And so continues the Lib Dem Muppet Show

When Sir Menzies Campbell was forced out many Lib Dems were privately rejoicing at the prospects of a firmer leader and a more organised party. Yesterday those hopes were well and truly shattered.

Over 20% of the parliamentary party rebelled on a three line whip and three members of the most senior part of the frontbench team resigned over the issue. The only reasons there weren't more resignations is apparently due to some rule that allows junior spokespersons to rebel and keep their post. Well the Liberal Democrats are a party that like to pretend you can have your cake and eat it.

It's strange because the Lib Dems are the party for whom all the arguments over whether or not the Lisbon Treaty is pretty much the same thing as the EU Constitution should be utterly irrelevant. They called for a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty and have long called for government to trust the people. Then they turned round and decided that the people can't be trusted.

Is it any surprise that the Liberal Democrat blogosphere is now in uproar? (Dizzy Thinks: Is the Lib Dem blogosphere rebelling too?, Norfolk Blogger: Suddenly you realise you are not so different after all, New Model Army: Send in the clowns... and more.) On this first major test of Nick Clegg's leadership he has flunked it and shown that he is more concerned with promoting European centralism than in leadership. The EU is not known for being the most democratic of organisations and is it unsurprising that an ex MEP seeks to block the people having a say and instead makes only tokenistic gestures trying to divide the referendum movement?

Young Lib Dems to become a lie?

Hattips to Dizzy and Iain Dale who report on the story that Liberal Democrat Youth & Students is about to have a makeover and rebranding as "Liberal Youth". (Dizzy Thinks: Clegg to spin 'Yoof Wing' relaunch? & Iain Dale: Is Nick Clegg About to Change His Party's Name) What has caught the imagination of the blogosphere (e.g. Norfolk Blogger: Are we set to become the "Liberal Party"?) is the possibility that this could be a prelude to the Liberal Democrats as a whole reverting to the name "Liberal Party", although as there is already a registered Liberal Party, the name isn't available. (see Hug A Hoodie: Why Nick Clegg won't rebrand us as "The Liberal Party") Some are speculating that the former Social Democrats in the party will be hostile to this move, but this overlooks the fact that the merger is now twenty years old and the turnover in that party is such that many have no reason to care one way or the other.

But what I haven't seen anyone notice yet is how this move could be disastrous for the Youth & Students wing itself. The acronym "LDYS" can and often is pronounced "Lie-Dies", no doubt to the annoyance of many a LDYS member (who tend to pronounce each letter separately). But "LY" is even worse. This would be the silliest renaming exercise since the Reform Party of Canada dissolved itself in favour of a new party, the "Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance" and only then when the media pointed it out did they realise what happens when you add "Party" to that.

So will the young Lib Dems abandon a name with "rat" in it for one that makes them a lie? Time will tell...