Today, August 27th, Sir Ed Davey triumphed over competitors to become the leader of the Liberal Democrats after the position was vacated by Jo Swinson due to her failure to retain her Westminster seat in the 2019 General Election. Sir Ed previously stood unsuccessfully against Swinson in the 2019 leadership election.
Has there ever been a party leader who was similarly rejected by their party in a leadership election, only to succeed in a subsequent election?
The obvious example which springs to mind is Boris Johnson, however, although he received MP endorsements in the 2016 Conservative party leadership election, for example from Liz Truss & Jo Johnson, and "effectively launched" his leadership bid, he didn't formally enter the contest and eventually declined to stand.