Is the party now back with a policy of equidistance?

The Lib Dems who’ve been returning home this evening after their Brighton conference should have been absolutely delighted with the closing speech by Ming Campbell.

After days of being questioned about his age and his fitness to lead his performance, judging from the playbacks on the computer, appeared excellent and, more significantly, undid much of the damage from his last major speech to the party at the Harrogate conference in March.

What was smart was the way he attacked Brown and Cameron equally leaving his audience in no doubt about that being equidistant between the two main parties was now high on the Lib Dem agenda.

So far the speech has been well received by the political media. Reproduced above is part of Nick Robinson’s BBC blog.

This is how Tory blogger Iain Dale the stand in for Tory blogger Iain Dale viewed it “..Ming blasted apart expectations and delivered an extraordinary speech.But here’s the thing. Ming’s speech wasn’t just good by comparison to previous performances. It was good in its own right; as a piece of oratory it stands out, deservedly so..Far from the dithering, tired, bumbling and mumbling performances of recent pasts Ming Campbell looked strong, resolute, dynamic, tough, tenacious and not simply ready, but spoiling, for a fight.“

Meanwhile there’s reported to be more bad polling news for the Tories from YouGov in tomorrow’s Telegraph.

Mike Smithson