I don't think the "ex-Tory" thing will in itself be too much of a hindrance for Hobhouse, even with those dreaded Labour lefties (in fact they will often agree that the most important thing about "ex-Tory" is the "ex" bit) Her lack of front bench experience arguably matters more.
And even if Davey is the best - and most obvious - candidate (even if politically not that dissimilar to Swinson, he simply comes across as a nicer person) a coronation would not be a good idea (it very rarely is, and the continued fondness parties have for them as a "quick fix" is rather unfortunate)
Oh, and if a certain somebody wins Labour's contest it could mean two "Sirs" opposing self-styled "man of the people even if I'm an ex-Bullingdon boy Etonian" Johnson - and they are both from fairly modest backgrounds too!
May make it harder for Labour to form government if it is a hung parliament, but actually someone who leans right is not a bad choice. As long as Brexit topic is dropped, gives them potential to regain rural areas in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall which all lean right although with Brexit, might have burned too many bridges here. Liberal Democrats best areas for gains are probably your posh constituencies in London and home counties and those areas lean right. Your more left wing areas they won in 2005 and 2010 likely aren't coming back and only went Liberal Democrats due to unpopularity of Iraq war in 2005 so allowed them to win in heavily Muslim areas (which have now returned to Labour) and their promise to abolish tuition fees allowing them in 2005 and 2010 to win university towns, but after jacking them up under the coalition, those aren't coming back.
