Lib Dem leadership fiasco
Thursday, January 04, 2007

2006 was the year the Liberal Democrats turned into compulsive leadership plotters. They ousted Charles Kennedy, and now there are mutterings about his successor, Menzies Campbell.

And the Welsh party has also been scheming. Some have earmarked Kirsty Williams as a possible successor to Mike German in the Senedd, and today it was revealed that one third of their Assembly Members (admittedly there are only six in total) began collecting signatures to oust Lembit Opik as Welsh party leader before the party conference in October.

The Western Mail reports a party insider saying, "they pulled out when they were told it would create bad publicity in advance of the Assembly election."

A poor line if ever there was one. Surely, this would have occurred to Peter Black and Eleanor Burnham in any case? Were they warned off, threatened?

Perhaps the party big boys consider Lembit Opik too much of an asset. He may have certain Boris Johnson/John Prescott tendencies, but he is liked - a rare quality in a politician. They'd do well not to repeat in Wales what has caused them so many problems at UK level.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 2:52 pm,

6 Comments:

At 7:30 pm, Blogger Peter Black said...

I know you wont believe this but what I told the Western Mail was the truth. It was a wind-up that got out of hand. I did not have any intention of submitting the nomination forms and did not even bother to complete them. By the way I dont do memes.

 
At 12:20 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, was this story not worthy of mention on your own blog, Peter? Or were you more concerned with bad-mouthing Plaid for outflanking you on the Budget agreement?

It's actually quite sad watching you jumping into bed with Leighton Andrews so often....or is that what Wales can look forward to on May 4th? ;)

 
At 1:25 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're right Peter - we don't believe you. Like a lot of Lib Dems, you're an ambitious little geek who even had a hair makeover to try to make you more human looking. It failed.
We know you were collecting names at the conference. You just couldn't collect enough because you're an even worse bet than the Flying Dicktor, which is saying something.
Whoever said "politics is showbusiness for ugly people" was bang on. I just hope you keep away from the other Cheeky Girl.

 
At 9:10 pm, Blogger Peter Black said...

Now let me see, oh yes I did refer to the story on my blog. See here

 
At 9:11 pm, Blogger Peter Black said...

or even http://peterblack.blogspot.com/2006/10/leadership-shenanigans.html

 
At 7:08 pm, Blogger Blamerbell said...

So was Eleanor Burnham just joking around too?

 

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