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Posted by Chris Following the sensational by-election victory for the Liberal Democrats at the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election last night, Lib Dems in Redcar are keen to point out that the same swing in the North East would win the party 10 of Labour's 28 seats in this region. The seats are:City of DurhamNewcastle-upon-Tyne, CentralBlaydonNewcastle-upon-Tyne, NorthHartlepoolBlyth ValleyNewcastle-upon-Tyne, East and WallsendBishop AucklandWansbeckRedcar Ian Swales, who stood in Redcar for the Liberal Democrats in 2005, commented:“This is a sensational victory. The Liberal Democrats have shown that we are the clear challengers to Labour in their heartlands and that we ...

The BBC has a piece on Labour reaction to defeat in Dunfermline and West Fife. Dennis Skinner - who pb.c regulars had heard was checking on voters intentions the evening before the poll - seemed most upset It was the silent revolution," said Mr Skinner. "I made over 300 calls on the phone in the constituency and nobody mentioned the Liberal Democrats." Mr Skinner's theory is "that people were voting for Menzies Campbell", who represents a neighbouring seat. But he conceded the Lib Dems had been "quietly cultivating" the seat.

by Peter Regular readers might like to add this new blog to their bookmarks. That's right - all four of you!

January 2006 was not the greatest month for Liberal Democrats. But February 2006 shows we can weather storms, overcome difficulties and come out stronger and more successful than ever.

Simon Mollan has a typically tough post on Inner West Central. Intellectual honesty is the name of the game with Simon - he doesn't attempt to do diplomacy. He raises some of the points that worry me - not policy points so much as leadership points. Let me completely blunt - and quote Simon He is not popular among colleagues. He enjoys most support among Members of the Scottish Parliament, whom he has not worked with or for; MEPs and MPs seem to be much more cool on his attractiveness as leader. Why’s that? What is more ...

Today's House Points from Liberal Democrat News. This being neutral is killing me. Standing charge With the leadership election in full swing, House Points has to be careful. Mention one candidate and you have to mention them all. Pay tribute to Boodle in one sentence, and you are obliged to say nice things about Coodle and Doodle in the next. So I’ll leave you to make up your own minds while I look at parliamentary contests 150 years ago. In March 1854 the Attorney General brought in a bill to prevent corruption. When you read the evidence ...

I know I’ve already mentioned this once, but Ming’s demonstrated his U-turn again on Question Time last night. He now says that setting an absolutely deadline (and I’m not sure either Simon or Chris demanded an absolute, no-going-back, final date) for the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq would be irresponsible. He also says we should [...]

Listening to the News Quiz this evening, there was a mention of my shop

Over at Inner West, Simon Mollan writes: So now that Oaten has bitten the dust, Hughes has imploded, and prostrated, and Huhne’s moose has been hollering, there is only one candidate now worth considering: Ming Campbell. Actually , I disagree. Although I'm sticking with Chris as first choice, I think we still have three candidates worth considering. Ming looks a better leader than he did a

You know that cheap jibe he made at you at your first PMQs about "failing organisations". Any chance of reminding him about that next Wednesday?

Last night's result - widely unexpected even among seasoned byelection observers - saw the Liberal Democrat candidate, Willie Rennie, take the seat with a 1,800 majority on a 16.2% swing after a bruising campaign. Amid a low turnout, the Tories' vote also slumped from 4,400 in the general election to 2,700. The shock victory comes as a boost for the Lib Dems, whose national poll rating had been dropping following the ousting of Charles Kennedy, and a succession of scandals during the present leadership campaign. Sir Menzies Campbell, speaking alongside leadership rival Simon Hughes in the town this morning, said ...

The excellent result in Dunfermline shows that we are making further progress against Labour. In Birmingham that is good news for the Lib Dems in Yardley, Hodge Hill, Hall Green, Ladywood and Perry Barr each of which is a clear Lib Dem/Labour battleground.

Unsurprisingly, Chris Huhne is starting to draw some criticism, with both Simon Mollan and Dan Falchikov laying into him this afternoon. Probably the weakest of these criticisms is the one about Huhne being a closet (whisper it!) social democrat. Do catch up. The party has inherited too many genuine liberals from the old [...]

Liberal Democrat Leadership contender Chris Huhne today congratulated fellow party campaigners in Hove on a principled victory against the Labour Party. Lib Dem plans to prevent St. Patrick's homeless shelter closing were accepted by the Labour party hours after Chris Huhne brought the issue to national attention by including a visit in his leadership tour of Britain.

First of all, apologies for light blogging recently - busy time, unfortunately. However, I can't let the Dunfermline by-election pass without comment, because it is the most important thing to have happened since Charles Kennedy's resignation. The media narrative since Kennedy's downfall has been that the Lib Dems have been fundamentally damaged, even discredited; that our appeal lay in the showbiz personality of Charles Kennedy and a general, if some what fuzzy, reputation as nice, honest folk and that Kennedy's departure, followed by Mark Oaten's revelations, had forever tarnished that image. The result in Dunfermline comprehensively refutes this. ...

the friendly rivalry between Hunnies and Mingers took another turn after Question Time. Some of those who had been waiting to make their minds up cast the vote. The new figures are as follows First preferences Ming Campbell 12Chris Huhne 12Simon Hughes 1Still undecided 4 After redistribution of the Hughes vote (1) Ming wins by a margin of one. Interestingly all of the new votes seem to be Campbell 1, Hughes 2. Usual caveats apply, small sample, internet-based, almost all graduates. UPDATE: Another couple of Hunnies have emerged blinking into the daylight ...

by Dan Falchikov I was impressed with Chris on last week's QT, but I have been fed up at his campaign's rather precious and intrusive tactics. It seems only reasonable when Huhne campaign supporters post obvious 'puff pieces' on the net that an alternative view should be put for balance. But it's been the most thin skinned campaign I have ever witnessed - it's OK for Chris or his supporters to make veiled attacks on the other candidates, but they wail and gnash their teeth when the other teams do the same. If you're big enough to dish it ...

BBC NEWS | Politics | Lib Dems celebrate bombshell win: "The winner, Willie Rennie, said the result would 'rock the foundations' of Downing Street, but ministers said it was due to 'local issues'. " Heaven forbid that the electorate should start voting for their locally elected representatives on 'local issues'.

After this post (and the comments I subsequently left on it) I was hauled before an NUS disciplinary committee for "bullying and harrassment". I received the decision of the committee last Friday and they found that whilst I shouldn't have said (or rather typed) what I did about Dave Lewis (Reading University Students' Union President), a written apology and written statement to promise to be good

Iraq ‘withdrawal’ came up as a dividing theme in ‘Question Time’ and no doubt will pay out again in other Hustings. When candidates are so close on so many key issues the points of difference are in danger of getting inflated. I would like to suggest some careful thought before we hobble ourselves with unnecessary differences.. From the British perspective there is little difference between the ‘set a withdrawal date’ stance suggested by Chris and Simon and the ‘process to disengagement and withdrawal’ stance taken by Ming. We all know that we want UK troops out of Iraq as soon ...

Liberal Democrat bloggers are mostly in love with Chris Huhne. They think he’s a kind of Howard Dean without the moose-holler; the grass roots homeboy with some intellectual fizz. I think they are wrong – not because Chris Huhne isn’t smart, not because he isn’t a good politician (in many ways he is), but because at every turn he has disappointed in terms of principle, policy, image and style. Last night, on Question Time, he really crossed some lines. As a result, here are nine reasons not to vote for Chris Huhne: 1. He is not a Liberal (?). His ...

It’s that time again, so buckle in: selected numbers from the latest Dewey Decimal subject mappings. Longest number: King Bladud (Legendary character) - 398.20936239802 As close to being about the leadership election as I could get: Neoliberalism - 320.51 But MPs’ private lives are private: Condom use - 613.9435 Number closest to ITV1’s Saturday night line-up: Figure skaters - [...]

Many Liberal Democrats will find themselves unable to wipe the smile from their face after last night’s excellent victory in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. In the last week or so, when I heard of just how much was being put into the campaign, I did begin to think that this was a lot of effort just to make sure of coming second, but I doubt whether any of us who didn’t get to Dunfermline actually believed we could win. This is a sparkling return to form for the Lib Dem by-election team after the disappointment of Hartlepool. ...

To be honest, not much. All three candidates did a fairly good job of staying on message. Chris Huhne coming across as particularly consistent with his performance on the regular programme last week, again repeating the phrase "part of the problem, not the solution" and putting his alternatives to taxation message across. Hughes did look nervous, but made most of his points fairly well, and came

Dunfermline was below the radar. Well below the radar until a message arrived from Party Chief Exec Chris Rennard a couple of days ago saying all hands on deck. And then yesterday (Thursday) in the afternoon, came the message putting us on standby for a shock result. But I had to see it to believe it. A month ago we dared not turn on the tv or radio in the morning for fear of another Lib Dem

A brief footnote to James’s eloquence on the Dunfermline & West Fife result. 1) Its a good reminder of the self-absorbed uselessness of the Westminster-media bubble: according to the headlines in the last month or two, the Lib Dems should have done badly, and the Tories at least done something. 2) Its difficult to know if this [...]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4694410.stm News that the government is considering cancelling next year's local election should provoke outrage. Wycombe District Council only has a mandate from local people until the expected elections in May next year. Now the BBC reports that we could be made to wait until 2008 or 2009 for the formation of the new unitary authority before we can excercise our democratic rights. Could it be that Labour are expecting to take a battering at the ballot box next year? It would certainly seem likely after today's brilliant news from Dunfermline. If the ...

This was in my inbox today, via the Spreadshirt Newsletter. Shop of the Month: focusfodder Accentuating the positive? LibDems is the hangout spot for the liberal democrat blogs of Britian. In case you thought you were alone, currently over 50 bloggers are in the arena. With topics ranging from: Brit monarchy, Canadian elections, building bridges and, sometimes, even fighting hard (as Simon from

I stayed up to watch the result from Dunfermline and West Fife. I had my spies at the count who were telling me that it was looking good, that we were ahead but that the more Labour pit villages were not in yet. Of course, when those boxes were opened, it was clear that Willie Rennie had got it. Does this excellent result mean anything long term? The answer is maybe. Firstly we can say that despite the awful experiences of the last two months, the Liberal Democrats are emerging intact. The party has not gone into meltdown, and the ...

Chris Huhne has hailed the Liberal Democrats victory over Labour in the Dumfermline and West Fife by-election as a 'splendid result'.

Jonathan Hoffman has backed Chris Huhne to be the next leader of the Lib Dems. Mr Hoffman is a former Chief European Economist for RBS Financial Markets, a former economist for the Bank of England and former specialist Adviser for the House of Commons Social Services Select Committee.

Just done a quick Google search on our Tory Executive Mayor and the first listing for Nick Bye is under BBC Comedy ! How appropriate ! That explains why we've got comic cuts leadership at the Town Hall !

We are the leading link on Google for 'femme tied up'

We’ve just installed a new map on the site showing upcoming meetings, Ming’s speeches and messages of support from around the UK. Take a look at Ming’s campaign map » It’s automatically updated as new information goes on the site or new meetings get added to Flock Together. Is this the first Google Maps ‘mashup’ by a political [...]

While everyone is naturally watching Labour’s electoral disaster this morning, it’s worth keeping an eye on the markets too. A Labour privatisation has just floated, and the real question isn’t ‘why has it been privatised’ but ‘why is a Labour privatisation so much more of a bung to big business than a Tory one?’ The Conservatives famously undervalued many public companies they sold off (getting taxpayers to subsidise private trading), but at least they attempted to get a few more people to buy shares. With Qinetiq, Labour only offered shares to ordinary people at the last minute, under protest. It’s ...

I know the next General Election is a long way off but I just loved this post by Dan on Political Betting: Based on the vote changes in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election, here are the results of a General Election: Liberal Democrat Majority 140 L D 38.24% 393 MPs Con 30.74% 220 MPs Lab 19.30% 1 MP Now that is startlingly like the Canada result of 1992 that almost wiped out their

As Simon Hughes is fond of saying 'where we work ... we win' ! The Dunfermline and West Fife result is one in the eye for pollsters and pundits alike. A morale bost after a wretched time locally [Torbay] and nationally for the Lib Dems. Without looking at the figures in detail, and recognising it is hardly fertile Tory territory, did ' Dave's ' Tories increase their share of the vote much ?

To: letters@guardian.co.ukSir, This Lib Dem is unperturbed (Poly Toynbee, Feb 10th) by thought of a Huhne win. Writing to him within hours of Charles Kenendy's resignation I tried to set out why I thought he would be the best leader for our party: Here is a man who understands how economics can be made to work for people, instead of shackling government, and currently reducing politics to a

First off I was glad to see that Campbell was asked the question about having a hand in Kennedys fall although of course he ducked it completely. Clearly some of the audience felt that Hughes had lost some credibility over the revelations of his sexuality. Hughes response looked fairly nervous and flaky and seemed to have a touch of desperation about it although a later comment got a more

Well stuff me sideways with a yaffle iron, as the man once said. We won in Dunfermline. I’m frankly astonished and delighted - I thought in the end that it was going to be a near miss, which would have been a great result in itself. Suitable donation on...

I thought this seemed familiar. Then I remembered that it had popped up about a year ago as part of Labour's respect agenda (or more properly RESPECT agenda since that's all the 'respect' I have for the whole gimmick-ladened fiasco) around the same time as the ban on hoodies at Bluewater. At the time I remarked: They've obviously decided that why they don't like yobs wearing hoodies is because

A bit less dull than earlier encounters and the evening buttressed my ready to be posted ballot paper choices. I was always going to vote Hughes as his politics is closest to mine and he is the least fearless in talking about redistribution of wealth (and power). Chris Huhne, has made the running on policy issues and his position on Iraq, green taxes, taking more people out of taxation and reluctance to replace trident all score well with me. Choice No. 2 and he has certainly registered on my political radar unlike before the contest. Huhne's bank manager-like persona and ...

Everybody knows the great sexual scandal known as “Klinton-Levinsky”. After the relations like this Klintons popularity raised a lot! It is a natural phenomenon, because Bill as a real man in order not to shame himself when he was with Monica regularly used Voagra. What happened you see. His political figure became more [...]

Yesterday’s YouGov poll appeared to give a significant boost to the Huhne campaign, putting the apparent outsider as the front runner, four points ahead of Ming Campbell. What a difference 24 hours can make. This morning the Huhne campaign is all-but dead in the water after the wretched and appalling Polly Toynbee, that epitome of the illiberal centre-left, supported his candidature in her Guardian column today. A proud advocate of the nanny state, Toynbee stands for the kind of top-down, experts-know-best politics that Liberal Democrats should be against. Hilaire Belloc’s quip, originally said of the Webbs, that ‘Running ...

Last night Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats won a sensational victory in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. There was a massive swing of 16.2% from the Labour Party to the Liberal Democrats, just nine months after the General Election. This swing would be enough to see the Liberal Democrats gain Wolverhampton South West at the next General Election.

It was very nice to wake up this morning to hear that Mr G. Brown now has a LibDem MP :) It was also good to hear a government minister squirm and claim it was just local issues (and then to have it pointed out that this is precisely what the Tories said in the 90s). Well done to all involved in the campaign and congratulations to the residents of Dunfermline for selecting an excellent

Sad news from Digital Spy: Amstell and Oliver quit C4’s Popworld. Who will make stuck-up “celebs” look foolish now? Apart from Celebrity Big Brother, obviously…

Simon will be returning to Dunfermline and West Fife today to congratulate Willie Rennie and the By-election team in person.

It’s great so many people in Dunfermline and West Fife positively chose the Liberal Democrats. We’re in government in Scotland. The SNP was just 1% behind us in that seat and every Scottish Labour by-election loss in my lifetime has been to the SNP. The Conservatives have had non-stop press adulation since David Cameron was elected. Yes, Labour took the area for granted. But with two big alternatives in opposition and the SNP particularly being talked up as challengers, why vote Lib Dem if people just wanted a random protest? It wasn’t just a protest vote, but a positive choice. ...

Politics for activists doesn't get much better than Thursday night! Question Time with the three would be leaders and then the Dunfermline by-election. All three performed well - enough - although the atmosphere was a bit subdued in the studio and the lighting was foul - not doing any of them any favours. Dimbleby was actually quite brilliant. He had done his homework and didn't let those who had been spinning negatively get away with it. I hadn't been aware of the stuff coming from Simon - but according to Dimbleby it was in his manifesto. Simon denied ...

by Peter A wonderful result - usually you know that it is going to happen, or that it very well might happen. My impression here was that we might have needed one more week of campaigning. When I heard the result I had that elusive sense of not believing my ears and being happy about it. This is a great result for all lib dems. We have heard often enough that we are in "turmoil", "meltdown" and "disarray" - to win against this background was fantastic. Who are the losers? Obviously Labour. Gordon Brown very definitely. And ...

I woke up this morning to the extraordinary news of the Lib Dem victory in Dunfermline. I intended staying up to see the result come in, but had just returned, rather tired, from meetings in Leeds and Scunthorpe. I took to bed expecting to hear that the Liberal Democrats had closed the gap between us and Labour. To overturn a Labour majority of 11,500 so soon after the General...

Friday 10th February 2006 - In his victory speech Mr Rennie said: “Tonight the voters of Dunfermline and West Fife have sent a powerful message to Downing Street that will rock the foundations of both No 10 and No 11. “Labour has taken the people for granted up and down the country for too long. It is time Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both got the message — too much spin and not enough delivery.

Willie Many congratulations to you and your team! Your collective hard work has produced a result nothing short of sensational. We are all thrilled and delighted and look forward to following your contributions as a Liberal Democrat MP. Your win will also provided a much needed morale boost for Liberal Democrats throughout the land at what has been a difficult time for us. ...

Gosh! (we on 'Liberal Bureaucracy' still believe in old-fashioned courtesies) I got home yesterday evening after a session of interviewing potential Haringey council candidates, eager to find out what had happened in Dunfermline and West Fife. Rumours had been floating about that a surprise was on the cards but I still have to admit to being stunned by Willie Rennie's 1,800 vote majority. If

Next to that letter on the leaflet that the PM quoted at you this week is a statement from Adrian Graves, that one and only 'prominent' Liberal Democrat your party are claiming to have snagged since Charles Kennedy stood down as leader. He says: The arrival of David Cameron at the helm of the Conservative Party has precipitated a fundamental shift in both the direction and political atmoshere

Question: does our win in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election with a 16% swing: Indicate the recent scandals haven't damaged the party as much as the Westminster bubble thinks? Indicate David Cameron hasn't made much headway despite what the media are claiming? (how much progress do those 'Tories in lead' polls show the Tories really making? Is it as much as they should?) Result from local arguments, e.g. the proposed rises in Forth road bridge tolls? Indicate local conditions, i.e. this is a seat where the Tories could never make any progress so discontent with Labour will ...

You know what I'm talking about.

With Tony Blair saying he will not fight another election as leader the Labour party leadership succession was thrown into chaos tonight when bookies favourite to succeed Mr. Blair for the last 11 years, Mr. G Brown of North Queensferry, became a constituent of a Liberal Democrat MP. Normally, I would not say that this should be a disadvantage to anyone become leader of their party however Mr.

I’d already got a lot out of the Dunfermline by-election — nice people, a stellar candidate, totty, as  mentioned previously. But a win as well?  16% swing against Labour in their heartland?  Winning the seat the Chancellor lives in?  Wiping the silly grin off the shiny new Tory leader’s face by proving we can thrash them [...]

Congratulations to Willie Rennie - newest Lib Dem MP and all round good bloke. Cheers also to Peter Barrett and thanks for looking after me at the weekend. And wel done to Chris, Paul, Mark, Ed and the whole by-election team and everyone who delivered leaflets, canvassed and put up stakes. A personal thanks to the teams round the country that helped with the blue envelope writing!

I have decided not to continue compiling a Lib Dem links page. I started off with tons of enthusiasm but did not realise how time consuming it all was. I was then informed about an excellent links page that is already in existence and is pretty much what I was trying to achieve [...]

Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats have won a sensational victory in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. There was a massive swing of 16% from the Labour Party to the Liberal Democrats (and 9% from Conservative to Lib Dem), just nine months after the General Election. The Liberal Democrats turned a Labour majority of 11,562 into 1,800. This victory was the first ever Liberal Democrat gain from the Labour Party in a Scottish by-election.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Lib Dems deliver blow to Labour Just finished watching the Question Time on the leadership contest. I ran a points system for the contestants, awarding points for 'style' based on good points made and delivery and awarded points for winning a particular argument or good policy. My personal points are:- Ming, 2 political points and 8 points for style.Chris, 2 political points and 4 points for style.Simon, 1 political point and 5 points for style. This is going to be a difficult one. For me between Chris and Ming. As you may know ...

Well, after what seemed like an age of flicking between Sky News and News24 they eventually went live to the Dunfermline declaration, and crikey, we won with a 16% swing! Never mind the majority, just look at the swing.My back of envelope (and spreadsheet) calculation suggests that we could win seats close to home like Selly Oak!Very disappointed with the news coverage. They had more for the Hartlepool by-election, which was never really that close...Also, congratulations to all those who've won at the bookies, or betting exchanges. I hope you're donating some of your winnings to the party.

Nuff said! Well done all!

At last some good news!! Willie Rennie has won the formerly ’safe’ Labour seat of Dunfermline and West Fife for the Liberal Democrats. I’m not sure whether I should cheer or breathe a huge sigh of relief, I think I did both. Labour and the Tories were hoping our recent problems would mark the beginning [...]

The counter-spin from Camp Campbell: Sir Menzies’ supporters argue that the online poll - commissioned by John Stevens, a former Tory MEP who defected to the Lib Dems and is a friend of Mr Huhne - was bound to be weighted to younger, professional, internet-literate members, precisely the kind of people attracted to the Eastleigh MP’s [...]

A text message exchange between me and someone who helped our newest MP out: ME: “This must make the blisters and the soaking clothes worthwhile” HIM: “Thoroughly decent candidate already made that worthwhile”  

The BBC reports: The Scottish Liberal Democrats have toppled Labour to win the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. Candidate Willie Rennie overturned a huge Labour majority in what had been a safe Labour seat. Returning officer Douglas Sinclair declared that Mr Rennie had secured 12,391 of the votes. Labour's Catherine Stihler received 10,591. SNP candidate Douglas Chapman was third with 7,261 votes and Scottish Tory Carrie Ruxton secured 2,702 votes. Will this have any effect on the leadership election? Perhaps. We were told after Charles Kennedy was bundled out of the leadership that the party was "traumatised" and that ...

I realised earlier this week that the next Liberal Drinks - scheduled on 15 February - is actually the 3rd anniversay of That Peace March. For me, that is a very personal anniversary becacuse it is one of the things I have most been proud to have been involved with. While it was unsuccessful in [...]

Congratulations to Willie Rennie and the Lib Dem team in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. What a great answer to all those critics who said that recent weeks had seriously damaged the partys standing. and the few quid from the bookies won't go amiss either!

Welcoming Willie Rennie’s sensational victory in the early hours of this morning, acting Liberal Democrat leader Ming Campbell said: This shows that there are no “no go areas” for Liberal Democrats. This is conclusive proof that the public will respond with enthusiasm to the Liberal Democrat vision for Britain. If anyone in the media - in [...]

Liberal Democrats win the Dunfermline and Fife West by-election, turning a 10,000 Labour majority into a 2,000 Lib Dem one. As the architect of this victory deserves to be rewarded for it, I expect the Chris Rennard for Leader campaign to start tomorrow…

As a certain Mr Rennie just said. Congratulation to all who worked so hard there - and to the friend who put £10 on at 11-1. If I wrote the figures down right, that’s a majority of 1,800. The Liberal Democrats now have 63 Members of Parliament. Woohoo! Tags: liberal+democrats, willie+rennie, by-election

Simon Hughes claimed on Question Time tonight that he has never attacked the other two candidates. Dimblebum later said that the attacks were on his website, prompting this rebuttal: Simon appeared on BBC1’s Question Time with the other leadership candidates on Thursday evening, and really connected with the audience in the studio and at home [...]

We did it, we won - 12391 votes. Willie Rennie is our new MP after turning over a huge Labour majority. Just turned over from Question time - waiting for the result of the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election trying not to fall asleep. It was well worth it just to hear the shock it has give everybody except of course the party people in the know. One person I know who will be grinning from cheek to cheek is the party's secret weapon Mark Pack who has been camped up there ...

Radio 4 news have just reported that the leadership race is once again “wide open” following tonight’s televised debate - don’t forget, every vote counts.

The result is in: Willie Rennie Scottish Liberal Democrats 12,391Labour 10,591SNP 7,261Tories 2,702 It is a sensational result for the Liberal Democrats. A majority of 1,800. As Willie Rennie says this is a powerful message to Number Ten and Number Eleven Downing Street. Labour need to start listening to people. The Liberal Democrats have shown that they are the main challengers to Labour in their heartlands. This by-election has shown that the Conservatives are irrelevant across much of Britain. One thing has not changed under David Cameron, that is losing.

If you were scoring Question Time as a simple debate, I’d say Simon won on points from Chris, with Ming third. He was a bit subdued and on the back foot at first, understandably given the focus of the early questions, but warmed up as time went on and seemed to get more focused and [...]

11.15pm: So how does this live blogging thing work then? Question Time is on the TV, my ballot paper is sitting unfilled-in on the coffee table. Ming Campbell has just dodged the straight question as to whether he pushed Charles Kennedy towards resignation. I would have preferred a straight answer but that is something we have not yet had on this issue. All three candidates agree that Charles' legacy is invaluable and that he remains as popular as ever. However, we must move on. Chris Huhne empathises by finding an alcoholic relative. Simon Hughes gets a round of applause for ...

Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats have won a sensational victory in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. There was a massive swing of from the Labour Party to the Liberal Democrats, just nine months after the General Election. The Liberal Democrats turned a Labour majority of 11,562 into 1,800. This victory was the first ever Liberal Democrat gain from the Labour Party in a Scottish by-election.