Just a few days after losing a face-off in the race to become the European Parliament’s new president to Martin Schulz, Diana Wallis (ALDE, UK) stepped down, on 19 January, from her position as an MEP. Fiona Hall, the leader of the British Liberal Democrats’ delegation, indicated that her resignation is “an entirely personal decision”. Wallis was first elected to the EP in June 1999 on a Lib Dem ticket. Ten years later she became EP vice-president, but lost her position, on 18 January, to Edward McMillan-Scott (ALDE, UK) in an internal Liberal Democrats’ fight. She has been closely associated with developments such as the transparency register for interest groups and the code of conduct for MEPs. She also worked actively on the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI). Wallis was sidelined during the ALDE group presidential race, in 2009, by current leader Guy Verhofstadt when Graham Watson stepped down. Before coming to the Parliament, she was a solicitor specialised in European commercial litigation. “I want to take a break from politics and to take time and assess what’s next,” Wallis commented.