Transcript of Jo Swinson podcast
David Walter: Jo Swinson you’re the youngest MP supporting one of the oldest MPs. Why?
Jo Swinson: Well I think Ming Campbell’s got the credibility and the experience that we need to lead our party and to be a, to be a winner actually, I think he’s the kind of politician that people can imagine in Number Ten and that’s something which will be a huge strength for the party in the months and years to come.
DW:How does he go down in your constituency?
JS: Well I think Ming’s very popular. Obviously he’s a well recognised expert and commentator on foreign affairs but he’s also as we’ve seen in recent weeks in Prime Minister’s Questions been raising issues domestically such as the education reforms, such as our public services, and he’s also been talking a lot in this campaign about tackling poverty, and that’s something which certainly in Scotland and I know in, in the rest of the country is of great importance.
I can look at, at areas of my constituency which are very, very wealthy and you know two miles down the road the life expectancy is a full ten years less. Now that’s the kind of inequality and poverty that we do need to be addressing in society.
DW: Do you think he’s the kind of Leader who will appeal to women and to young people?
JS: Absolutely. I mean just today in fact we’ve, we’ve had a celebration of many of the women who are supporting Ming Campbell and in fact all of the, the young women MPs are backing Ming, Jenny Willett, Sarah Teather, Julia Goldsworthy and myself. He’s certainly got the confidence and the experience in the issues that many young people are interested in.
Now when I knocked on doors at the General Election a lot of young people were very angry about the war in Iraq, they were very keen that we tackle issues such as climate change and if you look at the statements that Ming has set out in his policy documents the environment and obviously international policy and, and leading the, the charge for us against the war in Iraq are two things that Ming is very much associated with.
DW:And do you feel he’ll pull the party together after the recent troubles?
JS: Yeah, I mean I think it’s certainly true to say this has been a difficult few weeks for the Liberal Democrats and I’m sure that many members, councillors, activists and Members of Parliament feel a bit bruised from this. But what Ming is offering is a way of pulling everybody together, we’re all looking forward to the future and very much want to see our new Leader in place on the 2nd of March going forward to winning in local elections in England in May and then on towards the important elections certainly from my point of view in Scotland in 2007, both locally and for the Scottish Parliament.
