The Ghosts of Granita
The poor Liberal Democrats do seem to be a having a rather torrid time at the moment. Not so long ago, Sir Ming was again having to suppress leadership speculation and a certain amount of jostling behind the scenes from the next generation impatient for the crown, at a time when their Party is slipping further into the political abyss.
Their plight has not been helped by reports this week that Gordon Brown had talks (sadly not at the now defunct Granita) with Sir Menzies about a possible deal between the Liberals and Labour, and also offered the Lib Dem peer and former leader, Lord Ashdown, the post of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in his new Government. Ashdown refused and Campbell has made it clear to the senior figures in his party not to enter into discussions with the Brown camp. Many in his party are furious about the whole fiasco with one Lib Dem MP describing the farce as ‘politically toxic’.
It may appear that Ming currently finds himself in the same position as the ageing, respectable CEO of a struggling company, valiantly fighting off a hostile takeover bid from a much larger and somewhat tarnished organisation soon to be headed Gordon ‘clunking fist’ Brown.
However, this analogy slightly misses the point that the damage to the Liberal Democrats comes not from external factors, but their own internal haemorrhaging. Under the surface, they are suffering from many of their Parliamentary candidates and councillors across the country defecting to the Conservative Party. Under David Cameron, we have a real chance of winning the next election and this has not been lost on the Lib Dems who now see their own Party floundering.
Is it any wonder many are slipping out of the back door?