63 Facts About Jo Swinson

Jo Swinson was Member of Parliament for East Dunbartonshire from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019.

In September 2020, Jo Swinson became Director of Partners for a New Economy.

Jo Swinson studied at the London School of Economics, and briefly worked in public relations, before being elected to the House of Commons, becoming the youngest MP at the time.

Jo Swinson was a Liberal Democrat Spokesperson covering various portfolios, including Scotland, Women and Equalities, Communities and Local Government, and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

In 2010, after the Liberal Democrats entered into a coalition government with the Conservative Party, Jo Swinson was a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and was later appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs.

Jo Swinson lost her seat in the 2015 election, but regained it in the snap election held two years later.

In July 2019, following the retirement of Vince Cable, Jo Swinson defeated Ed Davey in a leadership election to become Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Jo Swinson led her party through the 2019 general election, suggesting she could lead a Liberal Democrat majority government which would revoke Article 50 and cancel Brexit.

Jo Swinson is the only incumbent Liberal Democrat leader to have lost a Parliamentary seat.

Jo Swinson was born in Glasgow on 5 February 1980, the daughter of Peter and Annette Jo Swinson.

Jo Swinson was educated at Douglas Academy, a mixed state school in the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire in western Scotland, followed by the London School of Economics, where she studied Management, gaining a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in 2000.

Jo Swinson signed up as an active member of the Liberal Democrats at the age of 17.

Jo Swinson was elected to the House of Commons as the MP for East Dunbartonshire at the 2005 general election.

Jo Swinson defeated John Lyons of Labour by 4,061 votes, and was the first ever Member of Parliament born in the 1980s.

Jo Swinson was vocal in her opposition to the Iraq War and the Labour government's proposals for national identity cards.

Jo Swinson has supported measures both by individuals and government to tackle climate change such as conserving energy in the home and the Liberal Democrat policy of introducing green taxes while reducing income tax to offset the burden.

Jo Swinson supports reducing the voting age to 16 as one way of engaging young people in politics.

Jo Swinson believes more women should be involved in politics but that encouragement is better than affirmative action in achieving this.

Jo Swinson opposes positive discrimination to address gender imbalance, and led the argument against positive discrimination to select her party's candidates at their national party conference in 2002, wearing a pink T-shirt inscribed with the slogan, "I am not a token woman".

Jo Swinson has called for a "wellbeing index" to be introduced, to be compared against GDP, and tabled an early day motion on the issue in 2008, gaining 50 signatures.

Jo Swinson found support from MPs such as Vince Cable and Angela Eagle.

Jo Swinson cited the fact that although standard of living had increased, people's level of wellbeing had been virtually static for some time, according to polls.

Jo Swinson believed that new prisons ought not to be built and had campaigned vocally, but without success, against the rebuilding of a prison at Bishopbriggs within the constituency.

Jo Swinson had said that if a prison was built it must not be built cheaply, and that it must not be named after the town in which is to be sited.

Jo Swinson is an active campaigner against excessive packaging of chocolate Easter eggs.

Jo Swinson has named Guylian as the worst offender, followed by Lindt, Baileys and Cadbury.

Jo Swinson successfully held her seat of East Dunbartonshire in the 2010 general election, although with a slightly decreased majority.

In November 2010, Jo Swinson was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Business Secretary Vince Cable.

In February 2012, Jo Swinson replaced Norman Lamb as Parliamentary Private Secretary to then Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, holding this position until her promotion to government minister later that year.

In September 2012, Jo Swinson was appointed Under Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs in a reshuffle by then Prime Minister David Cameron.

Jo Swinson initially focused efforts on scrapping the 1871 Pedlars Act, which prevents pedlars and street traders from trading without first acquiring a certificate from the police.

Jo Swinson opposed forcing companies to adopt gender quotas, stating that such a move would "negatively affect" the performance of businesses.

From 2013, Jo Swinson sought to promote fathers' rights in regard to parental leave, bringing forth new legislation which allowed parents to divide parental leave between themselves with an aim to encourage fathers to spend more time with their newborn infants.

On minimum wage, in February 2013 Jo Swinson joined calls by other ministers to warn that "caution" was required when increasing it any further amid claims that minimum wage could be cut or frozen if it began costing jobs.

Jo Swinson traced employee ownership back to the philosophy of Jeremy Bentham, and claimed such ownership models improve productivity and lower absenteeism in staff.

Jo Swinson introduced to parliament the Consumer Rights Act 2015 on 23 January 2014, so as to consolidate and update consumer protection law and thereby provide a "modern framework of consumer rights".

Shortly before the 2015 general election, The Times and the Financial Times reported that Jo Swinson was one of a number of prominent 'right-leaning' Liberal Democrat MPs, aligned to then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, deliberately excluded from campaign funding by former leading Liberal Democrat peer and donor Matthew Oakeshott even though their seats, including Jo Swinson's, were vulnerable marginals.

Jo Swinson was featured in the 2011,2012,2013, and 2014 editions of the 'London's 1000 most influential people' list by the Evening Standard.

Jo Swinson lost her parliamentary seat in the 2015 general election to Scottish National Party candidate John Nicolson by 2,167 votes.

Jo Swinson stood again for her former seat during the 2017 general election and won with a lead of 5,339 votes over Nicolson.

Between 2017 and 2018, Jo Swinson received political funding from Mark Petterson, the director of Warwick Energy Ltd, which has fracking licences across England.

Jo Swinson voted against plans to ban fracking in the UK.

Jo Swinson later announced that she would not seek the leadership; instead, she became Deputy Leader after being the only candidate at the close of nominations.

At the Liberal Democrat autumn conference of 2017, Jo Swinson drew media attention for using the phrase "Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans" in criticising populism.

Jo Swinson praised Thatcher for her skills in negotiating the UK rebate and for taking the UK into the single market, but was critical of Thatcher for the poll tax and stressed she did not consider herself a Thatcherite.

In July 2018, Jo Swinson was absent for key votes on the Brexit negotiations, having been on maternity leave following the birth of her second son.

Lewis voted with the government nonetheless, leading Jo Swinson to accuse the government of resorting to "desperate stuff" and a "calculated, deliberate breaking of trust".

On 22 July 2019, Jo Swinson was elected the first-ever female leader of the Liberal Democrats, with 47,997 votes, gaining a clear victory over Sir Ed Davey, with 28,021 votes.

Jo Swinson was the first leader of a major British political party who was born in the 1980s.

Jo Swinson campaigned on a platform of revoking Article 50 if the Liberal Democrats formed the government.

Jo Swinson launched her campaign by declaring that she was "a candidate to be prime minister", and suggesting her party could win a majority.

In November 2019, Jo Swinson was confronted by Jay Sutherland, a student activist in Scotland.

Jo Swinson's campaign was reported to be funded by companies selling puberty blockers, a medication that some social conservatives have criticised.

Jo Swinson ceased to be leader on 13 December 2019, when in the general election she lost her own seat in parliament to the SNP's Amy Callaghan.

In July 2020, Jo Swinson accepted a position as visiting professor at Cranfield School of Management in Bedfordshire.

On 13 May 2011, Jo Swinson married then fellow Liberal Democrat MP Duncan Hames.

Jo Swinson gave birth to the couple's third son, Robin, on 28 July 2023.

Jo Swinson completed the Loch Ness Marathon in 2007, the 2011 London Marathon and the inaugural Stirling Scottish Marathon in 2017.

Jo Swinson ran the London Landmarks Half Marathon in March 2019 in memory of her father, who had died of blood cancer the previous year.

Jo Swinson collapsed with breathing difficulty, recovering on administration of adrenaline, and an overnight stay in hospital.

Jo Swinson was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 New Year Honours for political and public service.

On receiving the honour, Jo Swinson said she was privileged "to be listed among so many remarkable people from all walks of life, making amazing contributions right across our country".

Jo Swinson is a humanist and is a member of the humanist charity Humanists UK.