Beyond the packaging - Leadership - what do they bring?

Chris:
Ideas, Leadership, Experience

Ming:
Authority, Credibility, Unity

Simon:
Energy, Passion, Experience

So there we have it - but where's the evidence - and what does it mean?

Chris has ideas, great, I have at least 100 before breakfast, does that make me a leader? They may well be good ideas, but good for who? Do they include the filched New Labour ideas of privatisation and the marketization of public services? Are they ideas that the membership will run with?

Chris has leadership. Yes, he has some business experience, but leading a party is a very different kettle of fish than leading a business, we're a bolshy lot Chris and you can't sack us!

Chris has experience..........in Europe. Thats great...........for Europe. We all have experience, and it has to be said he is a clever bloke, but how quickly can he gain the experience to lead a party in Westminster?

Ming has authority, yes I would see that. He's definitely a bit scary for those of us who thought QC was a shop (only teasing!) and has been magnificent on foreign policy, but does he really cut the mustard on domestic issues?

Ming has credibility, certainly. But how far does that credibility stretch? Yes, for us political junkies he is a bit of a god..............but I wonder how he would do out with me on a detached youth work session, or really connecting with a mother who has just been told she is to be prosecuted because her schoolphobic daughter is truanting. Ming, I love what you say about wanting everyone to have your opportunities, but to connect with the reality of most people's lives you need to loosen up a bit and recognise that not everyone has been blessed with your intellectual prowess, stable family life and incredible natural talent.

Unity - well I think we are quite united as a party aren't we? Frankly there is little that divides us, apart from on the interpretation of liberal economics. However, unity is an aspiration, not a given. And Ming, you have to deal with the reality that some of us still see you as a shadowy backroom boy in the assassination of Charles - whatever we thought of his leadership.

Well, having already nailed my colours to the mast, of course I will be totally biased in my analysis of Simon!

Yes Simon has energy, no one can doubt that -he must have a speed gene where the rest of us have the one that sends us to sleep!

Yes Simon has passion, coupled with compassion, this certainly gives me confidence that his motivation will not be his own grandisement but rather the future well being of this nation.

And experience, relevant experience, as an incredibly effective constituency MP (we have still to measure Chris's prowess in this department) and leading parliamentarian.


So ...........no contest really????? Eh???!!!