 | 'The Lib Dems saw their chance, used all the local issues as proof that Labour was taking Dunfermline & West Fife for granted and in the Alice in Wonderland world of devolution, they were the recipients of the protest vote, even though they are in coalition power at Holyrood.' Philip Webster, Angus Macleod and David Charter in the Times, 11 th February 2006. |  |
Competing factions are scrabbling to avoid the blame for Labour's embarrassing by-election loss in Scotland.
SIR MENZIES CAMPBELL and Simon Hughes lost no time in hurrying to their party's victory parade along Dunfermline High Street yesterday as television cameras captured the celebrations.
Of the two, Mr Hughes probably proved the more agile in pressing closest to the constituency's new MP, Willie Rennie, and so becoming omnipresent in media footage of the event - although Sir Menzies was seldom far from the action.
Both were fully entitled to their share of the limelight: Sir Menzies as acting leader, Mr Hughes as party president. Chris Huhne, the third leadership candidate, was nowhere to be seen.
A cynic might even, fleetingly, have suspected a degree of collusion between the two more senior MPs as they acted out their parts on the political stage and left the upstart understudy who threatens to steal the show kicking his heels.
Both Sir Menzies and Mr Hughes have a strong vested interest in talking up each other's campaigns in order to try to squeeze out Mr Huhne, who has slipped between the pair to be installed as favourite.
If a 'Dunfermline dynamic' does impact on the leadership election, Sir Menzies would appear to be the most likely beneficiary. This latest, stunning by-election victory happened on his watch as acting leader and he is himself a Fife MP.
Another theory, however, may work itself into the calculations of Lib Dem members.
Charles Kennedy's visit to Dunfermline last week electrified the contest and his enthusiastic reception from bystanders was evidence of his continuing popularity and instinctive rapport with voters.
The impact of Mr Kennedy's visit on local people, and on the morale of Lib Dem volunteers who flooded to the constituency to shove leaflets through doors, is difficult to quantify. But it was enough to mean that he, too, could claim some of the credit. The return of Mr Kennedy so swiftly to the political fray may have served to keep alive unease among some Lib Dems unhappy at the events which led to his resignation as leader and during which a number questioned Sir Menzies' loyalty.
This weekend will bring a flurry of activity from the three candidates as large numbers of members are expected to return their ballot papers, having waited to watch the trio spar against one another on the BBC programme Question Time.
The third hustings takes place in Slough, Berkshire this morning - at which the by-election victor Willie Rennie will make a short speech - after which the candidates will fan out on campaign visits to meet members and target the regional media.
Whether or not the by-election influences the election, the result will help hugely in setting a positive backdrop to the party's spring conference at Harrogate on March 3-5, which begins the day after the new leader is installed.
Lib Dems love nothing better than an against-the-odds by-election victory to lift their spirits, particularly with elections ahead in May. Labour recriminations were in full swing last night after the Dunfermline & West Fife by-election as Gordon Brown's allies sought desperately to keep the blame for the extraordinary Lib Dem victory away from the Chancellor's door.
Scottish Brownite MPs, only too aware that the bombshell had exploded on the Chancellor's political home turf, with all the possible implications that has for his ability to lead Labour into a fourth term, were targeting Labour ministers in Scotland's devolved administration as the real villains of the piece. They painted a picture of inept Edinburgh-based 'amateurs' allowing local issues that could have been killed off at the start of the campaign to fester.
The Lib Dems saw their chance, used all the local issues as proof that Labour was taking Dunfermline & West Fife for granted and in the Alice in Wonderland world of devolution, they were the recipients of the protest vote, even though they are in coalition power at Holyrood.
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