Do the Lib Dems need a real leader at all?

Not some Liberal Democrats it seems! Nick Assinder relays an anecdote from Charles Kennedy himself (BBC News: Commons Confidential: December 2007) about how he once made a surprise visit to a constituency, only to find that the candidate didn't need him for an obligatory joint photo.

The unnamed candidate had instead resorted to other means - by using a photo of himself with the Madame Tussauds waxwork of Kennedy.

So do the Lib Dems really need a living leader? They could always just get an immobile lifeless object to stand in instead.

Peerage titles

There are many formal rules for how to refer to peers and understandably so, although I always get irritated with pedants who seem to insist that anyone who uses the most common name for a person is wrong - how many philosophers write about the "3rd Earl Russell" or whatever the formal term is? And my college at the University of Kent was always described as being named after "Ernest Rutherford" not "Lord Rutherford" - how do physicists, chemists and stamp collectors refer to him?

Nick Assinder reports that one of the newest ennobled peers is styling himself "Digby, Lord Jones of Birmingham" (BBC News: Commons Confidential: July 2007). I can understand why he may want "Digby" to still be there, but why not just style himself "Digby Jones"? Or even take a different title - what about "Baron Digby-Jones"? After all there was "Lord George-Brown".

Kennedy 1 Journalists 0

Nick Assinder reports on the way Charles Kennedy took a small piece of revenge on the media for the destruction of his leadership. He was due to be campaigning in the Bromley & Chislehurst by-election and journalists flocked to the seat to see him in action, not least because of his recent comments suggesting a comeback but was unable to make it after attending a family function in Surrey and getting stuck in traffic.

As a substitute Vincent Cable stepped in. The journalists must have been jumping for joy.

As noted in a comment on this blog, Charles Kennedy is due to be on the Question Time panel tomorrow, as the first major step towards rebuilding his political career. It's certainly a better start than Have I Got News For You and we'll see how far the comeback goes. Iain Dale is sceptical due to reports on Kennedy's health, but still groundwork could be laid. If Kennedy can give a better performance than Ming Campbell gave last month he will leave a lot of Lib Dem members renewing the questions about whether getting rid of Kennedy was a good move.

So just what is John Prescott for?

Over on BBC News, Nick Assinder asks "What is John Prescott for?" Does anyone truly know? Assinder is far from the first to suggest that if Prescott resigns from the government it may cause a tidal wave in the Labour Party that would make it impossible for Tony Blair to stay.

Would that be such a bad thing? Cherie would find it harder to milk her non-position for money but for everyone else, Blair's loss would be the nation's gain.