Is there life after Ming for the Lib Dems?

published 24 October 2007

Following Sir Menzies Campbell's abrupt resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats on Monday, the question is not about who will take his place, but whether the Lib Dems will survive at all as a "half-serious political party", said Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail. This is the second time in 18 months it has deposed a respected leader: this gives no time to set out new ideas, let alone make long-term changes. The tragedy is, Ming was "right on the great issues of our time more than any other leader".

Now the battle lies between two "nonentities", Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg, neither of whom has enjoyed "the slightest experience of what most would regard as the real world". It's true, lamented John Harris in The Guardian. Huhne and Clegg were educated at Westminster and Oxbridge, have backgrounds in economics and were members of the European Parliament. Both became MPs in 2005. The leadership contest, which will be over by Christmas, could be "terrifyingly drab". Nonsense, said Steve Richards in The Independent. Clegg "is good with the media and has brought an innovative approach to his home affairs brief". Huhne is a "formidable economist" with impressive green policies.

But it doesnt matter what theyre like, said Jonanthan Freedland in The Guardian. Even if the Lib Dems were led by someone with the "authority of Winston Churchill and the charisma of John F Kennedy", they would still be in a hole. "When the two main parties are both strong, the third party suffers". The Lib Dems must decide what they want to be when they grow up, he adds. For now, there is a "benign fog" where there should be ideological clarity. The Lib Dems could (and should) seize the chance to "fill the vast acres of space vacated by new Labour on the left", or present themselves as "unabashedly liberal, socially and economically". If they join Cameron and Brown in the fight for centre ground, UK politics as well as the Lib Dems will suffer.