Only two contenders for the Lib Dem throne

There was a whiff of "stitch-up" surrounding chief whip Alistair Carmichael's confirmation on Lib Dem Voice that there would be just two candidates for the succession to Vince Cable as leader of the party. (At least we ordinary Lib Dems will get some measure of choice, something that was denied to hard-working Conservatives when Theresa May was imposed on them.) Both Jo Swinson and Ed Davey come from the core of the parliamentary party. Both have ministerial experience, Ed's rather more exalted than Jo's. Both voted for the rise in tuition fees, against the advice of the party at the time which recommended abstention on the proposal. (However, I do not know whether either signed the controversial NUS pledge before the election, so I have no grounds for accusing them of bad faith.)  I would have liked to see a more radical candidate on the ballot in order to make a real choice of it, though.

Those caveats apart, I have few qualms about either leading the party, and I feel more personally involved than when candidates were chosen by their fellow-MPs to contest the succession to Charles Kennedy. The previous political experience of both Clegg and Huhne had been mainly in Brussels so they were largely unknown to the rest of the party. There ought to be a political equivalent to the Kevin Bacon number or the Erdős number (which measures the "collaborative distance" in authoring academic papers between that person and the peripatetic Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős). I can claim a degree of proximity of 2 in relation to Ed Davey, having chatted to Emily Gasson, then recently married to Ed, at a fringe meeting at federal conference many years ago. I did not actually meet Jo, but I was on the edge of a conversation  she was a part of at the 2006 Dunfermline and West Fife by-election campaign HQ. Her contribution was enough to impress me.

So my choice will depend more than usual on personality. The new leader will not only have to inspire the party but also convince the nation. I lean towards Jo, but it is only fair to let the campaigning play for a week or so before deciding where to put my cross.

Later: I forgot the important message. If you are not already a member, but share our values and want a vote in the leadership ballot, you have until Friday to join. See https://www.libdems.org.uk/11k-new-members