Sympathy for MPs who find themselves out of a job might be hard to find among the general public but Vince Cable, who knows both Swinson and her husband, said it hit them hard.

“They were potentially out on the streets, not literally but they were in a very difficult position.

“I was really impressed by the personal resilience of being able to manage that situation without going to pieces, and doing it in a practical way and coming out in a good place.”

Swinson compares the experience to the one her father had in his 50s when he was made redundant.

“I remember watching my Dad go through it when I was a teenager… that was really tough.”

The couple’s eldest son Andrew was “a brilliant tonic”, according to Swinson.

“Any thought that you’d sit around and mope, there’s just no way you can do that when you’ve got a 16-month-old who wants to get up and be played with and go to the park and all those things.”

She took the opportunity to write a book, Equal Power: Gender Equality and How to Achieve It, having realised that “it wasn’t a problem that was going to be solved by government on its own”.

But Swinson still felt the pull of politics. In 2017 she jumped at the chance to win back her seat and returned to Parliament.

Jo Swinson with husband Duncan Hames on election night 2017 Jo Swinson with husband Duncan Hames on election night 2017

In a south London pub, one evening not long before the 2019 general election was called, Liberal Democrat MPs gathered for a low-key night out. One who’d recently joined the party reflected that it was the first time she had laughed with colleagues in a very long time.

“It’s the first time I can remember socialising enjoyably with colleagues.”

The group had been for dinner at a pub in Kennington, “nothing very fancy”, the MP says, but credits Swinson with recognising the importance of morale.

“She sees the value in the fact we should be doing that.”

Although she admits thinking a long time ago about whether she could lead the party, deciding to go for it was something Swinson did not set her sights on early.

“It crept up on me,” she says.

When her predecessor first announced his intention to stand down towards the end of 2018, Swinson’s second child was two months old.

“At which time I was mainly thinking about whether I’d be able to make and finish drinking a cold cup of tea,” she adds.

Tim Farron, another former leader, told her she’d lead the party one day but “properly deciding to absolutely go for it” didn’t happen until the beginning of 2019.

In July this year, Jo Swinson was elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats, winning 47,997 votes to her opponent, Sir Ed Davey’s 28,021.

Notwithstanding the after-work drinks and friendly WhatsApp messages to colleagues, there is an uncompromising side to her leadership.

“Authority is her thing,” one parliamentary colleague said.

“If necessary being very firm with people who aren’t toeing the line or not up to the job.

“In terms of how she manages staff, if they're not up to the job they go. She’s got very high standards and is tough in enforcing them.”

The Lib Dems’ party culture is such that very little happens without the say-so of grass-roots members and policy decisions are often taken by committee.

There were raised eyebrows and rumblings of discontent, when it was announced at the 2019 conference that the party would campaign to revoke Article 50 - which sets out the process for a country to leave the EU - without a further referendum if it won a majority.

Although the outcome seemed highly unlikely, at least one senior party figure felt it hadn’t been properly consulted on and risked sending the wrong message to supporters.

Jo Swinson speaking at an election rally, November 2019 Jo Swinson speaking at an election rally, November 2019

There is an eye for detail which can be a frustration for those working closely with Swinson.

Frank Boles is used to constituency leaflets coming back marked “with a classic purple pen”.

“Bits of paper don’t go out until she’s had a chance to scrawl all over them and rewrite them.

“Sometimes you’ll say, ‘Back off Jo, we’ll write these for you, you’ve got other things to do.’”

Recently, Swinson denied losing control of her party after a candidate in a marginal seat stood aside to avoid splitting the remain-supporting vote and handing it to the Conservatives. Tim Walker withdrew from the race in Canterbury but the party announced he would be replaced.

Jo Swinson said there had been “a healthy debate” in the party leading to some candidates deciding to stand aside.

But the episode demonstrated the risk of Swinson’s strategy to fight Labour head-on and set the Lib Dems apart as the only truly UK-wide Remain party.

As the leader of a party defending just 19 seats, declaring yourself a candidate to run the country attracted a level of derision and ridicule.

But her predecessor did the same, and maintained that it was the only option if Swinson wanted to be taken seriously.

“It's a very long shot but it's a totally legitimate ambition and if you didn't have it people would wonder what the hell are we there for,” Sir Vince Cable said.

Swinson did admit that it would be “a big step” for the Liberal Democrats to win a majority, which was nothing if not an understatement.

Having inherited a party in good shape and welcomed MPs from other parties keen to ride the Lib Dems’ anti-Brexit wave, expectations among the party’s supporters were enormous.

Asked if she had thought about winning, and seeing herself in No 10, Swinson laughed.

“Yeah, but I don’t think about the last bit because I’m not sure I like the idea of moving.”

It was a long way from East Dunbartonshire to Downing Street after all.