So who is David Heath?

Following my earlier post and also my post on uk.politics.electoral, one or two more bloggers are starting to talk about the Liberal Democrat Deputy Leadership election.

Liberal England is backing David Heath, but frankly he has the lowest profile of any of the three candidates. He has only been in the front line of Liberal Democrat spokespersons for a year, but wasn't one of the MPs who publicly forced Charles Kennedy to stand down (of the contenders, only Vincent Cable was), so one wonders whether he would be able to take a stand against incompetence. Perhaps there's more on his website but at the moment one has to wonder why he is considered the best in the field.

Oh and already someone has made the following observation:

But if he wins I suppose we had better be ready for beard & sandals jokes.

On a more serious point, can someone explain just what the existance of a formally elected post of Deputy Leader of a political party actually achieves? Other than designating someone to mind the shop if the leader gets run over by a bus (or stabbed in the front by colleagues), what does this post contribute?

Still party elections are always fun (unless one is a candidate backed by Lembit Öpik) and can generate a lot of good material for bloggers so perhaps there is some short-term benefit after all!