UK Liberal Democrats leadership election, 2017

[Blair]

For once I didn't get the news from Twitter/Guardian as this was the first I'd seen of it... seems clear that Farron was given a visit by the men in the yellow suits (if they exist for the Lib Dems)

I expect Norman Lamb or Brake will go for deputy leader, and Cable and Swinson for leader. Unless deals have already been made.

This whole thing does reek of a coup- especially with Packhams resignation this morning that explicitly mentioned LGBT rights

Edit: For all his faults Farron was on the left of the party. If it's Cable v Swinson it's coalition v coalition

[Blair]

The problem with Vince being 74 is well it begs the question what to do after him? No-one really thought Jeremy would still be leader going into 2018...

[Blair]

After actually thinking about it seems that with the current state of the parties+the demographics they attract that they'd actually do well with someone from the right of the party/someone who was in coalition.

Farron very much seemed to be trying to take the Lib Dems back to the 2005 days- where they tried to appeal to students/young people/people fed up with politics. This worked in 2005 because we had New Labour as the punching bag- but even under Miliband there were a massive cannibalism of the Lib Dem's urban/student/metro vote e.g Bermondsey/Oxford/Bristol/Leeds. Basically the Lib Dems aren't going to beat Labour in the traditional Lab-Lib seats, even with someone who doesn't hate the gays.

Which leaves them with the West Country, which from recent results seems a washup- and then they've got Scotland, and the South Coast.

There best shot really is to use there 12 seats with someone like Swinson, and argue that they can be a sustainable partner in government- ditch the 2nd referendum/cannabis reform, and make themselves into a centrist party because that's the only space that's open.

TL;DR: The Lib Dems might as well have a final shot at being real, and acting as a centrist party, and if that fails the party should fold imo.

[Blair]

Also worth noting that the one characteristic they should look out for is someone who generally comes across well as a leader; there's a reason that Thatcher/Blair/Clegg/Cameron were all able to do bend their parties ideologies, and perform very well in elections. If they had someone like Clegg without his baggage they could do well regardless of what position they take