Savage Popcorn

I’ve not said much – or anything – about Charles Kennedy’s leadership for a number of reasons, but I think Will Howells sums things up excellently:

[Charles] has done great things for us so I’ll be sad to see him go, but go he must. There will be a leadership election, but Charles should not be a candidate.

The question is, who will the Lib Dems find to replace him. And why.

I do find it more than a little worrying that too many people seem to think that a change of leader is some sort of panacea and that once Kennedy has been replaced everything will be wonderful.

It doesn’t work like that – as the Tories have spent the past eight years learning.

The Liberal Democrats need to stop panicking and make sure that they don’t find themselves electing someone whose only selling point is that he’s not Charles Kennedy. A leadership election is needed, but it shouldn’t be rushed.

Kennedy’s position is – unfortunately – now untenable and he’s not going to be able to hang on much longer. But, rather than looking for the leader who is going to take them into the next election, the party should be looking for someone to hold the fort for the next eighteen months while they complete their policy review and agree on a direction.

Such a breathing space would also allow some of the 2005 intake the opportunity to show us what they can do before the contest proper begins.

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