Liberal Democrats will hear two words often over the next few days – ‘Annus Horribilis.’ The general consensus is that we’ve had happier times, better years.
But 2006 has not been entirely “challenging”. Most of the bad news, which has grabbed the headlines, has come from the party in and around Westminster. The news from Scotland has often been good, and there have been successes in local government too. And as we end the year, the party in Westminster looks like its turning a corner too.
2006 started with a bombshell – Charles Kennedy’s resignation in January seemed unreal to many. Thirty Parliamentarians in a democratic party of tens of thousands of members, a party founded on a principle of one member one vote, had deposed a popular and charismatic leader. His initial attempt to carry on with the backing of the membership in a leadership ballot was blocked by some fancy media footwork. On 7 January, Charles Kennedy resigned.
In less than a week, four leadership contenders were in place. Within two weeks of that, two were ‘outed’ by the press as having had homosexual relationships in the past, one dropped out, and polls suggested a collapse in party support to 13%. February and March were devoted to leadership hustings, hand-shakes and horseplay between the three remaining leadership contenders.
Nicol Stephen has given an interview to the Scotsman, which you can
In his new year message, Nicol Stephen, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats said:
Our colleagues in the 
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