This timeline of events in the Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2006 lists the events covering the period from Charles Kennedy's initial call for a leadership election with the Liberal Democrats to the conclusion of the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes is a former British politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an External Adviser to The Open University, and UK Strategic Adviser to Talgo. Hughes was Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2014, and from 2013 until 2015 was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark from 1983 until 2015. He declined a position in the House of Lords in 2015.
Walter Menzies Campbell, Baron Campbell of Pittenweem,, often known as Ming Campbell, is a British Liberal Democrat politician, advocate and former athlete. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Fife from 1987 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.
Lembit Öpik is a former British politician. A former member of the Liberal Democrats, he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat at the 2010 general election. He was the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2001 to 2007.
Mark Oaten is a British politician who was a senior member of the Liberal Democrats. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester from 1997 to 2010.
Adrian Mark Sanders is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Torbay in Devon from 1997 until his defeat in the 2015 general election.
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, known as Chris Huhne, is a British energy and climate change consultant and former journalist and politician who was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2005 to 2013 and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2010 to 2012. From September 2013 to August 2014 he wrote a weekly column for The Guardian.
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg is a British media executive and former politician who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vice‑president of global affairs and communications at Facebook from 2018 to 2022. Before joining Facebook, Clegg served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 and as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2015. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Hallam from 2005 to 2017. An "Orange Book" liberal, he has been associated with both socially liberal and economically liberal policies.
Stephen Roy Williams is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol West from the 2005 general election until his defeat by Labour Party candidate Thangam Debbonaire in 2015. As an MP, he served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Communities and Local Government from 2013 to 2015.
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system.
Martin Charles Horwood is a British Liberal Democrat politician who represented South West England in the European Parliament from 2019 to 2020. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Cheltenham from 2005 to 2015.
In the 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election, Sir Menzies Campbell was elected to succeed Charles Kennedy as Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom.
The Dunfermline and West Fife by-election was held on 9 February 2006, following the death of the sitting Labour MP Rachel Squire, on 6 January. The by-election was the first seat to change hands in the 2005 Parliament, when Willie Rennie won the seat for the Liberal Democrats, gaining it from Labour by 1,800 votes. The BBC reported a swing from Labour to the Liberal Democrats of 16.24%.
The 1999 Liberal Democrats leadership election was called following the resignation of Paddy Ashdown as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. There were five candidates and all members of the party were balloted using the Alternative Vote preference system. The election was won by Charles Kennedy, who served as leader until his resignation in 2006.
The 2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell as leader on 15 October 2007, after 19 months as leader of the Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party in the United Kingdom. Vincent Cable, the deputy leader of the parliamentary party, was acting leader until the conclusion of the leadership election. The result was announced on 18 December 2007 with Nick Clegg winning by a narrow margin of 1.2%.
This timeline of events in the Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2007 lists the events covering the period from Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation to the conclusion of the 2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' conference rules, the Lib Dems grant all members attending its Conference the right to speak in debates and vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021.
Charles Peter Kennedy was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 to 2015.
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.
The list that follows is the Liberal Democrats Frontbench Team/Shadow Cabinet led by Charles Kennedy, who was Party leader from 1999 to 2006. The Party began to refer to its Frontbench Team as a Shadow Cabinet during Kennedy's tenure as leader.
The 2015 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held on 16 July 2015 following the resignation of Nick Clegg as leader on 8 May 2015, after almost eight years as leader of the Liberal Democrats, following the party's poor performance at the 2015 general election.