List of leaders of the Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrat members elect the United Kingdom Liberal Democrat Leader and the Members of Parliament elect the Liberal Democrat 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.

Contents

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
1 David Steel 1
MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
and
Robert Maclennan 2
MP for Caithness and Sutherland		 3 March 1988
–16 July 1988		 Margaret Thatcher
1979–1990
2 Paddy Ashdown
MP for Yeovil		 16 July 1988
–9 August 1999		 1 Russell Johnston
MP for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber		 16 July 1988
–13 April 1992
John Major
1990–1997
2 Alan Beith
MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed		 13 April 1992
–12 February 2003
Tony Blair
1997–2007
3 Charles Kennedy
MP for Ross, Skye and Inverness West until 2005
MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 2005		 9 August 1999
–7 January 2006
3 Menzies Campbell
MP for North East Fife		 12 February 2003
–2 March 2006
4 Sir Menzies Campbell 3
MP for North East Fife		 2 March 2006
–15 October 2007		 4 Vincent Cable
MP for Twickenham		 29 March 2006
–26 May 2010
Vincent Cable (interim4)
MP for Twickenham		 15 October 2007
–18 December 2007		 Gordon Brown
2007–2010
5 Nick Clegg5
MP for Sheffield Hallam		 18 December 2007
–
David Cameron
2010–
5 Simon Hughes
MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark		 9 June 2010
–

Notes:-

Liberal Democrat Leaders in the House of Lords

The Liberal Democrat peers elect the Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords. All leaders to date were members of Labour Party who left to form the Social Democratic Party in 1981 before merging with the Liberal Party in 1988.

Leader in the House of Lords
# Leader Took office Left office
1 Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
(Roy Jenkins)		 16 July 1988 1997
2 Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank
(William Rodgers)		 1997 2001
3 Baroness Williams of Crosby
(Shirley Williams)		 2001 24 November 2004
4 Lord McNally
(Tom McNally)		 24 November 2004 present

See also

References

External links

Liberal, Social Democrat and Liberal Democrat leadership elections

Liberals: 1967 | 1976                         SDP: 1982

Liberal Democrats: 1988 | 1999 | 2006 | 2007