Sir Ming resigns

I am not surprised Sir Ming has resigned; this is something I predicted would happen earlier this year, though the timing did take me by surprise. Like Iain Duncan-Smith he was the wrong choice from day one and like him never will never get the opportunity to fight an election.

Sir Ming is a fundamentally decent guy but was never cut out for leadership; it was always likely to be an interim arrangement. He also lacked charisma and failed to inspire, in this day and age image does count and he simply did not cut the mustard. Some have put it down to age, but I personally believe that if he had been ten years younger he would still have been dumped/resigned and that ageism is a convenient excuse. The perfomance in the last two local elections was very poor and the poll ratings were dire. Whilist I don't believe they would have been wiped out in an autumn election they would certainly have lost seats to the Conservatives and Labour, whatever way you look at it the end game was near either way.

In terms of the next leader, I would be prepared to bet it would be Nick Clegg who'll be far more formidable then Sir Ming. Whether it will have a long-tem impact for the Liberals remains to be seen but he is bound to give them a poll boost and is much more in the style of Charles Kennedy and Paddy Ashdown.