The importance of image...

The cartoon that had Lib-Dem spin doctors 'wincing'.

Picture copyright The Guardian.

Ming the athete, Picture copyright PA

Ming out with 'Campbell's Crackers' apparently...

Image matters in politics. It shouldn’t do but it does. Remember Michael Foot in his donkey jacket? Harold Wilson with the ever present prop of his pipe and of course the caricature (originally by Steve Bell) of John Major as the man who wore his underpants outside his trousers?
Well I have watched some of the Lib-Dem conference this week and I imagine that Ming Campbell will allow himself a small smile of satisfaction; he got his tax reforms past the conference despite MPs like the self-styled Romsey Redhead Sandra Gidley opposing him, his set piece speech went well and in the event, Charles Kennedy behaved and didn’t upstage him, even if he reportedly wouldn’t shake his hand.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1875767,00.html
Campbell’s age may well limit his appeal among younger voters and the families of middle England. In his speech, Sir Menzies accused David Cameron of being "a substance-free zone". "Their idea of political principle is to say, tell us what you don't like and we'll abandon it," he said. The problem is that Cameron’s policy committees will have reported by the next general election, effectively shooting Ming’s fox- but Ming will still be advancing in years.