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LIBERAL DEMOCRATS turned on their party leader Nick Clegg yesterday with calls for him to stand down following their electoral disaster.
Councillors and would-be MPs were among the 600 party members who co-signed the LibDems4Change open letter in which Mr Clegg is described as the wrong person to lead the party for the general elections.
“Although I admire enormously Nick’s bravery, it does not follow that because the captain should go down with the ship that the ship has to go down with the captain,” said Southport MP John Pugh.
The devastating results at this year’s local elections have pushed the Lib Dems to demand Mr Clegg’s resignation.
The Liberal Democrats’ loss of over 250 councillors was a heavy hit for the party which is expected to lose all 12 of its MEP seats.
Winchester MP candidate Jackie Porter argued that the party was “not going forward with a clear strategy.”
Mr Clegg was to blame for allowing “himself to be portrayed as just another pea out of the same pod,” she said.
But the party president Tim Farron felt the appeal was “absolutely foolish.”
Despite his position as favorite replacement for party leader, Mr Farron said: “Nick Clegg should undoubtedly stay and the Liberal Democrats should stay the course in government.”
Other party members have made their support for Business Secretary Vince Cable clear.
To many Lib Dems the priority seemed to be avoiding any further damages to the party’s reputation.
“What has separated the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives the last four years is that while the Conservatives have been like cats in a sack fighting each other, the Liberal Democrats have stood united,” reiterated Mr Farron.
His views were supported by Mr Pugh who feared a “civil war in the party.”
And it is not only local results and European election polls that Liberal Democrats have to worry about.
The party has been plagued with sexual harassment scandals and supporters disappointment over broken policy promises such as the trebling of tuition fees.
Despite this Torbay MP Adrian Sanders still thought it was a question of bad leadership.
“The problem is the messenger. Very few people say it’s the message,” he said.
