Sir Ed Davey has hinted that he may run for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats again.
Jo Swinson was forced to resign as leader when she lost her seat at the general election, having begun the party’s campaign with the claim that she could be the next prime minister.
Sir Ed, who was Lib Dem deputy leader, and party president Sal Brinton are currently joint acting leaders until a leadership election in the new year.
Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if he would run for leader, he said: “I’ve got a job to do as acting leader, I’m going to do that.”
He added: “Let me help you: I’m not ruling it out.”
Sir Ed was a hopeful in the last leadership contest, held only six months ago when Sir Vince Cable stepped down.
It saw Sir Ed and Swinson – the only two contenders – face a postal ballot of the party’s membership, with Swinson beating Sir Ed by 47,997 votes to 28,021.
Sir Ed has been the MP for Kingston and Surbiton since the 2017 general election and, apart from a brief spell of Tory rule in the constituency between 2015 and 2017, he has held the seat since 1997.
He told Today that his party knows it “made mistakes” in the election campaign, but added: “The evidence we have from around the country, particularly in the seats we were fighting, was that people were voting for the Conservatives with a washing line of clothes pegs on their nose because they were opting to stop Corbyn rather than what they also wanted to stop, which was Brexit.”
Looking ahead to his party’s future, Sir Ed said: “I think we need to bring liberalism to life for people, by proving, for example, our passion for social justice.”
Other possible leadership contenders include Daisy Cooper, Layla Moran, Wera Hobhouse and Christine Jardine.
Most popular
Farage is forced to explain his finances
Biden’s long-awaited decision is game-changing
Sanity is coming home
Trump is losing it
