The Real Alternative to What Though?

It's not just the Tories who have their eye on post-election leadership scenarios. I, myself, was not so fortunate to be asked to cover the Lib Dem Spring Conference last weekend but I know an associate in the trade who was and has come back with tales of Charles Kennedy's hope to quit 'on a high' after the election having increased the ranks of Lib Dem MPs and therefore be in a position to influence who the party opts for as his successor, citing 20-odd years as an MP and recent childbirth as a reason for stepping down. In addition, some mention was made of the ex-Tories who have joined the party in the recent years and their hope of playing a role in what is likely to be an interesting leadership contest.

Of course, my associate could be the victim of some vicious late night gossiping in Harrogate hostelries among those with axes to grind and not being particularly au fait with Lib Dem factionalism (or Charles Kennedy's career intentions) myself, I'm not in a position to confirm or deny the accuracy of this information. But the recent debacles surrounding the Parliamentary Party's spectacular failure to overturn the government's majority in the Commons on the terror Bill last week (14 MPs, Charlie, 14!) and the perpetually tired and emotional one's abysmal media performances this weekend over the Ian Huntley enfranchisement row do nothing to quash such speculation.

Incidentally, the UK Polling Report site claims that on the basis of current opinion polls, the Parliamentary ranks of the Lib Dems after the election might include the possible ouster of David Davis.


Guido has a few quid on the LibDems to end up with more than 70 seats - immodestly I estimate that I have won more than 90% of my political bets in the past.


I mentioned my lack of grounding in the complex world of Liberal Democrat internal groupings (so, not SDP and Liberal then?) then Nick Barlow weighed in with the following comment:

My opinion would be that if CK wants to step down, it would be a year or two after the election, just to help the party develop some better alternatives for the next leader than Oaten, Taylor etc who'd be the frontrunners now. Give Nick Clegg a chance to settle in as an MP, get Evan Harris back in the frontline, promote David Laws, and you've got a decent set of candidates.

I've also heard Chris Huhne's name (also not an MP, yet) banded around as a likely candidate for at least Shadow Chancellor, if not leader. David Laws is not exactly Mr Popular with grassroots liberals though, surely.