Democratic Leadership is a political imperative. Perhaps a statement of the obvious but as Nick Clegg takes over the leadership of the Liberal Democrats it is ( as a life long Lib Dem supporter) worth reflecting on the rise and fall of their political leaders.
Nick Clegg has served through a time of fractious relations on the Lib Dem front benches. The sniping from within perhaps undermined Menzies Campbell but the portents of change lay out with his own front benchers shenanigans. A political leader will always be in jeopardy if their legitimacy to be there in the first place is in anyway questionable. Menzies Campbell had to deal with such a perception given the nature of his predecessor Charles Kennedy's fall. That event was the subject of unholy rows in his own party that leeched over the election contest and arguably tainted Ming's victory. The consequence of which was, in part, a party unready to accept a new leader. The sense that the press could exploit this unsettled environment was given form with the constant reference to Ming’s age, undoubtedly he was replacing a younger man who gave (if only superficially) a sense of youth and vitality, the perceived lack of these attributes in Ming fuelled the press caricature and ultimately Nick Clegg’s rise to leader.
Clegg rises to the top without the hangover that Ming had and isn’t saddled (for the moment) by a negative press caricature. Importantly the nature of the contest, albeit out of the media’s gaze for long periods, has been hard fought and undoubtedly fair. Few would argue that the process 18 months ago was any different but the context and the circumstance provide as much legitimacy in their own way as the practical process of electing a leader.
The question for me is: will Gordon Brown now become the new Ming in the media's eyes?
Posted by: Aline Delawa | 18 December 2007 at 06:19 PM