Tavish Scott MSP Elected Scottish Lib Dem leader

The result of the Scottish Liberal Democrats leadership election has just been announced.
On a turnout of 61% of members the result is as follows:

Tavish Scott 1450 (59%)
Ross Finnie 568 (21.3%)
Mike Rumbles 439 (17.9)%

It will be interesting to see what direction the party now takes.

Well said Nick Clegg

It was reported this morning that the Law Lords have ruled that the Government are not to be forced into holding a Public Inquiry into the Iraq war.

Responding to the news Lib Dem Federal leader Nick Clegg said:
"This ruling will be extremely disappointing for the families involved.

"It is simply adding insult to injury after Gordon Brown recently promised to hold an inquiry, but just not yet.

"Whatever the Prime Minister or the Law Lords say, natural justice demands that a full public inquiry is held without further delay.

"How can our brave troops and their families ever trust the Government again unless they are sure lessons have been learnt from the disastrous decision to invade Iraq?"

My vote is in the post for Chris Huhne

Despite the hand written postcard from Willie Rennie MP (someone I have got huge respect for) asking me to support Nick my vote was posted off today and I voted for Chris Huhne.

There were a number of reasons I voted Huhne but the most significant were probably:
1. I know Chris and get on well with him on a personal basis.
2. I feel Chris is slightly more of a "Social Liberal" than Nick is.
3. The block support for Nick by Scottish MPs who have declared raised my hackles as it did during the last Leadership campaign.
4. Although he didn't commit to unilateral nuclear disarmament his position on trident is a lot closer to mine than Nick's

I wish Chris all the best in the campaign and can assure him that I have been active in delivering him a fair number of other votes from across Scotland.

In conclusion I must state that I think Nick will be a good leader too, just not quite as good as Chris. Whoever wins we will have a great opportunity to move forward united and passionate about changing Britain for the better. Lets all get on with making our society a much more liberal place to be.

Calm down to a frenzy guys

Reading Lib Dem blogs over the last few days, I would strongly suggest that it's time to calm down to a frenzy and start getting life into some form of perspective over the leadership contest.

I'm open about backing Chris for leader but you won't find me posting such incredibly rude headings such as "Just how low will Huhne's supporters go" or "Avoiding the question" as posted by two obviously pro-Clegg supporters. I'm sure that there are similar inflamatory postings by pro-Huhne bloggers too.

Come on folks, we're all going to have to work together after the leadership contest and no matter who wins we should be in a radical, reinvigorated party which will have a clear sense of unity and purpose. My friend Caron http://carons-musings.blogspot.com/ is supporting Nick, I'm supporting Chris and we are sure as hell not going to fall out over this. If we can behave like adults why can't everyone else?

Please vote on Duncan Borrowman's poll

Duncan Borrowman has an interesting poll on his blog, in which he asks the question whether the Spring Federal Conference should become an English Party Conference. I'm firmly in agreement with that suggestion, although I suspect many Lib Dems will have differing views.

Duncan's poll can be found at: http://duncanborrowman.blogspot.com/2007/11/for-sake-of-english-and-scottish-and.html

Let the debate begin!

Leadership hustings in Edinburgh

Just a wee reminder that the only hustings which is being held in Scotland during the Leadership campaign is taking place in Edinburgh tomorrow (10th November).

The event is being held in The General Assembly Hall, Mound Place, Edinburgh.
It starts at 11am and will finish by 2pm at the latest.

I've decided not to go as I know that I'm voting for Chris Huhne and, probably more importantly, Catherine & I haven't set eyes on each other for over a fortnight!

The Liberal Revolution - Chris Huhne's Manifesto for Leader

This is the preface to Chris Huhne's manifesto. The full manifesto can be found at: http://www.chris2win.org.uk/

The Liberal Revolution

“The boldest measures are the safest” – Orde Wingate

Preface
Britain needs a radical party to change our society, not just run it. We need a
party that will breathe trust and faith back into the political process by
speaking honestly about the challenges we face, and the disillusion that so
many of us feel. The task for Liberal Democrats is to revive our antiestablishment
edge, and remember that we are the party that wants to
change the system, not just change the people on the back seat of the
ministerial limousine.

If we do not strive for a fairer society, who will? Social mobility has fallen
under Labour, and inequality has risen. If we do not defend freedoms, who
will? Our hard-won liberties have been steadily eroded since 1997 with the
Conservatives proving themselves fair-weather friends of the fight. If we do
not champion sustainability and the attack on climate change, who will?
Labour and the Conservatives have discovered green rhetoric, but are failing
on green action.

And if we do not revive faith and trust in the political process – through reform
and decentralisation – who will? And what will be the future of a country
whose people have lost trust in their capacity to steer its direction? As Liberal
Democrats, the stakes have never been higher. It is time to set out on a
crusade for Liberal values, and to become an unstoppable movement of
conscience and reform.

5 MSPs declare for Chris

I'm happy to see that, so far, 5 of our Scottish MSPs have declared their support for Chris in the leadership contest. They are:
Robert Brown MSP for Glasgow
Mike Pringle MSP for Edinburgh South
Jeremy Purvis MSP for Tweeddale, Etterick & Lauderdale
John Farquhar Munro MSP for Ross, Skye & Inverness West
Jamie Stone MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
It's good to see that the alliegance of elected Parliamentarians in Scotland is beginning to balance up a bit after the early stampede of Scottish MPs to back Nick. I'm sure that there will be further declarations for Chris in the pipeline.

Anti Trident? Chris Huhne's your man

I was delighted to read this morning that Chris has come out against replacing Trident and, therefore, against the terrible fudge that is the current Federal Lib Dem policy. I sincerely hope that if Chris wins the Leadership he will re-open this debate and propose a policy that doesn't give us marks on the bum from fence-sitting.

Nick, on the other hand, has gone greatly down in my estimation by saying that he would not be prepared to unilaterally disarm "on a whim in a leadership election." Hardly a constructive comment and perhaps signs that the election is beginning to hot up.

Scotland must have more than 1 hustings

Last time round there was only one leadership hustings in Scotland, which was held in Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh. Whilst Edinburgh has a large party membership it is simply not acceptable to the folks in Aberdeen, Inverness, Dumfies & Galloway, points North and West to traipse to Edinburgh for their only opportunity to hear the candidates.

Whether this is done officially or by mutual agreement of the respective campaign teams it must be organised. Oh yes, can we have venues large enough for the turn out this time round please?

A slightly eccentric theory about Ming's leadership

It occurred to me today that perhaps Ming's Leadership didn't last as it broke the sequence of Scot, non Scot Leaders we have had back as far as 1935. The list is as follows:
Archibald Sinclair - Scot
Clement Davies - non Scot
Jo Grimond - Scot
Jeremy Thorpe - non Scot
David Steel - Scot
Paddy Ashdown - non Scot
Charles Kennedy - Scot
Menzies Campbell - Scot
perhaps if the last Leadership campaign had lasted a couple of weeks more Chris Huhne would now be Leader and the sequence and fates would be appeased! No comments suggesting that there have been too many Scottish leaders and apologies to former SDP members for omitting their leaders from the list.

Ming's resignation

Here's what I posted on LibDem Voice at 4.29pm yesterday:

"I don’t think Lady Elspeth will let him stand down.

Seriously though, I’ve got really mixed feelings on this one. I didn’t vote for him, actually that’s not true, I gave him my 3rd preference primaraly becuase I was furious that all of our Scottish MP’s (excepting Charles of course) came out en-masse as Ming supporters. I strongly believe that it’s wrong for MPs to try and bounce the membership like that. Also believed that the candidate I was supporting was a much better choice for the job. Ming was brilliant at Foreign Affairs and should have stayed there.

However, he was elected, and if I can put up with that our MPs must also put up with it, ceasing their off-the-record briefings to the media and ill chosen words in public. Were Ming to voluntarily choose to stand down then I would feel that he had made a principled decision and would support that choice."

Never for a moment did I think it would come true just so soon! In the end Ming went quickly and with the typical dignity which he always displays. I trust that whoever succeeds him will have the wisdom to talk him into returning to the Foreign affairs brief in which he has always excelled.