The
2013 Unionist Party leadership election was called by party leader Leo Gardner for 12 April 2013, after he announced that he was resigning as leader of the party. He remained as Prime Minister until after the 2013 general election.
The ballot took place after protracted negotiations between the government and opposition parties over the 2013 budget and a motion of no confidence called by Leader of the Opposition Helen Kendrick, who called for the motion after Attorney General Mel Jackson was forced to resign over alleged leaks from the Ministry of Justice regarding witnesses and experts testifying at the Davenport Inquiry. In exchange for passing the budget and the Radical and Ecumene Parties dropping their respective motions of no confidence in the midst of a stock market crash (which came to be known as the Panic of 2013), Gardner agreed to immediately request President Ellen Clay to dissolve Parliament. His resignation as leader caused shock across Westminster, and was widely believed to be a means of quelling an imminent cabinet revolt and securing the budget deal.
Most Unionist figures who were expected to stand to succeed Gardner declined to stand, and the only candidates who eventually stood were Foreign Secretary George Mantel and prominent backbencher Reg Thackeray. Mantel, aged 70, was seen as an elder statesman and was widely perceived to be a sacrificial lamb by the party leadership, given the extent of the government's unpopularity. Thackeray's strong performance was seen as an upset, especially given Thackeray's long history of disloyalty to the party leadership and objections to the Caro Ministry's liberal direction.
Mantel went onto lead the Unionist Party to a heavy defeat, becoming only the third leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party to never become Prime Minister.
The
2014 Unionist Party leadership election was held from 10 November to the 17 November 2014 to find a successor to George Mantel following his resignation.
Informal campaigning for the leadership began shortly after the Unionists' general election defeat the previous year, as few expected the elderly Mantel to lead the party into the next election. The leadership election was noted as being especially dramatic, with the last-minute candidacy of former Prime Minister and Shadow Foreign Secretary Leo Gardner upsetting the dynamics of the race. Despite his divisive image within the party and his considerable unpopularity outside of it, Gardner still retained a strong constituency among Unionist MPs and was immediately considered to be one of the frontrunners. His main challenger was former Defence Minister Liz Wolmar, who stood on a platform of a "clear blue water" between the Unionists and the Radicals, moving away from the centre ground and more forcefully opposing the Kendrick Government's social reforms, most notably their attempts to formally abolish the death penalty. Shadow Health Secretary Isaac Posner and Upper Bann MP Peter Sullivan were widely considered to be also-rans.
However, Garnder's campaign was rocked by the publication of the memoirs of former Deputy Prime Minister Agnes White, who amongst many other allegations of personal misconduct accused Gardner of having racially abused then-Defence Secretary Ajay Mittal into not standing against him for the party leadership following Thomas Caro's resignation in 2006. Gardner's threats of litigation did little to quell the adverse publicity. He abruptly withdrew from the leadership race on November 13th, alleging that the publication was timed by his former deputy to destroy his campaign in favour of her favoured candidate, Liz Wolmar.
However she was unable to capitalise on the shock withdrawal, with many MPs unimpressed with her disorganised campaign and potential divisiveness of her leadership. Garnder publicly threw his weight behind previous also-ran Isaac Posner, who quickly gained momentum in the final days of the contest and upset Wolmar to the leadership. Isaac Posner served as Unionist leader until his party's defeat in the 2017 general election; Peter Sullivan and Liz Wolmar were both appointed to his shadow cabinet. Gardner announced shortly after Posner's victory that he would be leaving politics and resigning his seat of Sevenoaks.