Vocal Voices

could possibly be Tim Farron. I wasn't at all surprised he kept his seat. My cousin lives in Cumbria and he is her MP. His constituents love him. He helps the farmers in the snow, he helps with lambing, he is always out and about at the farmers market seeking opinions and offering advice. He would be sorely missed if he spent more time in London.

People will vote for a grand chap like that. They know he is genuine and is on their side. As you say, he would be quite a loss to them if he had to spend more time away because of promotion.

MP's of this kind are always sorely missed. Sadly they are also targets for head office too....

I'm not so fussed who they have as a leader, just so long as they keep down to 8 seats or so...

It will be interesting to see Shell

Greg Mulholland, my local LibDem MP, will also be in the frame. He is another who is active in the constituency, lives in it, and is always available.

Personally I'd prefer they have a leader who actually understands the electorate.

After the EU elections when so many Lib Dems were ejected, one of the Lib Dems started talking about how the UK had replaced "tirelessly working" MEP's from the Lib Dems with "shiftless wasters" from the UKIP.

Missing the point entirely. The whole election result was a rejection of the EU itself. We don't want to "work better" within it. We want to get the hell out of it.

Unless the Lib Dems start listening to the people instead of living in an Echo Chamber, they are going to stay on 8 seats.

So my vote would be for a leader with ears open, mouth shut and reasonably effective political antennae. In that way we might get an opposition, or even king maker, who actually represents the people and not their own prejudices.

Thump. Sorry that was me waking up.