishopbriggs within the constituency. She had said that if a prison was built it must not be built cheaply,[19] and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.[20] The campaign to give the prison its original name was ultimately successful,[21] as the replacement prison will retain its original name,Lowmoss Prison.[22]
She is an active campaigner against excessive packaging ofchocolateEaster eggs. Each year from 2007 saw Swinson attackconfectionery manufacturers for wasteful use of non-recyclable materials in packaging of the seasonal goods. She has namedGuylian as the worst offender, followed byLindt,Baileys andCadbury.[23][24]
In December 2010, she was one of 27 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted in favour of allowing universities to raise tuition fees up to £9,000 per year.[27][28][29]
In February 2012, Swinson replacedNorman Lamb as Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader andDeputy Prime MinisterNick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year.[30]
Swinson with the then Treasury ministerSajid Javid discussing payday lending at theWhich? ministerial credit visit in 2013
In September 2012, Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron.[31] She maintained this role for the remainder of theCameron–Clegg coalition, except for several months of maternity leave between 2013 and 2014.[32]
Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which preventspedlars (travelling salesmen) andstreet traders from trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police. In November 2012, Swinson said that the proposed deregulation would help "eliminate barriers to street traders and pedlars by making it easier to trade, boosting retail and helping small traders – including many young entrepreneurs – to expand and grow”.[33] The proposal was criticised by theLocal Government Association, which claimed that it would lead to a 'free for all' of pedlars targeting vulnerable people.[34] By 2014, however, Swinson announced she would seek to amend rather than repeal the laws.[35]
Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would "negatively affect" the performance of businesses.[36][37] She instead promoted voluntary solutions, telling an event organised by theBritish Chambers of Commerce, "What women need is confidence, not quotas. So rather than telling companies what to do, we're encouraging them to see the real business benefits of taking voluntary action."[38]
From 2013, Swinson sought to promotefathers' rights in regard toparental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants.[39][40][41]
In October 2013, controversy emerged after MPs in the House of Commons allowed Swinson, then pregnant, to stand for 20 minutes without offering her a seat. This led to political debate and comment about whether or not it wassexist to give up a seat for a pregnant woman, with Prime MinisterDavid Cameron wading into the row to say that offering pregnant women seats was the right thing to do.[42][43][44][45] Swinson herself later commented that it was not sexist to offer a pregnant woman a seat, and that it was "great for people to offer, and part of life's little courtesies."[46]
In the area of employment, she was supportive of bothZero-hour contracts andflexible working, seeking to promote the latter especially.[47][48][49] On minimum wage, in February 2013 Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that "caution" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.[50][51] Swinson pledged £80,000 of government financial support for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, an initiative led bycorporations includingAviva Investors andCalvert which measures and ranks performance of global companies in regard to human rights.[52][53]
Swinson was keen to promote employee ownership, such asemployee ownership of shares, through the establishment of aFTSE-compliant UK Employee Ownership Index, supporting measures to reduce regulations for companies choosing to adopt employee ownership practices, and a scheme allowing companies to contractually offer employees £2,000 to £50,000 worth of shares (which would beexempted from capital gains tax) in exchange for waiving certain employee rights.[54][55][56][57] Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy ofJeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff.[58][59]
Swinson introduced to parliament theConsumer Rights Act 2015 on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and updateconsumer protection law and thereby provide a "modern framework of consumer rights".
Shortly before the 2015 general election,The Times and theFinancial Times reported that Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leaderNick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democratpeer and donorMatthew Oakeshott even though their seats, including Swinson's, were vulnerablemarginals.[66][67][68][69]
Swinson was featured in the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by theEvening Standard.[70][71][72][73]
Between 2017 and 2018, Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.[77] She also voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK.[78]
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (2017–2019)
Following the resignation ofTim Farron as Liberal Democrat leader on 14 June 2017, Swinson was named by theBBC as one of the possible contenders for the leadership along withNorman Lamb andVince Cable.[79] She later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations.[80]
As of October 2017, she was her party's Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.[81]
At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase "Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans" in criticising populism. In the same speech she called for thestate visit of U.S. PresidentDonald Trump to be cancelled and warned aboutBrexit.[82][83][84][85][86]
In February 2018, Swinson's first bookEqual Power: And How You Can Make It Happen was published byAtlantic Books.[76][87][88][89][90] Discussing her book, Swinson explained that government has "limitations" when addressing gender inequality, so her book instead mainly suggests ideas for people to make changes in their own homes and workplaces.[91]The Irish Times likenedEqual Power to the "corporate feminism" ofSheryl Sandberg'sLean In,[92] whileThe Herald also noted "A read ofEqual Power makes it apparent that Swinson is a fan of Sheryl Sandberg'sLean In."[93] Swinson's book was featured at theAye Write! literary festival in Glasgow.[90]
In a March 2018 article forThe Mail on Sunday, Swinson came out in favour of erecting a statue of former Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher inParliament Square.[94] She justified her position on feminist grounds and claimed that Thatcher was able to "single-handedly transform the fortunes of women", accusing opponents of the Thatcher statue as being "pretty sexist".[95] Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating theUK rebate and for taking the UK into the single market, but was also critical of Thatcher for thepoll tax and stressed she did not consider herself aThatcherite.[96] In addition, she wrote that there should be a statue of the first femaleFirst Minister of ScotlandNicola Sturgeon in time, though she disagrees withScottish independence.[97][98]
In July 2018, Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son. During this period, she attended an anti-Trump protest, drawing criticism from Labour MPKate Hoey onThe Spectator's podcast.[99]Conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewis had formally agreed not to vote, so that Swinson's absence would not affect the result.[100] Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to "desperate stuff" and a "calculated, deliberate breaking of trust".[100][101] Lewis apologised, alongsideCabinet Office ministerDavid Lidington andgovernment chief whipJulian Smith.[100][101] Apologising on Twitter, Lewis said that it was an "honest mistake made by the whips in fast-moving circumstances."[102]
In May 2019,Vince Cable announced he would relinquish his role as leader of the Liberal Democrats in July, triggering a leadership election.[103] Subsequently, while appearing on the 30 May edition of the BBC political discussion programmeQuestion Time, Swinson confirmed that she would put her name forward in the forthcoming contest.[104][105]
On 22 July 2019, Swinson waselected the first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 (62.8%) votes, gaining a clear victory over SirEd Davey, with 28,021 votes. She was the first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.[106] Under her leadership, the party's candidate andWelsh Liberal Democrats leaderJane Dodds won theBrecon and Radnorshire by-election, following a "remain alliance" in whichChange UK,Plaid Cymru and theGreen Party agreed not to stand candidates.[107] The party's membership also rose to a record 115,000+ members, with many party supporters attributing this rise to what they called "the Swinson surge".[108]
In her first Leader's Speech to theLiberal Democrat Federal Conference, on 17 September 2019, Swinson said thatBoris Johnson "claims he can negotiate a Brexit deal in a month. I wouldn't hold out much hope: yesterday he couldn't negotiate where to have a press conference".[109]
Swinson campaigned on a platform ofrevokingArticle 50 if the Liberal Democrats formed the government. The policy proved to be controversial with both Remain and Leave voters, who criticised it as undemocratic.[110] Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was "a candidate to be prime minister", and suggesting her party could win a majority.[111] However, poll ratings for the party were poor and Swinson's personal ratings declined throughout the campaign.[112]
During the campaign, Swinson clashed withNicola Sturgeon, theFirst Minister of Scotland on the subject of nuclear weapons. Asked if she would be prepared to use nuclear weapons, Swinson replied simply "yes". Sturgeon commented that "It's sickening to hear this question asked and answered as if it's some kind of virility test and without any context... Using nuclear weapons would mean killing millions of people."[113] Swinson was subject to afake news story in which she was accused of 'hunting squirrels'.First Draft News, an organisation that seeks to identify online misinformation, found that the claim originated from a doctored video clip, with a spokesperson for the organisation warning that the propagation of false stories such as this were leading to the "gentle erosion of trust".[114]
In November 2019, Swinson also was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.[115][116][117] Along with the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats,Willie Rennie, Swinson was accused of supporting austerity.[115] The student said "People are dying here, they’re in poverty, because of what you’ve done on austerity".[118] The altercation was featured heavily on British news outlets.[119][120] Afterwards the Liberal Democrats reaffirmed the party "does not have a problem attracting young voters."[120]
Swinson’s campaign was reported to be funded by companies sellingpuberty blockers, a medication with significant uncertainties around long-termadverse health effects. In December 2019, it was reported that a pharmaceutical firm marketing drugs to delay puberty had donated £100,000 to the Liberal Democrats.[121] When questioned about her beliefs on sex and gender, Swinson replied that she didn't "think things are as binary as they are often presented”.[122]
Swinson ceased to be leader on13 December 2019, when in the general election shelost her own seat in parliament to theSNP'sAmy Callaghan. The party's rules disqualified her from continuing as its leader. She had led the party for 144 days. As well as losing seats, the Liberal Democrats failed to make predicted gains.[11] An internal party review said that their election campaign was worsened by "an inexperienced inner circle" around Swinson. It said that voters who were neither fervently leave nor remain were "effectively ignored" by her promise to revoke Article 50.[123] On 27 August 2020, SirEd Davey wonthe leadership election to succeed her.[124]
On 13 May 2011, Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MPDuncan Hames.[126] The couple's first child, Andrew, was born in December 2013.[127] A second son, Gabriel, was born in June 2018.[101] Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023.[128]
Having apeanut allergy,[133] Swinson sustainedanaphylactic shock in May 2013 after eating a biscuit containing nuts in Glasgow. She collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration ofadrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital.[134]
Swinson was made aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2018 New Year Honours for political and public service.[135] On receiving the honour, Swinson said she was privileged "to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country".[136]
^abcdShackle, Samira (22 September 2011)."20 under 40: Jo Swinson".New Statesman.Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved12 February 2012.
^Kuchler, Hannah; Stacey, Kiran (2 April 2013)."UK considers cut in minimum wage".Financial Times. London.Archived from the original on 14 January 2018. Retrieved14 January 2018.
^"Employee ownership flourishes in UK".www.gov.uk (Press release). Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. 19 November 2013.Archived from the original on 20 March 2018. Retrieved19 March 2018.
^Stalker, Ross (8 October 2007)."Jo in Marathon Success".East Dunbartonshire Liberal Democrats. Archived fromthe original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved16 May 2019.
