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In the aftermath of the 2016 General Election, a safe pair of hands were needed firmly on the wheel. The Orange Bookers, still strong despite electoral defeat, sought someone who was grounded, sober, and untainted by scandal to lead the Parties reconstruction, and for just under a year Michael Moore was that man. Dull, cautious, frugal, the former Chartered Accountant drew a sharp contrast with his Conservative and Labour counterparts, often finding himself compared more with the former Labour Leader John Smith and the outgoing Mayor of London John Major than to the likes of Tim Collins and Jon Cruddas. But for a party licking its wounds and in the need of a clear leadership to move it forwards, he fit the bill.

Entering Parliament in 1997 for the seat of Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale, and holding a string of relatively minor Frontbench positions, following a stint as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats he would be given first the Scottish Affairs portfolio, and then Justice Spokesperson in David Laws' Frontbench. A sobering figure and a safe pair of hands in any situation, some expected that in the aftermath of David Laws' dramatic suspension and resignation, he would take up the Orange Bookers banner and run against the Deputy Leader Lynne Featherstone. Moore was quick to rule himself out, likely under the assumption that the Leadership was, at that point, a poison chalice. Instead he would remain on the Frontbench, continuing to serve under Featherstone as Justice Spokesperson. He would be the strongest voice on the Frontbench for keeping the 2016 Manifesto as 'Orange as possible', and would often undermine Featherstone on key policy details. This would come ahead in the Scottish leg of the 2016 Campaign; taking control of the Scottish leg of the parties campaign, working with Scottish Leader, Liam McArthur, Moore would skillfully coordinate the parties resources in a desperate campaign that exploited the growing void between Labour and the SNP. As a result, many in the country began seeing Moore as the face of the Party, in spite of Featherstone's debate performance, and after Featherstone stepped down it felt natural he would succeed her.

The Leadership election of 2016 was a quick affair, held at the beginning of June shortly after the election of the new Speaker of the House, Conservative Douglas Carswell. Running a slick campaign with the new Treasury Spokesperson Danny Alexander his 'running-mate', he would narrowly defeat the 'Yellow Biblical' Norman Lamb, though Alexander himself would narrowly lose to Lamb's own 'running-mate' Gerald Vernon-Jackson. It would be somewhat embarrassing, but Moore took this in stride, casting his Leadership as a unity Leadership in this new light, and putting his best foot forward launching immediately into the South Milton Keynes by-election. Held following the death of the previous MP, for the Labour Party it was an endurance test for the continued viability of their Leadership, but also an opportunity for Moore to prove the Liberal Democrats were still relevant. Running a tight and focused campaign, flooding streets with leaflets and "enough [volunteers] that we could stand shoulder to shoulder and just march across the Constituency", whilst the Liberal Democrats wouldn't win they created a three cornered result, taking some 24% of the vote and sliding into third place, only a few points separating the Liberals, the Conservatives, and Labour. For the new Leader, it was cause for celebration as it vindicated him in the eyes of a split Party, though he would promise at the Party conference he intended to at least win the next one.

For the rest of the year, Britain was relatively quiet. Gains in council by-elections were steady, and Moore would be engaged in the ongoing debate on international trade, which threatened to split the Conservative Cabinet, throwing support behind Chancellor Cameron's proposed minimum percentage of national income. However, for Moore and the country, there was a more pressing matter- the Scottish Independence referendum.

Moore, himself a Scot and a Unionist, had an understandably personal stake in the matter. A leading figure in the 'NO' campaign, Moore and the Liberal Democrats leg of the campaign launched what was satirically known in Private Eye as the 'MidScotland campaign', with Moore and his colleagues travelling through the central belt and the Highlands, making stump speeches and attending rallies. It was here that the relative greyness of Moore became an issue, as he found it hard to excite a crowd, his speeches described by a close colleague as "droning and ploddy". Additionally, Moore would share a stage with Tim Collins, whose popularity was fairly low north of the Thames, and only reinforced the perception that the Liberal Democrats were 'Orange Tories'. There was some hope in the form of the backlash against unpopular Land Reform laws, but this was a tenuous at best, though the Government believed it had a trump card with 'Project Fear'.

The polls were always close, and even now it's easy to speculate that, for any reason, it could have gone another way. But in the end the result was clear; by 55% to 45%, Scotland voted to leave the United Kingdom. In the aftermath, following closely in the footsteps of Collins, Moore would step down as Leader, citing the loss as a personal failure on his part, and that in the circumstances he couldn't stay as Leader even if he wanted to.

The safe hand on the wheel had let go, and the ship was rudderless. Firmer hands were needed, and following a brief few weeks under Deputy Leader Vernon-Jackson, a successor stepped forwards and took Moore's place, promising to put the Party back on track and a relevant political force once more in a brave new world.