Too old? Voters just need to figure me out, says Ming

13 April 2012

Sir Menzies Campbell today conceded he has yet to make a significant impact on many voters.

In an interview the Liberal Democrat leader admitted that it could take another two years - until after the general election expected in 2009 - before many people even really knew who he was.

Asked whether he had yet made the impact he wanted on voters after a year at the helm of his party, he said:

"It takes time in the British political system.

"Indeed, there are those who say until you have fought a general election as a leader of a party, then, and only then, does the public have a real idea of who you are and what you do."

However, Sir Menzies, 65, dismissed concerns inside his party that he is "too old" to hold electoral appeal.

"I am what I am - that's what the party voted for 12 months ago," he said.

The Lib-Dems' home af fairs spokesman Nick Clegg agreed that his leader was still establishing himself with the public.

"It takes time for the electorate to develop a fully formed view," he said.

Mr Clegg, who is seen as a future party leader, blamed Sir Menzies's subdued profile on the media coverage lavished on his opponents -

David Cameron's political "honeymoon" and the saga over Tony Blair and his likely successor, Chancellor Gordon Brown.

He believed, though, that Sir Menzies was winning over his critics, saying: "He has a slow-burn appeal."

The two men were speaking on the eve of the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, which begins today.

Sir Menzies said his party had gone through a period of settling itself after the ousting of Charles Kennedy as leader and the furore over Mark Oaten's liaison with a male prostitute.

"Last year was about stability - next year is about voicing the anger on behalf of the British people," he said.

"We've waited 10 years for government solutions and are still waiting - that is why there is a growing anger and frustration.

"It is time that someone spoke up for the frustrated majority."

Sir Menzies said the key issues for the Lib-Dems will be crime that plagues neighbourhoods, rising council tax, the lack of affordable housing and increasing inequality in Britain, as well as opposing government "snooping and interfering" in people's lives.

At the conference, he will brand this the Blair/Brown legacy and accuse Mr Cameron's Conservatives of being a "substance-free zone."

The most controversial debate at the conference is widely expected to be on whether to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Ed Davey MP, Sir Menzies' chief of staff, said he was confident the leadership would persuade delegates to back its position calling for the number of Britain's nuclear warheads to be halved and for the decision on Trident to be put off until 2014.

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