Richard Baum

Today is the 2007 version of the Lib Dem X-Factor Final, as we announce yet again who will lead our party into the Christmas period. Hopefully whoever wins will last longer than Steve Brookstein / Michelle McManus / Sir Menzies Campbell.

And the good thing is, I know that the winner will do just that. The days of internal strife and back-biting over the leadership will come to an end at half past two this afternoon when we finally find out who’s at the helm for the foreseeable future.

I thought I’d get in early with my post-result commentary. In fact, this post-result commentary is probably unique in that it’s being written and posted before the result is known. But given that every other blogger in the land, as well as the real media and commentators more skilled than I am will be talking about it all afternoon, I thought I’d write mine now and watch it get trampled on by the professionals later on.

I have backed Nick Clegg on this blog, having been lucky enough to meet both candidates face to face a few weeks back for The Politics Show on BBC1. I don’t know if he’ll win, but regardless we will have an extremely capable leader come mid-afternoon. I was hugely impressed by both candidates’ grasp not only of the issues and the principles that define us as Lib Dems, but also of the need to articulate these important and radical principles well to a public used to spin and name-calling.

Whoever wins will face a huge challenge. A buoyant Conservative Party, picking up votes for no apparent reason at all, and a Labour Party strong enough to have won three elections on the bounce with thumping majorities, seemingly able to poll reasonably despite lurching from calamity to calamity (one can only assume this may be due to misplacing poll data somewhere…). A political world mired in scandal, voters turned off, and an electoral system designed to keep us out. Our new leader will have to make our distinctive voice heard somewhere in all that.

Such challenges have faced his predecessors, and they have handled them well. Building up the third party in a two-party system seems like a thankless task, but we now have more MPs than ever before in modern times; we’ve got a commanding presence in the European Parliament and a great deal to contribute on a European level for the good of the UK; and we continue to make fabulous strides in local government. We run Liverpool and Newcastle, we are nearly there in other cities, and our innovative and radical policies are changing towns, counties and districts across the land. And even where our numbers are small, our influence can be felt, as was proved here in Bury last week when we as the smallest party on the Council created Council policy on congestion charging which could have ramifications across the region.

And there are so many opportunities to take for Mr Clegg or Mr Huhne. The great debates of our times hinge on liberal principles – civil liberties and the fight against terrorism; privacy and the desire to use and share and keep our information; how to tackle crime effectively; whether and how to use the market to make our public services better; the fundamental relationship between government and the people.

We have a huge deal to say as Liberal Democrats on all of these issues. We aren’t the party of spin and bluster, but of radical and new ways to address these problems. Our new leader has to find a way of making our vital contribution heard. Our party organisation needs to modernise and change. Our relationship with the media and with our members and grass roots level needs serious work if we are to challenge the Tories and Labour. Because where they have entrenched generations of voters, we have hardy bands of leafleters. And where we win, they copy us and regain their advantage!

But if he can make these changes, I am sure we will notice the change. If he can find the distinctive voice, rally the troops, get our message out there and heard, it will triumph, I’m sure.

Whoever the new leader is, I hope we all stand shoulder to shoulder with him in making this happen. We need to make the country listen to what we have to say, and when they do, we can go from strength to strength.

Rick