Take one leader...
What do you get when you add a dash of panic and a helping of ambition to a bubbling brew of discontent? A recipe for a Lib Dem crisis.
The panic was that of newly-elected MPs with wafer-thin majorities over the Tories, who feared that life might not be so easy next time round.
The ambitions were those of Messrs Campbell, Hughes and Oaten who fancied a go at the top job and the youngsters who dreamt they might follow next. Without the brew, though, there would have been no crisis.
Its essential cause was doubt - doubt that Charles Kennedy is hungry enough for power to give his all for his party. Over the past heady 48 hours, he's told his MPs that he is and he will. That was enough for many for now, but he knows and they know that this crisis simmers still and not much will need to be added to the pot for it to boil over.
I'm off to Brussels to see which is greater: Britain and France's fear at being blamed for the failure to get an EU budget deal, or the fear of their electorates for selling out to the old enemy too easily.
I'm 
Comments
I don't believe the Lib Dems will ever be a serious force in British politics. The last election was a good result for them, but their number of seats didn't increase as much as they hoped, and was probably down mainly to Labour voters switching because of the Iraq war.
With Cameron in and Brown probably wooing back traditional Labour voters, it doesn't look good for the Lib Dems at the next election, unless Charlie increases his presence,m and the party better define what they want ot be.
It has to be said that the Conservatives appear to finally have gained some momentum at the moment. But of course this means that it's panic stations at the Lib Dems, hence this current crisis. While many jokes are made at the number of new Tory leaders we've had recently, this only serves to emphasise the staleness of the Lib Dem top end. And this is the problem: while Charlie is galavanting around presenting Have I Got News For You and such like, who's running the party? And I don't even really have much of an idea of who is actually in their party! Something is going to give at some point; maybe the time has come for CK to retire to the pub.
He'll give his all?! What's he been doing for the past few years, then?
The 2005 elections were a wasted opportunity for the Lib Dems, let's hope they don't waste this one.
Afternoon Nick,
And who can blame those young LIb Dems for being nervous. Can CK deliver policies that give his party a clear position with those wavering voters, policies that are credible, not just those based on opportunist rhetoric? DC has given a softer face to Toryism, he is selling the line of " One nation Toryism", at least for the time being. This will undoubtedly cause CK severe difficulties, lets face it, the Lib Dems have some attractive clothes just waiting to be pinched by the Tories.The more distance CK tries to put between himself and DC and co'more the less credible they will look.
The Lib Dems failed to break through in the era of prolonged Labour weakness in the 80s, and I'm afraid it looks as though they've missed their chance with the Tories weakness over the last decade or so. They know this, hence the thrashing around.
Everytime CK (or any Lib Dem) tries to justify their existence by saying "Look, at the last election we won the most seats since the 1920s, etc" I want to strangle them!
Everybody knows the only reason they won those extra votes is because of the Iraq protest vote. Everyone except the Lib Dems, who are kidding themselves that it is evidence they are becoming a formidable force in British politics.
At the next election their number of votes/seats will be back down to the normal level, which is why CK should resign soon to protect his personal legacy of 'going out on the highest number of seats in a hundred years' - which does sound impressive for his memoirs - despite being very misleading and ignoring the protest factor.
However, if he does resign, nobody is going to WANT to take over from CK before the next election because they will take the blame for losing seats - which will surely happen at the next election when there aren't any protest votes to be won by default.
They should dump him and do it quickly. He's failed to make any gains on the slight success they achieved in the election, he didn't support the attempts at electoral reform just after the election (rather ironically given his party has the most to gain from PR!) and his (I'm being mindful of the legal side of things here) "personal problems" means his is not an effective leader nor one that has any chance of convincing others he can be.
Time to move on Lib Dems; dump your leader and get someone who has a political spine.
Fair points Nick!