Jo Swinson became leader of the Liberal Democrats in a leadership election in July 2019, following the resignation of Vince Cable.

[1] Swinson lost her East Dunbartonshire constituency to Amy Callaghan of the Scottish National Party in the 2019 general election by 149 votes.

[6][7] Some Liberal Democrat MPs criticised the general election campaign for being "hubristic" with its initial message that Swinson could be the country's next prime minister.

[18] The New Statesman reported in January 2020 that Daisy Cooper, Ed Davey, Wera Hobhouse and Layla Moran were considering standing as candidates.

[27][28] She announced that she would run as a candidate on 5 February, in an article for the website PoliticsHome in which she argued that the party should campaign from the centre-left and consider the possibility of the United Kingdom rejoining the European Union.

[33] On 23 June, she withdrew from the contest and announced that she was backing Moran to be leader, saying that the latter was "the only candidate who can break with our party's damaging legacy from the coalition and adopt a centre-left position to defeat the Conservatives at the next election.

"[34][35] Moran announced that she would stand as a candidate on 8 March, saying that the party needed a "positive vision", with more emphasis on the policy areas of education, the environment and political culture.

[36][37][38] She said in an interview with Business Insider that the Liberal Democrats should be "more radical than Labour" and ruled out a coalition with the Conservative Party as long as Boris Johnson was its leader.

[39][40] She said she would require a commitment to electoral reform before agreeing to join a coalition with Labour, and that she wanted activists from both parties to work together to take seats from the Conservatives.

[38] In an online virtual hustings event with Welsh members, she said it was a top priority to make sure that Kirsty Williams held her seat in the 2021 Senedd election, and said that the decision in Wales to strike a deal with Plaid Cymru and the Greens for each party not to stand candidates in some constituencies in favour of other parties had been bad for activists' morale.

[45] He proposed the establishment of a basic income to support carers, and said that the Liberal Democrats should be "the party of social care".

[49] In a hustings event with Welsh members, he said that the 2021 Senedd election was a priority and he expected success for the Liberal Democrats.

[62] This was the largest margin of victory in a contested race since the 1988 leadership election, where Paddy Ashdown won with 71% of the vote.

[63] In his victory speech, Davey said that the Liberal Democrats must "wake up and smell the coffee" and "start listening" to ordinary people and those who "don't believe we share their values."