Bloggers 4 Hughes

Rob Fenwick has gone into great detail talking about why he is supporting Simon Hughes for leader of the Liberal Democrats. In fact he was so impressed he joined the campaign team.

Perhaps the greatest praise you can lay on any person is that they are a decent person. Simon is a decent man. In equal measure he has the ability to lead, the ability to inspire, the ability to relate to people, and the ability to peform in Parliament. He’s by far and away the best ‘all-rounder’ standing for the leadership.

Could I serve the party under the interim leadership of Ming Campbell? Sure. I’d probably pull out of Westminster and focus on my local party. I wouldn’t feel in the least inspired to do any e-campaigning stuff for the party, but sure. I’d stay as a member and do what I could on the ground.

Could I serve the party under Chris Huhne? Probably. It’s hard to say when you don’t really know who he is or what he stands for.

Will I serve the party under Simon Hughes? Yes. And I’ll be proud to. Proud to be a member of a party lead by man of integrity. Proud to serve a man who has been through a personal trauma and emerged from it a stronger, even more capable, ever fitter leader.

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Botheration posted the following comment regarding Simon's speech at Meeting the Challenge:

Simon Hughes by contrast took the attack straight to Labour which I also felt was telling. His speech was heavy on charisma and also a direct pitch to that species of activist that wants to see social justice occupying a fairly prominent spot on the party's agenda. He managed to be polished and articulate and not to repeat himself, wander off the point or run over time. He said he wanted to see a progressive social agenda and said taxes were our subscription to a civilised society. He said that Liberalism should be about both fairness and freedom, not one or the other and I was pretty convinced that he had my vote by the time that he left the podium.

Cllr Andrew Milton of the Lewisham Central ward has local reasons for his support for Simon:

Other than mentioning that I'm supporting Simon Hughes for Lib Dem leader, if only for the local reason that he knows Lewisham and its issues pretty well.

But I'm sure the same is also true of some supporters of Ming near North East Fife and of Chris near Eastleigh.

Barrie Wood may have been impressed by Chris Huhne at the Making a Deiffernece Conference however he remained unstinting in his support for Simon Hughes:

To date, Huhne's is the best and most positive policy driven campaign , even if I remain firmly resolved to support Simon Hughes. The party needs intellectual ballast and for all the criticisms, at least we have had idelogical contributions to the debate about what liberalism is and where it should go from the 'Orange Book-ers'. Where are the much needed counter arguments from those staunchly opposed to that outlook ?

Matt Jenkins may be the youngest blogger supporting Simon. However, youth is not hindrance in the Liberal Democrats and he said:

So, who's going to win it? I sorely hope Simon Hughes can rise to the challenge. Admittedly he is the Christian, but he is also the most resourceful of the 3, and he's really media-friendly which is a must for the position. There are a few other outsiders in the leadership contest, but methinks they won't go very far compared to the big three. Keep your eye on the news, or indeed the papers, and I'll be putting up startling developments on here evry now and then.

Martin Turner, Chair of Liberal Democrat Christian Forum and Vice Chair of Parliamentary Candidates Association. His wished to point out that his support for Simon is personal because as Party Organisations, neither LDCF nor PCA will be corporately supporting any one candidate. he said:

"I will do everything I can to help get Simon elected. He has three magnificent opponents, any one of whom could lead this party effectively and with vision and energy. But Simon is the pick of the Liberal-Democrats. A man of conscience and integrity, vision, charisma and clarity, he is inspiring, loyal, generous and experienced, and without equal in British politics today."

On the 18th January Helen Evison mentioned in passing:

As he was getting up I went into town to deliver my nomination form for the new Liberal Democrat Party Leader. I am pledging my support for Simon Hughes.

On the 16 January following the Sky News dabateJames Thompson posted:

The 4 leadeship candidates took part in a debate earlier this evening on Sky News and for me I found it very interesting. Whilst it re-affirmed my backing for Simon Hughes, it did leave me unsure as to where my second preference vote will go to. I was extremely impressed with all 4 candidates. Whoever wins the contest, I will be happy for them to lead my party.

Chris Huhne impressed me, I had never heard him speak before. But, I do think at the moment my second preference will be Mark Oaten. I was not happy with his views on the NHS, but I did admire his ambition for the party. we should stop all this talk of no glass ceilings and should be ambitious and confident that we can form a government. In the next election, lets try and get as many votes and as many seats as possible. Our priority in a general election, needs to be the general election. But I feel many people in our party are more obsessed with local election success than gaining credibilty as a national political force.

Rob Fenwick is another blogger supporting Simon Hughes. His support came in the very practical way of establishing this version of Simon's leadership campaign site.

He said:

"I support Simon Hughes because I believe he ticks all the boxes. He is as comfortable taking on the Prime Minister at PMQs as he is rallying the Liberal Democrat troops at constituency dinners.

"He can walk down a street shaking hands and kissing babies as naturally as he buses activists around Southwark & Bermondsey in his yellow taxi. He can step straight out of chairing a Federal Executive meeting to deliver a first-rate media interview.

"Simon makes voters feel comfortable when they meet him. It’s easy to place your trust in him as a leader. He has the natural skills of leadership, without being aloof and Mingdescending. Sorry, sorry, condescending."

The only Liberal Democrat AM in Cardiff to keep a blog Cllr Peter Black is also the first AM to be listed amongst Simon Hughes list of supporters however has kept the leadership campaign off his blog pages to date.

Susanne Lamido from Islington North is another blogger to support Simon. She said:

"It is very apparent that we need a strong leader who will unite the party - the wounds are deep and scars will be felt for a very long time.The public must be made to feel that we are a refreshed party going places, under a strong leader who voters will feel akin to. I decide that for that reason I will go with my original inclination and support Simon Hughes's leadership bid."

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The first Lib Dem blogger to support Simon was Stephen Glenn when he posted his intention on Friday 13 January. Stephen was the party's candidate in Linlithgow and Falkirk East in the General Election last year.

He assures Simon that his support is not based solely on the conversation they had, in the queue for candidadate's pictures to be taken, at last year's Harrogate Spring Conference. As the post shows it came after careful consideration of all the candidates and the interests of the party.

This is the first Federal Liberal Democrat leadership election where widespread use of the internet is having an effect both in carrying news, opinion and announcements. All of the three candidates have a website and all of the candidates have Liberal Democrat bloggers who support their candidacy.

This site has been set up to bring you news of the Lib Dem bloggers who are supporting Simon Hughes to be the next leader of the Liberal Democrats.