BB FANS

Ming Campbell 'set to resign'

The Liberal Democrats are expected to make an announcement on the future of Sir Menzies Campbell's leadership imminently, Party sources said.

Sir Menzies suffered a fresh blow on Saturday as a poll found half of Liberal Democrat voters in crucial marginal seats believe Gordon Brown or David Cameron would make a better prime minister.

Addressing the party's eastern region conference, he said that the Lib Dems had picked up "a few critics in the media".

But he went on: "I answer to you and not the media.

"I want to tell you that I have the energy, the ideas and the determination to lead this party into the next General Election and beyond.

"We will campaign on the issues that matter to people - climate change, council tax, tuition fees and free long-term care for the elderly, and Iraq.

"These are things that matter to people - not the idle chatter of the occasional dissident."

More will follow...
Metro

Ming Campbell Knackered

“He runs the risk of giving politicians a good name” - The Times

“He is reasonable, eloquent and appears entirely trustworthy” - Daily Mail

“He has proved as intelligent and decent a politician as you’ll find in the Commons” TheGuardian

"Ming Knackered" - Def Brain

Menzies Campbell Resigns: That Letter In Full

WRITES Menzies Campbell in his resignation letter - with notes (and in big print):

“When I was elected Leader of the Party in March 2006 I had three objectives.

Live long and prosper

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.

I may be old with a well-developed sense of fun but I am not a drunk

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.

It’s not me it’s the party, and the loud music

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.

Gordon Brown stole my pension

Accordingly I now submit my resignation as Leader with immediate effect.

I shall be enjoying a glass of Asti Spumante and watching Strictly Come Dancing of a night

I do not intend to hold a press conference or to make any further comment.

I can’t trust myself to remember all your names nor my teeth

Yours sincerely,

Sincerely, yours

Menzies Campbell”

The Anorak Big Book Of Menzies Campbell Anecdotes will be out in 2021

Plotters force out Campbell


· Lib Dem leader caves in to rebels
· Anger within party at removal
· Huhne and Clegg seen as favourites





Sir Menzies Campbell was forced to quit as leader of the Liberal Democrats last night after losing the support of senior MPs concerned by the party's declining poll ratings.

He resigned with immediate effect and left for his home in Edinburgh without speaking to the parliamentary party - leaving its president, Simon Hughes, and deputy leader, Vince Cable, to announce his departure to the public. He is believed to have told staff that he did not think he could turn around his or the Lib Dems' standing in the polls.


It is understood that some of his allies had told him he should stand down for his own sake.

One supporter accused a handful of MPs of plotting against Sir Menzies, adding: "They should be strung up from the nearest tree."

The abrupt and undignified departure followed increasingly public concern among peers, MPs and activists about his lack of voter appeal, as polls placed the party as low as 11%.

Momentum gathered over the weekend and previously staunch supporters fell silent when pressed to defend him.

Sir Menzies spoke to frontbenchers, including Chris Huhne, a potential condenter for the leadership, before making his decision, although he did not ask for direct advice on his future as leader.

One of the MPs he talked to described the conversation as "the endgame" and compared it to Mr Kennedy's attempt to keep his job shortly before resigning in 2005. He described the leader's removal from office as a potentially "messy business" but said that the party risked losing "all credibility if he stayed".

But many in the parliamentary party were taken by surprise by the sudden turn of events. While Sir Menzies quit neither in the manner nor at a time of his own choosing, and just two days after he had insisted he wanted to take the party through to the next election, his swift departure was in stark contrast to the protracted and messy removal of his predecessor, Mr Kennedy.

Mike Hancock MP told the BBC: "I think he was shafted by a complete shower of shits." Frontbencher Norman Baker added: "I think a decent man deserved better than that."

Last night attention was already turning to the second Lib Dem leadership election in two years, a contest expected to culminate in mid-December. Supporters of the home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg, and Mr Huhne, the environment spokesman, were talking up their campaigns and many MPs on the left of the party are keen for Steve Webb, the manifesto coordinator, to stand. Mr Cable also declined to rule himself out. The election timetable will be announced today.

In a written statement released after his resignation was announced, Sir Menzies said: "With the help of others, I believe I have fulfilled [the objectives I set out to achieve], although I am convinced that the internal structures of the party need radical revision if we are to compete effectively. But it has become clear that ... questions about leadership are getting in the way of further progress. Accordingly I now submit my resignation ... I do not intend to hold a press conference or make further comment."

John Barnett, head of the party in Sir Menzies' Fife constituency, added later: "Obviously he is sad at the turn of events."

Announcing the resignation, Mr Hughes added: "Over the past two years, Ming has given stability and purpose to our party. He has hugely professionalised the working of our party and led its very successful preparations for the next general election. Ming has made this decision - as all his political decisions - in the interest of his party and liberal democracy throughout Britain."

Mr Cable, now acting leader, added: "During his time as leader, Ming has earned the respect, affection and gratitude of the party." He insisted Sir Menzies would have retained his colleagues' support if he had wanted to stay. But earlier in the day, he had acknowledged the leader's position was "under discussion".

The prime minister, Gordon Brown, led tributes to Sir Menzies, describing him as a man of great stature and integrity who had served his party and country with distinction. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said Sir Menzies was "a fine public servant".

Charles Kennedy said the party was grateful to him, while former leader Lord Ashdown said his resignation "tells us more about the nature of modern politics than it does about Ming Campbell".
guardian

Campbell breaks silence on resignation


Deborah Summers, politics editor




Sir Menzies Campbell said today he had been "irritated and frustrated" by questions over his age and leadership as he broke his silence over his decision to quit as Liberal Democrat leader.

The Fife North East MP said he thought "long and hard" about his decision as he spoke out for the first time since his resignation last night.

"I had no sense there were people wanting to move against me," he said. "This was my decision, it was my conclusion based on my assessment of what my responsibility to the party might be."


He said getting the party's policies across would be "continually difficult" with 18 months to go until an election.

In an interview with the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, Sir Menzies was asked if he felt relieved at standing down, or frustrated at not achieving what he had set out to do.

He replied: "Irritated and frustrated; irritated because of the quite extraordinary concentration of trivia which seems to surround leadership - people write articles on what kind of socks I wear.

"Frustrated at not getting the opportunity to lead the party in a general election, and I think our policies and our principles and our values would have been right at the very centre of the political agenda."

He said he had finally decided to step down after a week in which there had been "seven consecutive reports about my age and about leadership".

"It became pretty clear to me, Gordon Brown having called off the election, that it was going to be very hard to get out from under that - that the sort of development of policy, the sort of presentation of policy, which is necessary was going to be continually difficult simply because the kind of default story in the minds of so many people is the question of my age.

"And I took the view very firmly that this was not going to be in the interests of the party and that, if I were to step down, it had to be now so that a new leader would have the opportunity of bedding himself or herself in."

Sir Menzies denied his wife, Elspeth, was angry at Lib Dem colleagues or the media who had raised questions about his age.

He concluded: "When it's time to leave the stage, leave the stage."

The 66-year-old quietly slipped back to his home in Edinburgh after handing in his resignation yesterday, leaving the party president, Simon Hughes, and the deputy leader, Vincent Cable, to make the formal announcement.
guardian