Putting the Zing back into Ming!

Well with a newly resurgent Conservative Party, the Lib-Dems are in trouble- and they know it. Perhaps a typical article chronicalling his woes was the one writtern by one-time Southampton Echo political reporter Brendan 'patch' Carlin (hasn't he done well by the way- can't see his successor but one David Newble scaling the dizzy heights of a national broadsheet but I guess you never know!) noting that 'lackluster Ming gives his party cause for concern'
(for the whole story click on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=PXLH43TCIKL2ZQFIQMFCFFWAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2006/05/11/nlib11.xml )
Still we learn over the week-end that Gavin Grant the European public affairs manager at the leading PR firm Burson-Marsteller
(http://www.burson-marsteller.com/pages/home )
has been drafted in to give him a make-over.
Mr Grant is a former Liberal Democrat candidate who has built an international reputation in public affairs. We are told his CV stresses in particular his skill in both reputation and crisis management...
but is it really Mings problems at PMQs that have led to this? I think that the Lib-Dem dilemma goes far deeper than that- after the shambles of their leadership election, I think that some sections of the British public began to see the poverty of talent in the Lib-Dems parliamentary party. Huhne was clearly totally unsuitable to those who have seen him in close up (see post below), Oaten and Hughes were both disgraced. With the honorable exceptions of David Laws and an aging Vince Cabel, who else could serve at the Cabinet table?
Further the local elections have shown that as the Conservatives broaden their appeal, the Lib-Dems are deeply vunerable. It is only a surprise to Conservatives such as myself that is has taken us so long to turn the tide.
Perhaps Mr Campbell has the hardest job in British politics. Tomorrow's PMQs and the forthcoming by-election in Eric Forth's old seat may just pile on the agony.