Tag Archives: Ming Campbell

Here’s the text of the letter Ming Campbell earlier today submitted to Simon Hughes, as President of the Liberal Democrats:

When I was elected Leader of the Party in March 2006 I had three objectives. First, to restore stability and purpose in the party following my predecessor’s resignation and the leadership campaign itself, second to make the internal operations of the party more professional, and third to prepare the party for a General Election.

With the help of others, I believe that I have fulfilled these objectives, although I am convinced that the internal structures of the party need radical revision

…

I had thought Ming’s House of Commons statement on Iraq yesterday would be up on his website, so wasn’t going to post it on LDV – but as it wasn’t here it is, verbatim, courtesy of Hansard:

Sir Menzies Campbell (North-East Fife) (LD): The Prime Minister began with a tribute to those who have died and been injured. Let me, on behalf of my right hon. and hon. Friends, associate myself with that tribute. Let me, too, as he did, salute the professionalism and bravery of our armed forces—something that is too often taken for granted. The truth is, though, that they were given an impossible task in Iraq. Who now in the Government takes the blame for what the Chief of the Defence Staff called the “false and inflated expectations” of what they could achieve in Iraq?

On Monday, it was Mark Oaten who was talking coalitions. The liberal think-tank Centre Forum is also joining in the conversation, and have just published a pamphlet, Lib-Lab: can Labour and the Liberal Democrats co-operate?, authored by Julian Astle and Alasdair Murray.

You can read the document as a PDF here. Here’s the abstract to whet your appetite:

Gordon Brown’s attempt in the summer of 2007 to bring a number of Liberal Democrat peers into his government reopened the debate about co-operation between the two parties. In the event, Menzies

…

The Lib Dems have just issued a press release in which Ming Campbell has demanded in unequivocal terms a referendum on the UK’s position within the European Union. Here’s the full text:

Ahead of his Party Conference, which begins tomorrow, Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell, has called for the public to be given a real choice on the European Union.

Menzies Campbell said:

“It’s time for the political parties to end the shadow boxing on Europe and enter into an honest debate about the European Union.

“We will not know the final shape of the European

…

Two very alternative takes on the party’s fortunes have appeared in the press in the last few days.

For those who like to drink from the glass half-empty, you can sup happily from today’s leader in the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph:

Liberal Democrat support is quite simply collapsing. The party currently attracts only 14 per cent of voters, compared with 22 per cent in the 2005 general election. If there were a general election tomorrow, the Lib Dems would lose some of their most cherished West Country seats – to the Tories. Admittedly, Gordon Brown would be returned to office with an increased majority, but, for the first time in decades, Britain’s third party would have been reduced to insignificance.

There are several reasons for this state of affairs. When Mr Cameron rebranded the Conservatives as a green party, he pushed the Lib Dems off a patch of the ground that they had occupied, rather smugly, for years. But there is a more significant factor, which can be summed up in two words: Menzies Campbell.

But those who prefer their politics sunny-side-up can opt instead for Bill Jacobs’ upbeat assessment in The Scotsman:

Unexpectedly, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has had the most relaxed holiday of the three party chiefs. While Gordon Brown has been desperate to show that as Prime Minister he is just as much in control as he was as Chancellor, and David Cameron has been trying to subdue his unruly Conservative Party, Ming finds himself as ruler of all he surveys. …

As the wheels came off Mr Cameron’s new Tory bandwagon over the early summer and Mr Brown took over from Mr Blair, the Lib Dem leader’s performances at Westminster strengthened and his age ceased to be an issue in the press. The idea of a steady hand on the tiller of the Liberal Democrats as well as in the country took hold and the murmuring in the party subsided. …

Here’s what the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s The World at One says about the programme’s focus on the Lib Dem leadership this week:

The Ealing by-election had been seen as a test of Sir Menzies Campbell’s leadership and there was relief in Cowley Street that the party didn’t do badly. But it certainly wasn’t the spectacular result that the Liberal Democrats have been famed for in the past and a BBC analysis of the last four months’ opinion polls show that the party has dropped from an average of 21% in April to 17% in July which must be

…

Quick round-up:

‘Lib Dem leader in flood-hit city’ (BBC Online)
Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell has criticised the government’s flood plans as he prepared to visit Hull to see the aftermath of last month’s deluge. He said a lack of government planning had led to a “summer of suffering”.

‘Row over disaster response deepens as flooding eases’ (The Scotsman)
Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: “The government has been far too slow to wake up to the potentially devastating effects of extreme rainfall overwhelming drains and sewers.”

Floodplains ‘not ruled out’ for new homes (24dash.com)
Liberal Democrat housing spokesman …

I’m feeling conflicted. A good rule-of-thumb is to believe the opposite of what Lord William Rees-Mogg, columnist for The Times, and one of the least acute of Tory political commentators, writes. Today he uses his column to praise the Lib Dems’ performance in last week’s by-elections as “excellent”. Twice. What’s going on?

Last week’s by-election results were satisfactory for Labour, excellent for the Liberal Democrats and a disaster for the Conservatives. That was the almost unanimous verdict of the weekend’s press, except for Alan Watkins in The Independent on Sunday, who warned Gordon Brown against an early election. This general assessment is not likely to be overturned, but it is mistaken. Although Labour held two of its safer seats, these by-election results should be regarded as satisfactory for the Conservatives, excellent for the Lib Dems and very bad for Labour.