Paul Johnston

Nick Clegg has been elected leader of the Lib Dems.........sort of! A majority of 511 is scarcely a ringing endorsement even from the party's own activists. And the turnout was low too. The Lib Dems reckon to have 70-75,000 members. The vote this time after weeks of campaigning, was a derisory 41,000 of those - an abstention rate of about 43%. So Clegg has the support of about 28.5% of the activists; almost exactly the same proportion as those who seem to have thought him a 'calamity' a few weeks ago and, more significantly, 15% fewer than those who voted with their feet for 'neither of the above'.

No wonder Vince Cable came out to announce the result with the face of someone announcing a tragedy rather than a triumph. And no wonder he found it necessary to waffle on at length about anything else under the sun before summoning the courage to actually announce the result.

Saw poor old Ming in the House of Commons the other day. Seemed to be a shadow of his former self. He must now feel a bit like Charles Kennedy did a couple of years ago. I wonder what his Chief of Staff Ed Davey thinks about it all.

I thought Vince Cable was making a fair fist of his stand-in role, but was very disappointed that he saw fit to indulge in childish gesture politics over the banquet in honour of the King of Saudi Arabia. Apart from anything else it showed an inclination to put personal pique before the national interest - and very scant respect for the Queen, who had invited him. Ming, one feels, woukld have been more adult about it. Twickenham electors please note. 

As for the runners I am a little surprised at the narrowness of the field. I expected Simon Hughes to keep his head down after the last time and I didn't expect Mr. Oaten to resurface - one hears so little of him these days. The 'Bring Back Charlie' movement never had much of a chance but I did think David Laws of Yeovil might fancy his chances. He'll probably regret not putting his hat in the ring eventually - or is he worried about the challenge he faces from Kevin Davis?? Nick Clegg? Hmm....bit of a Tory by all accounts - that's probably how he won the former Tory seat of Hallam. Some of the Lib Dem blogs suggest a groundswell of support for Chris Huhne.......very courageous, considering the tiny swing to Conservative needed to take Eastleigh.

 If only Susan Kramer had stood............

The Surrey Comet's coverage of the 2007 Council Budget debate is at this link:- http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1244255.0.damp_squib_debate_on_council_tax.php.

It was predictable, as the reporter writes, that the Lib Dems would support their own budget. They are, after all, the Executive and they have all the resources of the Council bureaucracy at their disposal in framing a budget.

They were disappointed that the Conservatives refrained from producing an 'alternative' budget that they could attack. They obviously yearn for the days of No Overall Control when all three parties regularly did this and they were able to gang up with Labour and impose a higher Council Tax than the Conservative minority administration was proposing (2000 and 2002) - and then blame the Tories for it!

The report is inaccurate in stating that this was 'the first time in many years' we had not proposed an alternative budget. Cllr. Osbourne said it was but his assertion was incorrect. In fact we did present one last year to present our views to the electorate who would be voting in less than two months time. More of them did, as it happens, vote for us than for the Lib Dems. However I do not recall us presenting a full-blown alternative in the previous three years.

The Lib Dems got an unexpected flavour of their true predicament in the new Council on Tuesday.

They assumed that they would be able to change the Constitution at will (as per usual) as they wished to send the all-party Grants and Awards Panel into oblivion, keeping all say over major grants to the Voluntary Sector in the exclusive hands of the exclusively Liberal Democrat Executive.

One of their members didn't turn up and another went home early. The arithmetic was thus Lib Dems 23; Conservatives 21; Labour 2. The Conservatives and Labour voted together to preserve all-party involvement. One Lib Dem had a sufficiently open mind and strong conscience to abstain. So the vote was For the proposal 22; against 23; abstentions 1. And the mayor didn't even get to use her casting vote.

They also only managed to defeat by one vote a proposal from myself and David Edwards that new road scheme proposals should normally require a 40% consultation response rate and a majority thereof before proceeding. They seem to be happy to commit large sums with the support of only tiny numbers of citizens - and even to ignore the opposition of hundreds of citizens to their pet projects. This makes a farce of 'consultation' and brings the Council into disfavour with the public, but it keeps the highways officers and contractors busy, so I suppose they think it's OK.