Senior Lib Dems want Williams to come to aid of party

How many of the top 50 Lib Dems can you spot in this photograph?

Who would be in your top 50 broadcaster Iain Dale has unveiled his list of the 50 most influential Lib Dems. (Stop sniggering at the back). Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams (6), Ceredigion MP Mark Williams (42) and former chief executive Jo Foster (11) all make the cut.

Dale writes: "One of the big risers in this list is the leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, Kirsty Williams. The deputy leadership of the party was offered to her but she decided to concentrate on fighting the 2016 Welsh Assembly elections. Even if those don't go well, and they probably won't, she's one of the next generation of Lib Dem stars."

Next generation? She's a whole year younger than Tim Farron, but there's no doubt she's seen as a star at the conference here.

"The deputy leadership of the party was offered to her"? There are certainly Williams fans in the higher echelons of the party - Paddy Ashdown has previously tried to persuade her to swap Cardiff Bay for Westminster and there are others who would like to see her as Tim Farron's deputy. The new leader has said his deputy should be a woman.

There's just one problem. The party's constitution currently says the deputy leader has to be an MP. Oh, and the Lib Dems have no women MPs.

So delegates here spent a large part of their Tuesday afternoon debating whether or not to change the rules to allow anyone to stand for the deputy leadership. Those of you glued to the live action on BBC Parliament will know that, having held that debate, delegates then voted to postpone a decision.

So the Lib Dems must struggle on without a deputy leader (it's been vacant since Sir Malcolm Bruce retired in May). Efforts to persuade Kirsty Williams to run for the job therefore verge on the hypothetical.

As I understand it, she hasn't ruled it out forever and informal discussions have taken place. But her journey towards the top of the 50 top Lib Dems may have to wait for the outcome of the party's "governance review".

Delegates here have displayed a remarkable resilience for members of a party that came fifth in Wales in the general election.

Tim Farron is assured a good reception for his first leader's speech, in which he's expected to claim he's on a mission to put the Lib Dems back in power "at every level throughout Britain", a mission that begins in Wales next May.