You may have missed this, but the Liberal Democrats are having a leadership election. One of the many quirks in the party’s rulebook is that one must be held in the year following a general election unless the party is in government (a caveat which saved Nick Clegg’s hide more than once).
Still, don’t expect weeks of Ed Davey hurling himself into ball pools and canyoning into Scottish rivers in a bid to remain in post. No other contenders are expected to put their names forward when nominations close this week.
Far more interesting for Lib Dem Kremlinologists, should such a thing exist, is the battle to succeed little-known party president Mark Pack next year. The role has proved a launchpad for future leaders in the past – Charles Kennedy and Tim Farron both held the role before running for the top job. Rats in a Sack hears the name to watch is Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde, which should pretty much damn him.
‘Disaster for Keir Starmer after shock defection to the Tories over winter fuel cut,’ roared a headline in the Daily Express last week.
But even the most eagle-eyed of politics-watchers can be forgiven for missing this cataclysmic crossing of the floor which has apparently rocked Downing Street.
The ‘shock’ defector was not an MP, but Will Markham, a member of Nuneaton and Bedworth Council in the West Midlands. The defection was not related to the winter fuel cut, a move not even mentioned in a statement from Markham which referred only to councillors’ allowances, representation at planning meetings and a row over funding for Christmas lights in the village of Bulkington.
And how much of a shock was it? Not much, whisper local residents who note that he will now be able to sit on the same side of the chamber as Conservative councillor Sue Markham – his wife.
Still, it didn’t stop the Express’ Christian Calgie from describing it as “sensational” and a “political humiliation” for Starmer!
Another Tory peer, Andrew Sharpe, has another cause to get angry about – a ban on the serving of booze in pint glasses which precisely nobody is proposing.
Sharpe is objecting to the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, a bill passing through Parliament which makes “provision about the marketing or use of products in the United Kingdom”. His concern is that it could, at some unspecified point in the future, be used to ban the beloved pint.
“It is not difficult to imagine, at some point in the future, that the office of secretary of state is held by a metric maniac,” he tells the Sun, which has launched a no doubt soon-to-be-forgotten ‘Save Our Sups’ campaign. He is joined by shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith, who raged: “We should have pride in pints, not sink them by stealth.”
The bill could be used to ban pint glasses, of course. It could also be used to insist beer is served in buckets and drunk through curly straws, but probably won’t. Still, keep that synthetic fury flowing!
