2006 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election

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29 March 2006

2010 →

Deputy Leader before election

Menzies Campbell

Elected Deputy Leader

Vince Cable

The 2006 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election began on 2 March 2006, when the sitting Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, was elected leader of the party. Campbell had been deputy leader since February 2003.

The post was elected by and from the party's 63 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, who voted on 29 March 2006. Vince Cable was elected as deputy leader in the second round. There were three candidates: Vince Cable, David Heath and Matthew Taylor. Three further MPs, Susan Kramer, Phil Willis and Ed Davey, canvassed support from colleagues but did not enter nominations.

Result

David Heath was eliminated after the first round, and his second preferences were redistributed.

Celia Walden (14 March 2006). "Spy". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 March 2006.
"Cable elected Lib Dem deputy leader". ePolitix.com. 29 March 2006. Archived from the original on 7 January 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2006.

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 2006 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election
Outgoing Deputy Leader: Menzies Campbell
Vince Cable David Heath Matthew Taylor