The following article was written by Jo Swinson and published yesterday on the Liberal Democrat Voice Website.

The Liberal Democrats have always felt like a family, and none more so than with the rallying round after the crushing election results this month. As the results unfolded, the texts and tweets began to arrive. I had to read them in small batches over the next few days: it’s often the words of kindness that bring the raw emotions to the surface the most.

On one level, the pain I felt was deeply personal – Duncan and I both lost our seats after 12 years of campaigning and service to our communities. Compounding this was the shared anguish of watching liberal giants like Vince and Simon defeated; transfixed by the TV in a sort of stunned post-count vigil with my campaign manager Katy Gordon as the new political reality dawned.

By Friday morning, I was reunited with Duncan and Andrew, whose excited “Mummy, mummy!” was the best possible antidote to the haze of sleep-deprived sadness. I turned on the radio to hear Nick’s resignation speech – taking responsibility with dignity, and reinforcing the need for our liberal values more than ever – and that was when the tears flowed freely down my cheeks. At a time of economic crisis, to lead the smaller party into the first UK coalition government for decades was an almost impossible challenge. Nick rose to it brilliantly, with determination, amazing resilience and dignity in the face of constant onslaught from vested interests. Yes, we made mistakes, but we have learned from them and changed our country for the better. From ending child detention to fairer pensions, shared parental leave to same sex marriage, the Pupil Premium to scrapping ID cards, we made our liberal mark – and all while getting our economy back on track.

Now we must choose Nick’s successor for the next chapter of our party’s journey. A very different challenge lies ahead – rebuilding from the grassroots up, and inspiring a new generation of Liberal Democrats. The thousands of new members who have flocked to the party in the last fortnight give us great cause for optimism.

We also must seize this rare opportunity to reshape our party in a fair and representative way. Achieving a gender-balanced parliamentary party with real diversity in 2020 is now absolutely possible – though it will need political will, leadership and drive to make that happen. Whoever is our new leader needs to ensure that diversity is reflected across the party – it’s not just about Parliament, but also who is advising the leader, our party staff, local government base and party officers.

There are two excellent candidates so far in the race to lead our party – either could do the job well and we will all rally behind whoever wins. We need a positive leadership election campaign that celebrates that we are fortunate still to have great political experience to draw from in our Commons team.

I believe that Tim Farron is the best choice to lead the #LibDemFightback. As Party President, Tim showed how he can inspire our members right across the country, always with good humour and leading by example. From Westmorland to Southwark, week in, week out, Tim has dedicated the last decade and more to campaigning for the Liberal Democrats. More than ever, we need his energy to lead us as we dust ourselves off, recharge our batteries, and maximise the boost of our new members to set our sights on future success.

We know from election night programmes and Question Time that Tim is a star communicator – direct and no-nonsense, putting the Lib Dem case with passion. He has the talent, character and verve to lead us, and the infectious enthusiasm that will inspire us and others to follow him and champion our liberal cause.

Jo Swinson was Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire from 2005-15 and was a Minister in the Department Business, Innovation and Skills and Equalities Minister from 2012-15