The office of deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats (officially deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party) is a position within the Liberal Democrats, a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The position of Deputy Leader has never formally existed in the party constitution, however since the party's foundation, the Liberal Democrat parliamentary group in the House of Commons have usually elected a Deputy Leader. Although often referred to as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, this post is actually only Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary group in the House of Commons and not Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems as a whole.
Daisy Cooper was elected by her fellow MPs to the post of Deputy Leader following Ed Davey's election to the post of leader in September 2020.
List of Deputy Leaders of the Liberal Democrats #NamePortraitConstituencyTerm beganTerm endedConcurrent Office(s)Leader(s)1Russell JohnstonInverness, Nairn and Lochaber16 July 198813 April 1992President of the Scottish Liberal DemocratsAshdown2Alan BeithBerwick-upon-Tweed13 April 199212 February 2003Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesmanShadow Leader of the CommonsKennedy3Menzies CampbellNorth East Fife12 February 20032 March 2006Spokesperson for Foreign AffairsCampbell1 4Vince CableTwickenham2 March 200626 May 2010Spokesperson for the TreasuryActing Leader of the Liberal DemocratsSecretary of State for Business, Innovation and SkillsPresident of the Board of TradeCable2 Clegg5Simon HughesBermondsey and Old Southwark9 June 201028 January 2014 Minister of State for Justice and Civil Liberties6Malcolm BruceGordon28 January 20148 May 2015Chair of the International Development CommitteeOffice not in use 8 May 2015 – 20 June 2017 Farron7Jo SwinsonEast Dunbartonshire20 June 201722 July 2019Spokesperson for Foreign AffairsCable8Ed DaveyKingston and Surbiton3 September 201927 August 2020Spokesperson for the TreasurySpokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Swinson Himself and Pack (acting)39Daisy CooperSt Albans13 September 2020IncumbentLiberal Democrat Spokesperson for TreasuryDavey Notes: 1 Campbell served as acting leader between the resignation of Charles Kennedy on 7 January 2006 and his own election as leader on 2 March 2006. 2 Cable served as acting leader between the resignation of Menzies Campbell on 15 October 2007 and the election of Nick Clegg on 18 December 2007. 3 After leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in the 2019 General Election, Ed Davey in his role as Deputy Leader and Mark Pack as Party President became acting co-leaders until a leadership election could be held in 2020.
See also Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party (UK) Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK)
References
Federal Constitution of the Liberal Democrats
External links Liberal Democrat History Group