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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 18 October 2007

My party leader was right to fall on his sword

• SO Sir Menzies Campbell has done the honourable thing, he’s fallen on his sword.
I think that’s the right decision.
He was an excellent foreign affairs spokesman, and by all accounts he’s done a splendid job of reorganising the party’s internal structure, but as party leader in a television/internet age he never really cut the mustard.
Ming came across an honourable and kind gentleman from the Edwardian era.
At 66 he wasn’t particularly old – Ronald Reagan was 70 when he was elected US President – but on television Ming looked 20 years older than he actually was.
There’s no doubt he believed passionately in the Lib Dems’ green, fair and free agenda, but he was never the person to get the message across to modern Britain.
The truth is he could have made it through to the next election and beyond if it had been held this autumn or next spring.
But once Gordon Brown decided to delay, most likely until 2009 or 2010, then the perspective changed, and Ming’s position looked less secure.
Everyone agrees that he is a highly respected and extremely effective parliamentarian on international matters, but as leader Ming started shakily and never got the lift in the polls that the Tories got from David Cameron and Labour got from Gordon Brown.
So now we say thanks for the good times, Ming, thanks for your leadership over Iraq and other international issues.
Thanks for reorganising the party structure, and thanks for standing aside so quickly once you’d made the decision to go. It's time to move on.
CLLR ALEXIS ROWELL
Liberal Democrat
Belsize Ward

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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