| Leader of the Liberal Democrats | |
|---|---|
| Member of | |
| Appointer | Liberal Democrats membership |
| Inaugural holder | David Steel andBob Maclennan |
| Formation | 3 March 1988 |
| Website | Official website |
TheLiberal Democrats are apolitical party in the United Kingdom. Party members elect theleader of the Liberal Democrats, the head and highest-ranking member of the party. Liberal Democratmembers ofParliament also elect adeputy 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 theHouse 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, theLiberal Party and theSocial Democratic Party (SDP), served as joint interim leaders:David Steel andBob Maclennan respectively.
If the leader dies, resigns or loses their seat in Parliament, the deputy leader (if there is one) serves as interim leader until a leadership election takes place. This has occurred three times, withMenzies Campbell serving as interim leader following the resignation ofCharles Kennedy (Campbell was elected leader in the ensuing election) andVince Cable serving as interim leader following Campbell's resignation.Jo Swinson lost her seat in thegeneral election held on 12 December 2019, thus ceasing to be leader;Deputy LeaderEd Davey andParty PresidentSal Brinton became acting co-leaders.[1] Brinton was replaced byMark Pack following his assuming the office of party president on 1 January 2020. Davey won the Leadership election and became Leader on 27 August 2020 at the2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
| Leader (Birth–Death) | Portrait | Constituency | Took office | Left office | Tenure | Prime Minister | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | David Steel (born 1938) |  | Tweeddale, Ettrick, and Lauderdale | 3 March 1988 | 16 July 1988 | 135 days | Thatcher | 1979–1990 | |
| Robert Maclennan (1936–2020) |  | Caithness and Sutherland | |||||||
| 1 | Paddy Ashdown (1941–2018) | _(cropped).jpg) | Yeovil | 16 July 1988 (Elected) | 9 August 1999 | 11 years, 24 days | |||
| Major | 1990–1997 | ||||||||
| Blair | 1997–2007 | ||||||||
| 2 | Charles Kennedy (1959–2015) | .jpg) | Ross, Skye and Inverness West (1999–2005) Ross, Skye and Lochaber (2005–2006) | 9 August 1999 (Elected) | 7 January 2006 | 6 years, 151 days | |||
| — | Sir Menzies Campbell (1941–2025) |  | North East Fife | 7 January 2006 | 2 March 2006 | 54 days | |||
| 3 | 2 March 2006 (Elected) | 15 October 2007 | 1 year, 227 days | ||||||
| Brown | 2007–2010 | ||||||||
| — | Sir Vince Cable (born 1943) |  | Twickenham | 15 October 2007 | 18 December 2007 | 64 days | |||
| 4 | Nick Clegg[a] (born 1967) |  | Sheffield Hallam | 18 December 2007 (Elected) | 16 July 2015 | 7 years, 210 days | |||
| Cameron | 2010–2016 | ||||||||
| 5 | Tim Farron (born 1970) |  | Westmorland and Lonsdale | 16 July 2015 (Elected) | 20 July 2017 | 2 years, 4 days | |||
| May | 2016–2019 | ||||||||
| 6 | Sir Vince Cable (born 1943) | | Twickenham | 20 July 2017 (Unopposed) | 22 July 2019 | 2 years, 2 days | |||
| 7 | Jo Swinson (born 1980) | .jpg) | East Dunbartonshire | 22 July 2019 (Elected) | 13 December 2019 | 144 days | |||
| Johnson | 2019–2022 | ||||||||
| — | Baroness Brinton (born 1955) | .jpg) | Life Peer | 13 December 2019 | 1 January 2020 | 19 days | |||
| Sir Ed Davey (born 1965) |  | Kingston and Surbiton | 258 days | ||||||
| — | 1 January 2020 | 27 August 2020 | |||||||
| Mark Pack (born 1970) |  | Extraparliamentary | 239 days | ||||||
| 8 | Sir Ed Davey (born 1965) |  | Kingston and Surbiton | 27 August 2020 (Elected) | Incumbent | 5 years, 92 days | |||
| Truss | 2022 | ||||||||
| Sunak | 2022–2024 | ||||||||
| Starmer | 2024–present | ||||||||
