Sadly this highlights one of my major concerns about Ming. If he is 65 this year then he will be 68 or 69 by the time the next election is called and therefore assuming he was to be re-elected as Leader in 2009/10 he would be 73/74 by the time of the following election. Even assuming he is fit and healthy I think there will be a big problem with the public perception particularly going into the second election.
The other problem with this statement is that it is difficult to know where Ming stands and what he is standing for. Is he standing with a view to still being the leader in 2013/14 or is he standing as the safe pair of hands candidate to take us through to the next election following which we may have a wider choice of more experienced candidates? I am not clear.
I have revised my list of criteria slightly as follows :
- Experience
- Age
- Safety of own seat
- Appeal to electorate
- Support of MP's in Parliament
- Environmental Policy
- Policy on coalitions
- Economic/Taxation Policy
I will hopefully get to the hustings in Slough on Saturday and see how they all perform.
Tag Lib Dems
6 comments:
I think what Ming means is that he will serve a full year after the general election, not a full parliament.
When considering safeness of seat, bear in mind that the profile of being leader will help any of them to improve their majority.
yes I think that is a fair comment. I wasn't proposing to mark Chris Huhne as a 1 and the others as a 5
Interesting. We revere the role of old people until it come to the timewe might have to vote for one. Suggest you look at the demographics. People over 50 will be a more and more powerful voting block. Brian Wright
One thing I have always found is that Menzies has great appeal to what I would describe as "liberal Tories" particularly those of the most traditional variety (the Late John Junor used to think he was God's gift, for example). Perhaps this is a useful band of voters the LibDems need to tap into. Having said that, there is a strong argument to say that we need to appeal to Labour voters, in which case I very much doubt Menzies would do that much. He is not really that type.
I too hope to be at Slough, duties depending. I am fast coming to the conclusion that Simon Hughes comes across as too slippery by half - and this has been particularly accentuated by his "misleading" about his sexuality (which is a shame because if he had been really open from the outset it would have been a major plus-point in his favour).
The main reasons I favour Chris Huhne are because of his vast energy, application and very wide experience of Europe, parliament, economics and the media. I was particularly impressed by his response to David Cameron's extraordinary LibDem lurch earlier this year:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1672199,00.html
By the way, isn't it extraordinary that Cameron is saying that he wants to strip the Queen of the rest of her powers? I wonder how that will go down in the Conservative Club? - I suspect the barman will have to get out some extra J-cloths to wipe up the G&T being expelled from expostulating retired Colonels.
I think it's great if Cameron wants to join us - but I have my doubts long term with regard to his statements about being a liberal
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