The Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons shall consist of all Members of that House in receipt of the Party’s whip. Its Leader shall be the Leader of the Party elected as provided in Article 10. It shall be entitled to make such regulations (not being inconsistent with this Constitution) as it thinks fit for the conduct of its own proceedings. In particular, these regulations shall make provision for a Chief Whip and, if thought fit, a Deputy Leader of such Parliamentary Party.

I think we should open up the post of Deputy Leader to a much wider pool. Peers, MSPs, AMs, London Assembly Members, MEPs, Mayors and Councillors should be able to stand with the electorate being that whole group of people. There are two reasons for that.

First of all, it makes us less Westminster-centric and shows that we value all the levels of government equally, as ends in themselves.

Secondly, it might well give us a more diverse leadership team. Our Commons party is all-male, all-white and are pretty much all around the same age.

Brake: May 1962

Carmichael: July 1965

Clegg: January 1967

Farron: May 1970

Lamb: September 1957

Mulholland: August 1970

Pugh: June 1948

Williams: March 1966

I have to say I got the shock of my life when I realised that Tom Brake was 53. I had him down as early 40s. All but one of them were born within a 13 year period, and 3 of them within 18 months of each other.

It still breaks my heart, by the way, to be able to find and type that information out so quickly.

Doesn’t it make a whole load of sense to have a Deputy Leader with different experience? I think it probably needs to be someone who is elected at some level, but I’m open to persuasion on that one. It’s a different role to the party president, who is there to advocate for the members. The Deputy Leader role would be another voice representing us in the media. There may be no guarantee of diversity, but at least there’s a chance of it.

If this were to become a reality, then there would need to be a constitutional amendment to that effect.

What do you think? Is it worth pursuing?