Jo Swinson becomes Liberal Democrats' first female leader

Jo Swinson has been elected as the first woman leader of the Liberal Democrats, after she defeated Ed Davey in the battle to replace Vince Cable. She took more than 47,997 votes against Davey’s 28,021 in a landslide victory.

“I stand before you today not just as leader of the Lib Dems, but as a candidate to be prime minister,” she told cheering supporters. “There is no limit for my ambition for our party, our movement and our country. I am ready to take my party into a general election and win it.”

Swinson added: “I will do whatever it takes to stop Brexit.”

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Swinson is the first woman to hold the role “and, at 39, is the youngest current leader of a major UK party,” The Guardian notes.

The Times predicts that Boris Johnson risks losing “millions of Tory voters” to the Liberal Democrats under their new leader.

Gavin Stamp, the political reporter for BBC News, says the party was in the “political wilderness” when her predecessor Vince Cable took over, but now “the picture couldn't be more different. His successor takes over a party with a real spring in its step and genuine optimism about the future”.

The Daily Mail agrees, saying “the winner of the contest becomes leader at a high point in the Lib Dems' recent history”.

Former leader of the party Nick Clegg said: “In the up and down history of the Lib Dems, there can be few times when opportunities abound as much as they do today. And Jo Swinson has all the gifts to take full advantage of them.”

Swinson’s rival for the leadership was gracious in defeat. Davey tweeted: “Huge congratulations @joswinson - you will be a great leader to take our message of hope, respect and love for others across the country and build a Liberal Britain.”

At her victory rally, Swinson denounced her opponents. “If you believe our country deserves better, that we can stop Brexit, that we can stop Johnson, Farage and Corbyn, work with us, join us,” she said. “My door is always open.”

She addressed the voting public directly, saying: “If you think that our country is headed in the wrong direction and you want to change that, you need to act too. Shouting at the television is not enough, you need to join us.”

Swinson was a business minister in the Lib Dem-Conservative coalition government. She was just 25-years old when she was first elected to Parliament in 2005. She regained her East Dunbartonshire seat in the 2017 general election after losing it two years earlier.

The party said 72% of its about 106,000 members voted in the leadership contest.