SIR Ed Davey is in the running to be the next Liberal Democrat leader.
Here’s what you need to know about the former minister.
Who is Sir Ed Davey?
Sir Ed played an important role in the Conservative-led government under David Cameron and became energy and climate change secretary in 2012.
In 2015 he was defeated in his Kingston and Surbiton seat after 18 years as an MP, but won it back from the Conservatives in 2017.
He has ruled out any future coalition with Jeremy Corbyn or Boris Johnson and has described a no-deal Brexit as a “nuclear option”.
If that did come to pass, Sir Ed said he would push for the Lib Dems to form a temporary government with other parties.
He said: “That would just be a temporary government for one purpose and one purpose alone – to pass the legislation for a people’s vote”.
In June Sir Ed was criticised by his leadership rival after he suggested his electoral strategy could “decapitate that blonde head” of Mr Johnson.
After the criticism, Davey tweeted he regretted the use of violent language.
He said: I recognise this wasnt an acceptable choice of phrase and Im sorry. This was careless use of language, meant in electoral sense and in no way literally. While we should be robust in our opposition, we do have to carefully consider impact of our words and I failed to do that.”
Will he replace Jo Swinson?
A leadership election will be held in the new year, the Lib Dems said.
The party will be led by Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem deputy leader, and Sal Brinton, its president, until that point.
Sir Ed was a hopeful in the last leadership contest, held only six months ago when Sir Vince Cable stepped down.
In the party’s most recent leadership race, Ms Swinson beat Sir Ed by 47,997 votes to 28,021. After being appointed joint acting leader, Sir Ed is one of the front runners to replace her.
