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I’m not altogether surprised, or disappointed, to see Menzies Campbell has quit as leader of the Liberal Democrats. It was clear to everybody that he was in a tough spot, and the age issue, plus the lack-lustre Commons performances were repeated so frequently by the Westminster media village, it was bound to affect him.

Personally though I think the rot set in after the recent elections, particularly with regards their support here in Scotland. My problem is that after the election kicking the Lib Dems received at the hands of the SNP, they became so damned incalcitrant about entering into a coalition with the SNP. They were insistent on licking their wounds, and perhaps just fancied a bit of nay-saying and opposition, rather than doing as I’d hoped and entering into coalition and trying to get some more things actually done. Local income tax being one key example of where the SNP and Lib Dems agreed. Sure there’s talk of ’support’ for such, but it’s still very huffy.

I suppose here in Scotland there’s the question of what purpose the Lib Dems serve if not to be the King Makers? As the party that pushes for proportional representation at Westminster, they should be the ones trying to build that “new politics” where differences and tit-for-tat polemic are put aside and common goals agreed on after the public have cast their vote. If they couldn’t even demonstrate how it’s done here in Scotland, what hope for Westminster? And this from me as a supporter of PR there.

Cameron and Brown have clearly made moves on the Lib Dem vote. The centre-ground has certainly been a very crowded place for some time now. With that nebulous ‘Middle England’ being lured by the tax-cuts of Cameron (not many of his other key policies, it’s interesting to note), and suspicious about Brown after his bodged Election/Taxation moves of the last couple of weeks, you’d think the Liberal Democrats should be able to make something for themselves. But plummeting poll ratings as the big-beasts battle it speak of a wider malaise with the third party, and Cambell must have realised there was no hope if he couldn’t push a distinctive and clear voice. Death by a thousand cuts.

Nick Robinson’s newslog post makes excellent points (as ever), especially that ‘third time lucky?‘ is not to be underestimated. Can whomever wins as leader really carve out a distinctive identity for the Lib Dems in the 18 months or so before the next election? I fear not (or at least one that is palatable, especially if flagrant tax-cuts are purely where elections are to be won). I’d also be worried about the wafer thin constituency majority’s commanded by one of the proffered candidates (Chris Huhne - 568 votes!) giving an easy/early scalp.

So my vote will probably go elsewhere, at least until they rediscover their identity and purpose, and can really start to behave as genuine proponents of PR and all that it implies.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 16th, 2007 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Media, Personal, Politics, Scotland, Scottish elections, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.