Liberal Landslide

I watched the last Question time leadership hustings in a rowdy committee room of the Dunfermline by-election Head Quarters. The electric atmosphere of my surroundings was sadly not matched by the televised debate and thankfully the seismic impact of Willie Rennie’s achievement in the small hours of the next morning ensured that political commentators jettisoned any coverage of that rather wooden spectacle in favour of the stupendous revival in our parties fortunes delivered by Dunfermline. Yesterday’s debate was like night and day in comparison and once again Nick emerged as the candidate, I believe, best equipped to replicate the Dunfermline factor in every part of Britain.  

We are hugely fortunate that in this contest we have two first class contenders and it is small wonder that many party members that I know remain undecided. But on last night’s performance I believe that Nick demonstrated passion, charisma and a real commitment to the values of this party that I believe will resonate with many undecided members.

Chris demonstrated a great deal of style and verve and I continue to hold him in high admiration but I just wasn’t convinced by his performance. He knows how to push buttons and illicit applause on easy wins, of that there is no doubt, but I just don’t think he possesses that low level hum of righteous indignation that Nick has in spades. Put simply, Nick makes our policies sing.

On the issues, there is little to divide the two, but on trident I was glad that both sets of colours were finally nailed to the mast. I count myself among the anti trident wing of the party and had become increasingly irritated by Chris’s efforts to paint himself as a unilateralist. Last night’s incisive dissection of his views around replacing trident with a new weapons system will hopefully give pause for thought to my disarmament chums in the party who had swallowed Chris’s anti trident message but missed his comments about rearming. Nick’s position has always been the more robust in terms, not only of disarming Britain, but the world as well.

In the post match analysis discussions I have had with floating votes, opinion is that the two were fairly evenly matched, but that Nick edged it. Whichever camp you are in, all observers of last night’s debate can agree that hope has returned to our party in a big way and that there will be many more Dunfermlines to come.