To be fair, I am trying to keep the gloating tone out of my voice, but there are a couple of stories today that are hardly great news for the much put upon plucky little Liberal Party. First off, Menzies ('Ming') Campbell has been forced once again to proclaim the strength of his leadership. He has said he is setting no time limits to his tenure as leader (a reference to his age, at 65 the oldest of the party leaders) and has added, in ringing tones,
"I will lead the party through this parliament, through the next general election and beyond, and no-one should be in any doubt about that."
The Tory blogger Iain Dale comments that such a statement reminded him of the dying days of Iain Duncan Smith's leadership:
Does it not remind you of the time in 2003 when Iain Duncan Smith bounded out of Central Office to tell the waiting media: "I'm in charge"?It was at that point that we all knew he was not. And so it goes for Ming.
Campbell was giving his interview in the knowledge that three Liberal parliamentary candidates had defected to the Conservative Party. Time was when everyone seemed to be defecting from the major parties to the Liberals, but Ming appears to have finally reversed that trend!
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