Ming says he was a eunuch

Sir Menzies Campbell has given an interview declaring his party is not "fit for 24-hour-a-day news". (BBC News: Lib Dems 'not fit for 24hr news') It's clear that he's still bitter about the huge number of off-the-record briefings from members of his party that undermined him. And his irritation with comments about his age is all too clear. But I feel he brought this on himself - nobody ever made an issue of Michael Howard's age and Howard is only two months younger than Campbell. However Howard never tried to make anything of his age.

But what stands out the most are his comments about being leader:

"One of the things I learned very early on is that the leader of the party - the opposite of the harlot - has the responsibility but not the power."

He may not have mentioned Tom Stoppard by name, but it's hard to avoid thinking of Stoppard's classic reverse of Stanley Baldwin's famous quote. Where Baldwin spoke of "Power without responsibility — the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages", Stoppard said "responsibility without power, the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages".

So does Ming realise what he's said he is?