Campbell ahead among Lib Dem parliamentarians as ballot papers issued
New figures released by Ming Campbell?s leadership campaign today show the LibDem Acting Leader racing ahead in the battle for the leadership of the party.
The research shows:
- Campbell has the declared support of 30 MPs, more than his two opponents combined ? who trail on 11 supporters each
- Campbell has the declared support of 35 LibDem peers ? more than twice as many as Chris Huhne and more than ten times as many as Simon Hughes
- Campbell has the declared support of two thirds of the party?s MEPs. Former MEP Chris Huhne has three MEP supporters. Simon Hughes has none.
Of the 132 LibDem Parliamentarians who have declared their support for a candidate, Campbell has the backing of 77 ? a total of 58.3%. This is more than twice the declared support for Huhne and four times the declared support for Hughes.
With ballot papers due to be sent out to over 70,000 party members on Monday, Ming Campbell said:
I am delighted to receive such overwhelming support from Liberal Democrat Parliamentarians, but with the ballot papers being issued to tens of thousands of members today, I will not be taking a single vote for granted. This party belongs to its members and in the coming days I look forward to speaking with as many of them as possible and to building a sense of unity and purpose at all levels of the Liberal Democrats.
ENDS
Notes to editors :
A full breakdown of declared Parliamentary supporters follows:
Spreadsheet showing parliamentary support for Liberal Democrat leadership candidates (Excel, 27kB)
