Liberal Democrat Voice has been advised by Prue Bray and Richard Kemp that they are withdrawing from the contest to succeed Sal Brinton as Party President. Prue writes;

This is confirmation that, with regret, I am withdrawing from the election for Party President, despite having been successfully nominated. Unfortunately, the amount of work I am having to do as English Candidates Chair to prepare for the coming General Election simply does not allow enough time for me to simultaneously commit to campaign to become Party President.

Richard has sent us a statement as well;

I have announced that I am no longer seeking to be the Party President for two reasons.

Firstly, one of my family may have a medical condition which would mean that I would have to give them support especially at weekends. I could not commit to the sort of lifestyle going around the Country that being President would entail.

Secondly, Wavertree MP Luciana Berger joining then standing down to fight Finchley means that this heavily Remain Constituency has become winnable.

I believe that my family is my first priority and protecting my constituents in Church Ward from a Brexit which will seriously damage Liverpool has to be my second one.

Had I become President I would have wanted to make huge changes in the way that our Party runs. I would be pleased to discuss these ideas with any ongoing candidate.

Their withdrawal from the field means that the remaining candidates are as follows;

• Jo Hayes
• Christine Jardine
• Lizzie Jewkes
• Mark Pack
• Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett

That said, rumours are reaching us of another potential candidate, and we’ll bring you news of that as soon as we have confirmation.