Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Lib Dems leadership - why it has to be Tim

Nominations have now closed for the Lib Dem leadership.  Of course the pool of candidates was fairly limited because the constitution says that the federal leader must be an MP but Tim Farron would surely have been the front runner regardless of how many we had to choose from.

Coming off the back of a disastrous general election across the UK the party has a major task ahead to drag itself up by the boots and fight back.  It is a task that members are more than up to - the mood within the party has been quite amazing and nobody should make the mistake of thinking we have gone away, in RCT or anywhere else.

Nick Clegg was right to resign.  The problems have certainly not been all of his making, and in government he made a solid contribution to the coalition and putting the country back on track economically.  We achieved some excellent gains and that should not be forgotten.  We were right to go into coalition.

Yet the party suffered as a result and Nick was the one at the helm. It was inconceivable that he could carry on.  As a result we now have the opportunity to select a new leader who will hopefully forge a new identity for the Liberal Democrats and lead us to future success.

Norman Lamb was a good Minister and is an excellent MP. He is a Lib Dem through and through and would no doubt make an ok leader.   But we need more than that.   We need someone who really stands apart from the Camerons and Milibands and indeed Cleggs.  We need someone with the human touch, a people person.  We need someone who understands the party and respects its members. We need a  campaigner.

We of course need someone who understands devolution, who appreciates that we do things differently in Wales, who has respect for the Welsh party.  Only one of the contenders matches up. We need Tim.

No comments: