Liberal Landslide

Let's make one thing clear from the start, I utterly oppose the renewal of Trident on the river Clyde and for that matter any where else in the UK, (unlike the SNP who just want it pushed south of the border). It is utterly repellent to every fibre of my moral outlook and, I believe, utterly irrelevant as a tool of 21^st century diplomacy except perhaps as a final tool in the architecture of global disarmament. It is from that position that I, and many of my Lib Dem colleagues approach the decision of who should lead the federal party and in that regard we remain convinced that in this issue as in many others it should be Nick Clegg.

In a race in which the Party is spoilt for choice between two very credible candidates and the media is seeking to find ideological difference between 2 men who come from a very similar perspective, there were always going to be over simplifications of position, but to suggest that Nick is pro trident is utterly misleading. Nick has adopted a position which displays an unequivocal commitment to disarmament not just in the UK but around the world. He wishes to use the means by which we divest ourselves of the trident menace for one purpose only, the reignition of global disarmament in the Non Proliferation Treaty talks of 2010. Chris Huhne however proposes the replacement of trident with a 'minimum nuclear deterrent' which would arguably violate our commitments to the NPT as much as the weapon system's renewal. On this issue, I am in no doubt that Nick offers the more robust commitment to disarmament and many of the Lib Dems with whom I marched in Edinburgh today agree wholeheartedly with that assessment.