LOW-KEY LIBERALS

by MONITOR
LOW-key is probably the best description of the Liberal Democrats annual conference which ended at Blackpool yesterday. For a party which polled one million extra votes at the general election less than six months ago, increased its share of the votes from 18 to 22 per cent and its representation in the House of Commons from 54 to 62, there was very little show of elation or optimism. True, the party's leader Charles Kennedy pointed out that the body of MPs was now the most substantial that the Liberal Democrats have had since the end of the Second World War but many of his followers seemed to think that the general election outcome should have been even better at a time that Labour was under attack for its involvement in Iraq and the Conservatives were failing to make a serious impact on the campaign. It might have been expected that at Blackpool Mr Kennedy would seek to use the general election results as a springboard for a vigorous drive to take advantage of the Conservatives' current lack of leadership and direction but instead he seemed content to continue with the style which has brought him small increases in representation at each election since he became leader. If he really wants the Liberal Democrats to be regarded as the true party of opposition in Parliament he will have to do better than getting an extra eight or ten seats at each election. There were some signs in Mr Kennedy's final speech to the conference yesterday that he recognises the need for greater vigour on his part. His attack on Tony Blair and his Iraq policy in particular was well-judged and had the backing of his own consistent approach to this subject. Even so, the characterisation of Mr Kennedy as more like the chairman of the party than its leader, made by one of his most loyal supporters during the conference, had a ring of truth about it. At the same time, however, there is no obvious challenger to his position among the party's MPs although there are three or four who might aspire to the leadership by the time of the next election. With a discredited government, a leaderless opposition and a low-key third party, British politics are in a depressed state at the moment.