The 2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the announcement of the resignation of

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet a ...

as leader on 24 May 2019, after just under two years as leader of the Liberal Democrats in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The two candidates to succeed Cable were

Ed Davey Sir Edward Jonathan Davey (born 25 December 1965) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats since 2020. He served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2012 t ...

and

Jo Swinson Joanne Kate Swinson (born 5 February 1980) is a former British Liberal Democrat politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 22 July to 13 December 2019. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold the position, as well a ...

. The result was announced on 22 July 2019 with Swinson winning with over 62% of the vote.

Background

had previously stated his intention to stand down before the next general election. Shortly before the party's 2019 Spring Conference, he announced that he would ask the party to hold the leadership election in May 2019, following the 2019 local elections. The party was expected to run a 9-week campaign starting after the

European Parliament elections Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's. Unti ...

. On 24 May, the day after the European elections (but before the results were counted on 26 May) and the same day that Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

announced her upcoming resignation, the Liberal Democrat leadership election was formally started.

Election rules

The running of the leadership election was determined by Article 17 of the Liberal Democrat constitution. Liberal Democrat leadership elections use the

alternative vote Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...

(instant runoff) system, with all party members being entitled to vote under a

one member, one vote In the parliamentary politics of the United Kingdom and Canada, one member, one vote (OMOV) is a method of selecting party leaders, and determining party policy, by a direct vote of the members of a political party. Traditionally, these objectives ...

system. As of 8 June the party membership was 105,480. Nominations closed on 7 June and the new leader was scheduled to take over on 23 July. Nominees were required to be an MP, have the backing of at least 10% of the Parliamentary party (''i.e.'' one other MP), and be supported by at least 200 members spread across at least 20 different local parties. Cable had put a proposal to the party's Spring Conference to change the rules to allow non-MPs to seek the leadership; however, this was rejected. Thus the pool of potential candidates were the 11 MPs in the party at the time of the close of nominations. A proposal to allow registered supporters, as well as members, to vote in the leadership contest was also rejected. Party members registered before the close of nominations were able to vote via postal or electronic ballots; these were issued on 28 June and 1 July respectively. Voting closed on 22 July and the winner announced that evening.

Campaign

In February 2019, eleven MPs from the Labour Party and

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

resigned to form the centrist Independent Group, soon to be renamed as Change UK. Among potential leadership candidates,

was seen as most open to working with the Independent Group, while

was least open.

Layla Moran Layla Michelle Moran (; born 12 September 1982) is a British Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Development since 2020, and serving as the Member of Parliament for Oxf ...

, having been elected to parliament in 2017, was seen as the candidate least related to the

Cameron–Clegg coalition The Cameron–Clegg coalition was formed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when Cameron was invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new administration, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010, after the gene ...

government. Initially, most focus was on Swinson, Moran and Davey as likely contenders. However, in mid-May Moran announced that she would not be entering the contest. Following the May 2019 European Parliament elections, in which the Liberal Democrats performed extremely well, coming second and beating both the Conservative and Labour parties, Swinson and Davey were expected to be the candidates, with Swinson favoured by bookmakers. Swinson called on supporters of

Change UK The Independent Group for Change, also known as Change UK, was a British centrist, pro-European Union political party, founded in February 2019 and dissolved ten months later, shortly after all its MPs lost their seats in the 2019 general e ...

and the Greens to work with the Liberal Democrats, but stopped short of calling for a formal alliance between the parties.

Stephen Bush Stephen Kupakwesu Bush (born 21 March 1990) is a British journalist. He is columnist and associate editor at the ''Financial Times'' and has also written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Telegraph,'' '' i'' and ''New Statesman''. Early life and educ ...

, writing for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', argued that the expected campaign issues—the legacy of the coalition and the threat of Change UK—were both largely rendered moot by the success of the Liberal Democrats in the

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

and European elections. Davey launched his campaign on 30 May with a focus on revoking the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and on environmental issues by "de-carbonising capitalism". He hinted at more interest in encouraging defections to the Liberal Democrats than pacts with other parties, like Change UK. He also defended the record of the coalition. Swinson announced her campaign later that day too. Later that week, she said the party could be open to local electoral agreements to support other pro-Remain politicians, but that the Liberal Democrats were the "obvious rallying point" for those opposed to Brexit. Liberal Democrat Chief Whip

Alistair Carmichael Alexander Morrison "Alistair" CarmichaelFull name is given as "CARMICHAEL, Alexander Morrison, commonly known as Alistair Carmichael" in the returning officer'2010 general election declaration (born 15 July 1965) is a Scottish politician and s ...

announced that the MPs, while they may make individual endorsements like Christine Jardine, will stay largely neutral in the election and two MPs will nominate each candidate in order to show that MPs will work with whoever becomes leader.

Christine Jardine Christine Anne Jardine (born 24 November 1960) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, the Cabinet Office and Scotland since July 2022. She was elected as the Member o ...

and

Tom Brake Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London from 1997 to 2019. He was appointed Director of the cross party pressure group Unlock ...

nominated Swinson, and

Wera Hobhouse Wera Benedicta Hobhouse ( von Reden; born 8 February 1960) is a German-British politician. A member of the Liberal Democrats, Hobhouse has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath since 2017 and serves as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of t ...

and Jamie Stone nominated Davey. Carmichael and Cable remained neutral in the campaign.

Candidates

Roles in bold are currently held.

Declined

The following MPs were discussed in the media as potential leadership candidates, but they declined to stand: *

, MP for Carshalton and Wallington (1997–present); Party Spokesperson for Exiting the European Union (2017–present) and for the Office of

First Secretary of State The First Secretary of State is an office that is sometimes held by a minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The office indicates seniority, including over all other Secretaries of State. The office is not always in use, ...

(2017–present) ''(endorsed Swinson)'' *

, MP for Orkney and Shetland (2001–present); Party Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2019–present), Chief Whip in the House of Commons (2017–present) and Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats (2012–present) *

, MP for Edinburgh West (2017–present) and Party Spokesperson for Work and Pensions (2019–present) (''endorsed Swinson'') *

Norman Lamb Sir Norman Peter Lamb (born 16 September 1957) is a British politician and solicitor. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament (MP) for North Norfolk from 2001 to 2019, and was the chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee ...

, MP for

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer. The population at the 2011 Census was 101,149. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It was a ...

(2001–present); Chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee (2017–present) and former Health Minister *

, MP for

Oxford West and Abingdon Oxford West and Abingdon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Layla Moran, a Liberal Democrat. History Creation The seat was created in 1983 as part of the reconfiguration of those in the coun ...

(2017–present) and Party Spokesperson for

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

(2017–present)

Endorsements

Ed Davey

Jo Swinson

Public hustings

and

were invited to take place in a series of

husting A husting originally referred to a native Germanic governing assembly, the thing. By metonymy, the term may now refer to any event (such as debates or speeches) during an election campaign where one or more of the candidates are present. Deve ...

s organised by the party. Each of the fourteen events was held in a different location across Britain.

Opinion polling

Result

The electorate numbered 106,075, meaning that 76,429 Liberal Democrat members cast a vote, and 29,646 did not.

Notes

References

External links

Ed Davey campaign website

Jo Swinson campaign website
{{Jo Swinson Liberal Democrats leadership election

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Liberal Democrats leadership election Jo Swinson Liberal Democrats leadership election