UK Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2017

[Gary J]

It seems to me that Farron, to minimise damage to his political campaign, was pushed further than he was comfortable with to publicly explain his religious views and still did not satisfy his political rivals.

Carmichael would have been a potential leader except for his ill advised anonymous and untrue smear against Nicola Sturgeon in the 2015 election, which led to an election petition being brought against him. Although Mr Carmichael retained his seat, his evidence has enabled Scottish Nationalist bloggers to take great delight in describing him as a "self confessed liar".

There is no ideal candidate, amongst the remaining eleven MPs, but Cable, Lamb and Swinson seem to be the most likely to put themselves forward.

I do not think there is any plausible potential candidate  who did not serve in the coalition government, in one capacity or another. Cable, Davey and Carmichael all served in cabinet whilst Lamb, Brake and Swinson were junior ministers. The remaining newly elected MPs (Hobhouse, Jardine, Moran and Stone) do not have the experience to seek election. The one remaining MP, Stephen Lloyd of Eastbourne, does not in my view have the prominence in the party to be elected leader.

[Gary J]

What method do the Lib Dems use to choose their leader?

The candidates must be MPs. The members of the party are the electorate and they vote by giving preferences to the candidates. At any stage where no candidate has 50% plus one of the votes, the last placed candidate is eliminated with their ballots being transferred to the next numbered continuing candidate. The process is repeated until one candidate reaches the required number of votes to be elected.

[Gary J]

What method do the Lib Dems use to choose their leader?

The candidates must be MPs. The members of the party are the electorate and they vote by giving preferences to the candidates. At any stage where no candidate has 50% plus one of the votes, the last placed candidate is eliminated with their ballots being transferred to the next numbered continuing candidate. The process is repeated until one candidate reaches the required number of votes to be elected.

So there's no requirement for support among fellow MPs before being put to the party members? Any MP who wants to stand for the leadership can do so carte blanche?

MaxQue has explained the nomination requirements, but to see how absurd it was to leave leadership elections solely up to the MPs in a small party, I refer you to the Liberal Party leadership election of 1967. In 1967, as with the 2017 Liberal Democrats, there were 12 MPs in the parliamentary party.

In 1967 there were three candidates. The voters split 6-3-3. The joint second placed candidates then withdrew and the glorious leadership of Jeremy Thorpe began.

The Liberal Party started experimenting with an  electoral college type arrangement for its next leadership election (so many electoral votes per constituency party), but the Liberal Democrats settled on one member, one vote elections.

[Gary J]

I honestly do think though they could benefit from some rebranding. Maybe dropping the Democrats and just calling themselves the 'Liberal Party' would more accurately capture them at this point.

I definitely do think Norman Lamb is the best option. Alistair Carmichael would be a good fit for Deputy Leader to show the look towards Scotland among the party. Obviously Jo Swinson should be given a prominent role as a spokesperson of some sort.

There already is a Liberal Party registered with the Electoral Commission. This is a small, minor party which was set up by some opponents of the merger with the SDP which created the Liberal Democrats. It has drifted quite a long way from the policies of the pre-1988 Liberal Party and the Liberal Democrats, particularly on Europe.

http://search.electoralcommission.org.uk/Registrations/PP54

[Gary J]

I honestly do think though they could benefit from some rebranding. Maybe dropping the Democrats and just calling themselves the 'Liberal Party' would more accurately capture them at this point.

I definitely do think Norman Lamb is the best option. Alistair Carmichael would be a good fit for Deputy Leader to show the look towards Scotland among the party. Obviously Jo Swinson should be given a prominent role as a spokesperson of some sort.

As someone else noted, the "Liberal Party" name isn't available currently (and unlikely to become available soon). They've bandied about rebranding as the Democratic Party or the Democrats in the recent past, but I think voters would rightly view any name change as silly.

When the merged party started in 1988, as the Social and Liberal Democrats, it tried using the short name the Democrats. Unfortunately this confused the electorate, who had no idea who this new group were. The party rapidly settled upon Liberal Democrats as the short name, which eventually became the official name of the party.

[Gary J]

The Liberal Democrat strategy is to devote resources to a limited number of constituencies so as to gradually expand the number of seats won. Seats outside the target group do not matter much, at least in the early stages of the process.

The effect of the coalition was to close down some previously areas of advance and to re-start the process of growth from a lower starting point.

The strategy followed produced a net gain of four seats over the 2015 general election. There are some other seats which would be sensible targets at the next general election.

The Liberal Democrats are unlikely to make enormous gains at any one election, but are in no realistic danger of disappearing however much partisans of other parties might wish they would.

[Gary J]

Ed Davey has announced he isn't standing.

It's looking likely there won't even be a contest now.

If Lloyd doesn't run, the other three MPs are all new. Hobhouse, I believe, would be the first party leader born outside of the United Kingdom.

Andrew Bonar Law, the Conservative leader from 1911-21 and 1922-23, was born in New Brunswick which is now a Canadian province.

Wera Hobhouse does not seem to be a very plausible candidate to be a party leader.

[Gary J]

Ed Davey has announced he isn't standing.

It's looking likely there won't even be a contest now.

If Lloyd doesn't run, the other three MPs are all new. Hobhouse, I believe, would be the first party leader born outside of the United Kingdom.

Andrew Bonar Law, the Conservative leader from 1911-21 and 1922-23, was born in New Brunswick which is now a Canadian province.

Wera Hobhouse does not seem to be a very plausible candidate to be a party leader.

At the time he was born, however, New Brunswick was not yet part of the Canadian Confederation.

So would this be like John McCain being born in the Canal Zone?

To some extent. However there is no requirement that a British Prime Minister should have been born in the United Kingdom. Thus Bonar Law, having been born in the British colony of New Brunswick, was fully entitled to move to the UK and take part in British politics. In his time any subject of the British Crown, born anywhere in the Empire, had the same legal status.

Even today any citizen of a Commonwealth country, with the correct immigration status to be resident in the UK, can register to vote and be a candidate in elections.

Wera Hobhouse is in a different category. She was born in Germany so to be eligible to be an MP she had to become a naturalised British citizen. Having done so, she was free to be elected to Parliament  and could then (in theory) become a party leader or Prime Minister.

[Gary J]

De jure i don't think there's any requirements of status. The monarch can appoint whoever he wants as PM, member of the commons a peer or none of the above (Home was PM for three weeks being a member of neither of the houses). It's merely a convention that it will be a member of the commons

The modern convention. which is not a matter of strict law but a very strong requirement of political necessity, is that the Prime Minister if not already a member of the House of Commons should become one as quickly as possible. Lord Home upon appointment as Prime Minister, had to renounce his peerage and win a convenient by-election.

The following year Patrick Gordon-Walker lost his seat at the General Election. He was still appointed Foreign Secretary in the new Labour government, but when he lost a by-election he then had to resign as a Minister.

The convention operates in Australia as well. Senator Gorton was appointed Prime Minister after Harold Holt disappeared. Gorton resigned his Senate seat and then won a by-election in his predecessors House of Representatives electorate.

Nowadays, in Westminster type bicameral systems, a Prime Minister really must be in the lower house to retain its confidence.