2010 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election

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9 June 2010

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Candidate	Simon Hughes	Tim Farron
Popular vote	38	18
Percentage	67.9%	32.1%

Deputy Leader before election

Vince Cable

Elected Deputy Leader

Simon Hughes

The 2010 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election began on 26 May 2010, when the sitting Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Vince Cable, announced his resignation following his appointment as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. Nominations closed on 2 June, and the balloting took place on 9 June. The election was won by Simon Hughes.

Candidates

Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, announced on 27 May 2010 that he would run for the election with the support of former party leader Sir Menzies Campbell.
Simon Hughes, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark and former Party President, announced his intention to stand on 28 May 2010. He has been supported by former Deputy Leader Vince Cable.

Hughes was, from the start, reportedly leading in the election, having reportedly secured the support of at least 29 Lib Dem MPs. Not all MPs publicly declared their support for either candidate; of those Farron had the support of 11 and Hughes 21. Both candidates were former members of the Lib Dem Front Bench, but neither received a position in the coalition government.

Result

Only ballot: 9 June 2010
Candidate		Votes	%
	Simon Hughes	38	67.9
	Tim Farron	18	32.1
Turnout		56	98.2
Simon Hughes elected

References

"Vince Cable stands down as Lib Dem deputy leader". BBC News. 26 May 2010.
Patrick Wintour (28 May 2010). "Simon Hughes fights to keep leftwing identity for Liberal Democrats". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
"Lib Dem deputy leader contest: Tim Farron to stand". BBC News. 27 May 2010.
"Simon Hughes standing for Lib Dem deputy". BBC News. 28 May 2010.
"Hughes 'leading' in Lib Dem deputy race". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
"Lib Dem deputy leader contest: Nominations close". BBC News. 2 June 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
"Deputy Leadership contest: how the MPs stack up". Libdemvoice.org. 28 May 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
"Simon Hughes elected Lib Dem deputy leader". BBC News. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.

v t e 2010 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election
Outgoing Deputy Leader: Vince Cable
Tim Farron Simon Hughes

Liberal Democrats

Leadership

Leaders	Steel (Liberal) (1988) Maclennan (SDP) (1988) Ashdown (1988–1999) Kennedy (1999–2006) Campbell (2006–2007) Clegg (2007–2015) Farron (2015–2017) Cable (2017–2019) Swinson (2019) Davey (from 2020)
Deputy leaders	Johnston (1988–1992) Beith (1992–2003) Campbell (2003–2006) Cable (2006–2010) Hughes (2010–2014) Bruce (2014–2015) Swinson (2017–2019) Davey (2019–2020) Cooper (from 2020)
Leaders in the Lords	Seear (Liberal) (1988) Diamond (SDP) (1988) Jenkins (1988–1997) Rodgers (1997–2001) Williams (2001–2004) McNally (2004–2013) Wallace (2013–2016) Newby (from 2016)
Presidents	Wrigglesworth (1989–1990) Kennedy (1991–1994) Maclennan (1995–1998) Maddock (1999–2000) Dholakia (2001–2004) Hughes (2005–2008) Scott (2009–2010) Farron (2011–2014) Brinton (2015–2019) Pack (from 2020)

Leadership elections

Leadership	1988 (Ashdown) 1999 (Kennedy) 2006 (Campbell) 2007 (Clegg) 2015 (Farron) 2017 (Cable) 2019 (Swinson) 2020 (Davey) 2024 (Davey)
Deputy leadership	2003 (Campbell) 2006 (Cable) 2010 (Hughes) 2014 (Bruce) 2017 (Swinson) 2019 (Davey)

Frontbench team
Leader of the Liberal Democrats Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson

Structure

MPs and Frontbench	Current members of Parliament Frontbench team Chief whip
Frontbench in opposition	Frontbench Team of Paddy Ashdown (1997–1999) Frontbench Team of Charles Kennedy (1999–2006) Frontbench Team of Menzies Campbell (2006–2007) First Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2007) Frontbench Team of Nick Clegg (2007–2010) Frontbench Team of Tim Farron (2015–2017) Second Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2017–2019) Frontbench Team of Jo Swinson (2019) Frontbench Team of Ed Davey (2020-present)
State parties	English Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats Welsh Liberal Democrats
Regional parties	London Liberal Democrats Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats
Conference	Liberal Democrat Conference
Committees	Federal Board
SAOs	LGBT+ Liberal Democrats Young Liberals (English Young Liberals, Scottish Young Liberals, Welsh Young Liberals/Rhyddfrydwr Ifanc Cymru)

Related organisations
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Beveridge Group Christian Forum Friends of Israel Friends of Turkey History Group Liberal Reform Social Liberal Forum

History and related topics

Breakaway parties
Liberal Party (UK, 1989)

v t e 2010 United Kingdom party leadership elections
Green Party of England and Wales Labour Liberal Democrats deputy UKIP Ulster Unionist

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