Hands off Charles Kennedy!

The Guardian, that supposed bastion of liberal Britain, has become the latest press organ to plunge the knife into Charles Kennedy with this editorial published on January 4.

Leaving aside the issue of what Mr Kennedy has or hasn’t done to merit such treachery, the Grauniad's criticism of him for giving “no indication of where he wants liberal democracy to go next” is disingenuous in view of its own failure to do so.

As a normally astute observer of the political scene, it knows as well as I do that removing Mr Kennedy would see him replaced either by someone such as Simon Hughes who would take the party to the left, or someone like Sir Menzies Campbell or Mark Oaten who would take it to the right.

What I would like to know is why those who seek a change in the leadership think that either strategy would serve the party’s electoral interests better than Mr Kennedy’s approach of seeking to appeal to both Tory and Labour floating voters alike. I enlarged on this point in this column orginally published in December.

Hear my review of the year podcast!

Since blogging is now a bit old hat, I've taken a leap into the world of the latest internet buzzword - podcasting!

2005 has been an eventful year in politics with a General Election, the London bombings and a Tory leadership race with more twists and turns than the San Marino Grand Prix.

But will it be remembered in the longer-term for Tony Blair's re-election for a third term as Prime Minister, or David Cameron's election as Tory leader?

You can hear my review of the political year 2005 by going to this page and clicking on click here.

Cameron or Davis?

As a bit of a lefty liberal, I'm not sure I'm qualified to pass a judgement on who ought to be Tory leader, but suffice to say I think either candidate would be an improvement on Major, Hague, IDS and Howard. Anyone who is interested in reading my views in greater detail can find them here.

The amount of media interest in the contest seems to me an indication that politics is getting back to normal after the long intermission of the Blair years, and that the next election will see the kind of close contest between the Conservatives and Labour we routinely saw in the 60s and 70s.

English Parliament campaigners put me on the spot!

As readers of this blog will know I support the Campaign for an English Parliament as a means of balancing our topsy-turvy constitution which gives Scottish and Welsh MPs a say over English affairs but no corresponding say for English MPs over Scotland and Wales. Now the CEP's Gareth Young has carried out a wide-ranging interview with me on the issue which can be read on the campaign newsblog.

In return Gareth has kindly admitted me to the Witanagemot Club which is a corner of the blogosphere devoted to exploring the issues around English political identity.