Gina Miller rules out Lib Dem leadership bid

Businesswoman and anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller has ruled out a bid for the Lib Dem leadership.

Current leader Sir Vince Cable wants to change the party's rules to allow non-MPs to lead it in future, as part of a plan to broaden its appeal.

Ms Miller, who is due to address the Lib Dem conference later this month, was reported to have had her eye on the role.

But she told BBC News: "It's very flattering, but no."

She added: "I don't know where that rumour's coming from but I've said it before and I'll say again today, I have no intentions of going into official politics."

• New rules could see non-MP lead Lib Dems

She said she would find a party political role "too constraining for the voice I have" and she believed she would be "more useful being an independent campaigner".

Ms Miller successfully brought a legal challenge forcing the government to seek Parliament's approval to trigger Article 50, the legal mechanism taking the UK out of the EU.

In a speech next week, Sir Vince, who is campaigning for a referendum on the final Brexit deal with the aim of keeping Britain in the EU, will announce plans to open up the Lib Dem leadership to candidates outside of the party's 12 MPs.

The party has stressed that Sir Vince does not plan to stand down as leader "any time soon".

But he is keen to boost the party's profile and political clout by attracting a wider body of supporters, who could be given a say in leadership and candidate selection.

The plan will be discussed at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton, which gets under way on 15 September, as part of an internal consultation process.

Tim Farron is calling for a new 'centre ground' party

Sir Vince's predecessor as leader, Tim Farron, said opening up the leadership to non-MPs was an "interesting" idea, but added: "To be fair, Vince is only just touting it as an option."

Speaking to the Politico website, Mr Farron also backed the idea of a new "centre ground" party, arguing that the SDP, Britain's last big breakaway party, was "very close to having made it" in the 1980s.

"Let some of these people in the Labour Party and the Tory Party grow a flipping backbone and leave. And we should work with them.

"Let them form their own party, we will work with them, and we'll try and do it together. People shouldn't fall into the mistake of thinking the SDP was a failure. It really wasn't."

Mr Farron said he would also settle for "a decent electable leader" of the Labour Party, if a new centre party did not emerge - but he insisted there was a still a place for the Lib Dems in British politics.

"You see with great frustration - and I'm sure Vince (Cable) feels the same - the colossal opportunity in what I will glibly call the centre of British politics, and the desperate need for us.

"I obviously want the Liberal Democrats to recover, become the next government of the country and solve all the problems."