Lib Dems bring in heavyweights to boost General Election campaign

'Shadow Chancellor': Sir Vince Cable
AFP/Getty Images
Kate Proctor8 May 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Liberal Democrat heavyweights have been drafted in to Tim Farron’s inner circle in an effort to boost the leader’s election campaign.

Former business secretary Sir Vince Cable will act as the party’s “shadow chancellor” as the Lib Dems try to show they’re ready for opposition.

Ex-climate change secretary Sir Ed Davey has been brought back as campaign spokesperson.

With the party defending just nine seats, it has previously had to rely on members of the House of Lords to fill key positions.

Campaign spokesperson: Ed Davey
Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Sir Vince and Mr Davey served for five years in the Coalition government and have been Cabinet members.

They were the most senior members of the party after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Sir Danny Alexander, the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: “With experienced former ministers like Vince Cable and Ed Davey coming back to the frontline, we can provide the strong, liberal opposition Londonders need.”

Former business minister Jo Swinson is also making her return to the Lib Dem frontline, leading on equalities issues for the party.

Ms Swinson is fighting to get her seat back in East Dunbartonshire.

The 37-year-old made Parliamentary history when her baby son Andrew was famously the first child to be carried through the Commons’ voting lobbies.

Today she pledged to introduce mandatory gender paygap reporting for black and ethnic minority groups and LGBT communities.

Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney, who beat Zac Goldsmith in the 2016 by-election, is likely to be given the education brief.

Both Sir Ed, who is the candidate for Kingston & Surbiton, and Sir Vince, the candidate for Twickenham, are fighting to win back their former South London constituencies athey lost to the Tories in the 2015 General Election.

It is understood Sir Vince asked for the shadow chancellor post personally, ousting ex-Richmond Park MP Susan Kramer who has done the role for two years.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in