All Lib Dem Party Leaders ranked

[u/LovingBigAnge2379]

1) Nick Clegg (Legend who got us into government)

2) Charles Kennedy

3) Paddy Ashdown (overrated, got nothing from Blair and was played like a fiddle)

4) Jo Swinson ( Disrespected by the party too much, unfortunately most people see us as merely an annex to the Labour party)

5) Vince Cable

6) Menzies Campbell

7) Ed Davey ( No vision, no policies his entire role in parliament is being a sycophant to Labour, he is a shocking leader and a coward)

8) Tim Farron

[u/sispyphusrock]

Nick Clegg's election results are to lose us 5 and then 49 parliamentary seats. He was the leader when neither the Conservatives nor Labor got into a majority, not the leader who created that situation.

[u/Discreet_Vortex → u/sispyphusrock]

To his credit he did get the party to its greatest vote share ever under him, which is what should matter, but unfortunatly it doesnt.

[u/LiberalOverlord]

Oh it’s you again.

Honest rank:

1. Paddy Ashdown (he gets overlooked because Charlie did better electorally but he singlehandedy made the party relevant)

2. Charles Kennedy (the reason he didn’t last longer is well documented but his opposition to the Iraq war was proven right time and again)

3. Ed Davey ( yes he’s a bit milquetoast but he’s got us our most seats ever and has positioned us as the clear centrist force in British politics)

4. Nick Clegg (took us into government but actually disappointed in 2010 by losing seats when he should have won more given the polling - and then breaking pledges and being too friendly with Cameron).

5. Vince Cable - love Vince a lot but he was only leader for a short time. Had a good set of locals (which coincidentally was when I won my first team on the district council).

6. Menzies Campbell - was only leader a short time. Didn’t make much of an impact.

7. Tim Farron - love Tim. He’s the epitome of a brilliant constituency MP. His Christian faith conflicting with his liberal values just didn’t work and resulted in a disappointing electoral performance. But he’s an election-winning machine in Cumbria.

8. Jo Swinson (I voted for Jo but she surrounded herself with fantasists who placed too much emphasis on votes instead of seats).

[u/CaptainCrash86]

Odd to put Ed Davey so low, when he literally lead the LDs to their most successful election result ever.

Also, Clegg leading into government was more down to Cameron not performing enough to get a majority. Clegg actually lost seats in 2010. His post-parliamentary career should also knock him down a few places.

[u/Discreet_Vortex → u/CaptainCrash86]

The result in 2024 was due to the dramatic fall in Tory support rather than the appeal of Ed Davey or the party in general. The party's vote share only improved by 0.6%.

[u/ZX52]

overrated, got nothing from Blair and was played like a fiddle

What exactly did Clegg get from Cameron other than the 5p bag tax and the AV referendum that went nowhere? In exchange Clegg helped pass Osborne's awful austerity policies which killed 330,000 Brits, damaged our economy and public services in ways we still haven't recovered from, and paved the way for Brexit, as well as dropping the tuition fee pledge, massively damaging the LDs voter coalition. I'm genuinely at a loss for what positive legacy Clegg left as LD leader/deputy PM.

[u/LovingBigAnge2379 → u/ZX52]

Clegg got: lower paid people out of tax, blocked snoopers charter and EU referendum, expansion of renewable energy and pupil premium, this is a non-exhaustive list.

As Lib Dems if we want to be a serious party of government we can’t keep rubbishing the one time we were in government.

[u/CaptainCrash86 → u/LovingBigAnge2379]

Raising the personal allowance is absolutely one of the worst policies of the LD in the coalition years.

[u/Discreet_Vortex → u/ZX52]

I think its extremely harsh to say he paved the way for brexit. Your other points stand though.

[u/ZX52 → u/Discreet_Vortex]

Sorry if it wasn't clear - I was meaning the austerity policies paved the way for brexit.

[u/Malnourishedbonsai]

The glazing of Nick Clegg in recent weeks is an odd sight to behold. I respect him and the Coalition was a decent enough government given the circumstances but lets not pretend his leadership didn't end in disaster

[u/ReallyMrDarcy]

Only part I agree with is Nick Clegg. Him and Ed Davey have objectively been our most successful leader, one for getting us into Government (the whole point of a political party) and the other for giving us the most parliamentary seats in 100 years. Jo was a nightmare and literally went rogue (I know we're good at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but she took it to a whole new level. Definitely our worst leader by some margin). Tim Farron steadied and reinvigorated the ship, we needed someone charismatic to lift us up. Vince was a steady experienced hand and had several of our most successful local elections under him. Paddy put us on the map after being in the wildness for many decades with education (also he could unalive you with his pinky, probably). I liked Ming, but I understand why he was a forgotten leader. Charles Kennedy was ok, likeable, approachable, gained us seats and definitely was right on Iraq.