Ming gets his pipe and slippers

[faceless]

Liberal Democrat leader resigns

Sir Menzies Campbell has resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats, "with immediate effect". Senior Lib Dems Vincent Cable and Simon Hughes made the announcement, saying the party owed Sir Menzies "a huge debt of gratitude". Deputy leader Mr Cable will take over as acting leader for now - a leadership timetable will be announced on Tuesday.

Mr Hughes said Sir Menzies had taken the decision in the "interests of the party and of Liberal Democracy". Sir Menzies was not present when the announcement was made. The BBC understands that, in a private meeting with Lib Dem members, he said that he did not believe he could turn around his and the party's current poor poll ratings. He indicated that now it was clear that there would be no election for many months he wanted to give his successor time to bed in before the election.

Party president Mr Hughes said Sir Menzies had brought "purpose and stability" to the party since he took over as leader, after Charles Kennedy quit in January 2006. He added that he had put in place the preparations for the next general election "whenever it comes". Speculation has been growing about the Lib Dem leadership, particularly since Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided not to call an early general election - and indicated he may not do so until 2009 at the earliest.

But a spokeswoman for Sir Menzies said he had made the decision to stand down himself and had handed his resignation letter to the party's president on Monday afternoon. She said he had stood down in the interests of the party because he did not want the Liberal Democrat message drowned out by media speculation about his future.

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It's not exactly surprising but I'm sure Galloway will have a few choice agist comments to make about it at the weekend!

[luke]

i think its a shame, i liked ming - after robin cook died he was one of the few politicians who was allowed on the news who was against the war and articulated the case against it well, he talked sense on other issues as well - out of the three main partys he was by far my favorite leader

the media seemed to be against him from day one though so maybe it'll be better for the lib dems in the long run, although in the short term they've shot themselves in the foot - this will just be used to portray the party in a mess

the only thing i ever heard the media talk about ming was his age - even the other week when they had their party conference it was all about his age

they should get charlie boy back

[Mandy]

I can't forgive the Lib Dems after they supported the wars once they started, and after they fired Jenny Tonge for her anti-Israeli criticism : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Tonge

Correction : I might forgive them if they chose Jenny Tonge as their leader.

The Lib Dems are now the mainstream left of "center" party.

[faceless]

Well, Galloway has just given an apology for taking the piss out of Campbell's age - that was good to hear.