Jo Swinson wins the LD leadership contest
She takes over with the party on the up
It has just been announced that 39 year old Jo Swinson has won the Lib Dem leadership race with 62% of the vote against her former ministerial colleague in the coalition, Ed Davey.
She’s the first woman to lead the party and was first elected as an MP at GE2005. She lost her seat, East Dunbartonshire, at GE2015 only to win it back two years later.
Her leadership starts at a time when the party has started to turn the corner from the coalition years coming second in the May Euro elections and making 700+ gains in this year’s locals.
Her party is the one that has the clearest position on the big issue if the day, Brexit, and has big hopes of winning the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election a week on Thursday. It has also attracted a leading LAB defector Chuka Umunna with talk of possible other MPs dissatisfied with their parties.
In the betting she was clear leader from the start,
Now the bookies are standing by to open up betting markets on Swinson’s successor.