Voting TaKtiX

So, Charles Kennedy announces he will not now run for leader:

it had become clear he did not have strong enough support among MPs and had decided to quit with immediate effect.

Good. Having been reading blogs and comments in many locations, it had become clear to me, as with many others, that, no matter how much we like the bloke, his position was untenable. I wish him well, hope he can recover from his problems and, specifically, hope that he can both remain in politics and return to a frontbench position at some point; talent such as his should not be thrown away. So…

Where now?

(more…)

Apparently a lot of them are going to stand down, Charles is defiant, I’m waiting for this supposed announcement in the office before I shut down for the weekend and go home.

Norman Baker was just on PM, he’s admitted signing a letter inistinging on withdrawel, and

Matthew Taylor - a close friend of Mr Kennedy who ran his 1999 leadership campaign - urged him to stand down for the sake of his family and his party. “Charles, you can not go on,”

25 MPs, including 19 frontbenchers?

Wow, 19 of the frontbench. That’s bad. The BBC is spinning he’s got no chance. Maybe so. A fun weekend for us news junkies it looks like; why am I on call?

The real problem with the Lib Dems is not Charles Kennedy, it’s not the drink problem, the slightly clumsy image or even the ginger hair. It’s the direction of the party itself and the electoral system that it finds itself in. The real truth is that in the last few years have seen Britain plunged into political situations which should be gold dust for the Lib Dems - a deaf, blind, one-legged monkey should be creating gains for the Lib Dems in the current poltiical climate. (more…)

Been talking a lot about the LibDems recently, and now they’ve gone and made themselves the big news story for at least the next, well, hour or so? Anyway, was going to write up a long post, but was reading around first, and got to Curious Hamster who I seem to be linking to a lot recently. I suspect because he keeps saying what I was planning to say: (more…)