JellyTom is the new leader of the Liberal Democrats, the party announced on Thursday.

The Work and Pensions Secretary beat /u/Ajubbajub in the contest to replace /u/Bnzss, with 52.9% of the votes cast.

The East Midlands MP, whose victory was announced on a Mixlr live recording, is to make his first public appearance as leader later.

When asked about his reaction to his victory, he replied, "I am surprised and delighted to have been elected Leader of the Liberal Democrats, I would like to thank everyone who has voted for me, especially those who have supported my campaign and guided me through a tough leadership battle, may I also once again pass on my respects to Ben - his shoes will be very hard to fill - but I look forward to the challenge."

"Tom is a splendid chap with real life experience of the world, which a lot of our members do not have - plus, in my view, he shows tremendously good judgement in general", the outgoing leader /u/Bnzss said.

/u/Ajubbajub, the party's Leader in the House of Lords offered his congratulations, saying /u/JellyTom would make a "fantastic" leader, who he could work well with.

The new leader's immediate task is to maintain the electoral success of the Lib Dems under the leadership of /u/Bnzss, following a successful general election which increased the party's number of MPs to eighteen.

Who is JellyTom?

• Joined the Liberal Democrats in July 2015

• Before being elected as the Member of Parliament for East Midlands, he was a National MP

• Previously considered the outsider candidate before the defection of /u/HaveADream

• He is a sufferer of Cystic Fibrosis and has been consistently active in campaigns relating to the issue

The Lib Dems said there were a total of 34 votes were cast, with /u/JellyTom winning 18 of them.