After watching Vince Cable ripping the piss out of Brown, I began to wonder if the Liberal Democrats actually have a really strong line up? I’ve been less enamoured with Chris Huhne this time around, but he really impressed me when he last ran for the leadership. Nick Clegg is clearly an ambitious and talented politician and, if he can handle the spotlight he so clearly craves, will be a safe pair of hands.
The Lib Dems can also point to British politics’ strongest female line up with Susan Kramer, Julia Goldsworthy (*swoons*), Sarah Teather, Jo Swinson, and blogging MP Lynne Featherstone, all prominent. A similar sprinkling of skirt would certainly brighten up the Tories, whose front bench looks like a Who’s Who of boring. Only the increasingly mad-cap wardrobe of Theresa May, breaks up the dour suits either side of Slippery Dave.
Ok, Ming’s leadership was a disaster. But we shouldn’t forget that he was brilliant as the LibDems’ Foreign Affairs spokesperson during the early days of the Iraq War. Former leader Charles Kennedy is probably the country’s most liked politician, and would be an asset wherever he’s used. Also keeping a relatively low profile are Simon Hughes and the dapper Mark Oaten: two candidates that traverse the party’s wide political spectrum, from non-Labour lefties to those who marry both social and economic liberalism.
So, with all this talent at their disposal, shouldn’t the Lib Dems be doing better in the polls? And can we finally take a potential Lib Dem government seriously?
The Lib Dem MPs really have to revamp their low-res websites, though.
tygerland archive 