Vince Cable has signalled that he will resign as Liberal Democrats leader next year, after leading the party through local elections in May.
The 75-year-old said he did not want to emulate William Gladstone, who served as prime minister into his mid-eighties; nor did he have "any wish to outlast" Robert Mugabe, who long clung to power before eventually being ousted as the president of Zimbabwe.
But he insisted that reports of his "imminent departure" were "wide of the mark".
BuzzFeed News reported on Thursday how party sources are expecting Cable to stand down next summer ahead of a fresh leadership contest that will include non-MPs for the first time.
That means he will remain party leader for any snap election that arises in the immediate aftermath of Brexit day next March.
Cable set out his vague resignation timetable in a speech on Friday where he outlined his intention to create a "movement for moderates", in an attempt to appeal to millions of liberal, centre-ground, pro-EU voters.
This phrase replaced "Momentum for moderates", which he wrote in an earlier draft of his speech, after it was widely mocked on social media and by the pro-Jeremy Corbyn group itself.
Despite Cable's pledge to be in "constant conversation" with a new wing of Lib Dem supporters, the party was unable to stream his speech live as planned due to "technical difficulties".
Cable said he wanted to achieve four things before stepping down as leader: ensuring the Lib Dems remained the "leading voice against Brexit", preparing the party for any general election emerging out of the "Brexit chaos", leading the party to "further local election success" in May, and beginning the process of transforming the party into a "new, open movement".
"That means reports of my imminent departure are wide of the mark and now is certainly not the time for an internal election," he said. "There is serious work for our party to do.
"To that end, once Brexit is resolved or stopped and if the new rules are agreed, that will be the time to conduct a leadership contest under the new rules."
Sources at Lib Dem HQ expect Cable to stand down before next September's autumn conference.
Although rule changes would mean that a non-politician could stand as leader, it is likely that Cable's successor will be one of the party's 12 MPs.