Earlier today, Ming Campbell stepped down as Leader of the Liberal Democrats. Here is his letter of resignation, addressed to party president Simon Hughes MP.
The President
The Liberal Democrats15th October 2007
When I was elected Leader of the Party in March 2006 I had three objectives. First, to restore stability and purpose in the party following my predecessor’s resignation and the leadership campaign itself, second to make the internal operations of the party more professional, and third to prepare the party for a General Election.
With the help of others, I believe that I have fulfilled these objectives, although I am convinced that the internal structures of the party need radical revision if we are to compete effectively against Labour and the Conservatives.
But it has become clear that following the Prime Minister’s decision not to hold an election, questions about leadership are getting in the way of further progress by the party.
Accordingly I now submit my resignation as Leader with immediate effect.
I do not intend to hold a press conference or to make any further comment.
Yours sincerely,
Menzies Campbell
Leader, Liberal Democrats
I don’t know whether we stand a better chance of winning the next election, but I don’t think we would have had a very good chance of winning it with Ming in charge – which is a shame as I think he’d have been a brilliant prime minister. It’s a shame that we have had to play the media’s game . . . Lisa, why don’t you join us and help us avoid making the mistakes made by Kennedy et al!?
Anthony, I do know that if Ming had stayed and stood strong “with his party’s united support”, the LibDem would have a better chance of winning (as I said before growing older is a natural process, not a vice, not a moral point of view). You are right that we cannot change how the media’s game work, but they are so predictable that you could play along to get the result you want. Showing the media that the LibDems are unable to withstand a small test, it’s just going to make it even harder to gain the trust from the general public. The ex PM understood that, that was why he ‘played’ it so well even though his policies sucked and got us into such a bloody mess. He gave people HOPE, even though it would never materialise except to make him a wealthy man. Yes, I tried to tell the LibDems with their second last mistake, but they were good at ignoring. They did ask for money to join, then I asked myself “why would I want to pay money to them so that they could ignore me some more”. Shouldn’t they be paying me instead? You are probably the only one who actually responded. Some Labour Councillors (not all bad) did show their interests in my proposals (I offered to work anonymously), we nearly went to the press but the low cost Youth Project was sabotaged by the bureaucracy at the Local Council (they only care about producing mountains of paper work to make themselves look good, bureaucrats do not have any moral conscience about their social responsibilities. Local people don’t expect them to be any different anyway). There are enough resources in this country, it’s not how much money the Government has that matters, it’s how well it manages it. Some Tories were worse, all they cared about was how to make the Labour look bad. In the end, I got so disillusioned (and I’m not the only one). Maybe it’s a Law of Nature: people keep repeating the same mistakes then they die then the next generations will repeat the same cycle. I do hope that there would be a hero politician someday rise to the rescue (Anthony, you are welcome to email me privately if you are the one who could make a difference). If the LibDems don’t change their strategies, they have no hope of winning whatsoever (have to establish some unique winning points why people should vote for you that the other two parties can’t offer). I suggest that the LibDems should carry on with the “real work” but at the same time should recruit a team to rethink some “winning strategies” (to go in parallel), to play the media well.
The fact that someone would go into so much trouble to try to undermine Ming showed that some rivals out there saw him as a threat. Take hint: No-one would bother to kick a dead dog, so I guess, what happened was a compliment in disguise …
It’s a loss to British politics, Ming, that you will no longer be a party leader. I hope this does not deter you from attacking the Blairite spivs from the backbenches and in the media. Especially on Iraq.
I’m not sure I’m the one(!) Lisa, but I couldn’t email you as there’s no way of contacting you!
Hi Anthony, what do u mean … no way of contacting me?! … u just did(!) I had to leave an email addr at this site. If u don’t have access to that, email me privately at my Yahoo throw away addr “friend2tell at yahoo.com”. Once I get an email from u, I shall send u my regular email addr for u to keep in touch. Hope to hear from you in the foreseeable future!
In the meantime, u are welcome to visit my website (click on wisdom to see my articles).
http://www.zest4best.co.uk
Happy surfing!
re the latest serious security blunder of Labour: can someone (Vince? Nick?) get out and do something practical to help retrieve the missing disks? Now it’s not the time to talk about prevention or blame. Show the public that the LibDems focus on the SOLUTION not the “blame just to make them look better” (that’s what the Tories would do and people are tired of this). At least appear to be making an effort: like warning whoever is holding the disks if they do not hand over to the authority and if they are found to have made copies. Most importantly, find out if the whole thing was pre-meditated. It’s imperative that the investigation is under tight control. I don’t think this Government is capable of doing. Timing is crucial and much has to be done now.
Honestly, does anyone out there know why the Press is kicking up such a huge fuss about this party donation to completely “drown out” the serious security blunder? ?? Am I the only one who thinks this security blunder is a million times worse? (The current PM is hopeless with finances but most of the recent problems have been “inherited from” the ex PM, so be fair.) Maybe most people have amnesia? ??
Not only did the Govt not find the missing CDs, they wasted tax payers’ money to send out pointless insincere apology letters which include people’ NI numbers which further jeopardising security .. “This Govt takes this security issue very seriously” … yeah right … soon the Govt would probably persuade us that “pigs can fly”.