Well done Tim

I am delighted to hear that Tim Farron has been elected President of the Liberal Democrats.

I've known Tim since our student days when we both used to argue the Liberal case at NUS conferences against the kind of left wing numpties who were doing so much damage to the student cause on Wednesday.

Tim is a fine liberal, comes from an ordinary background and is an activist through and through.

Back to Old & Sad

I am delighted to hear the news that the Election Court has ordered a re-run of the Oldham East & Saddleworth election.

The campaign run by Labour's Phil Woolas in May was the most despicable I have ever seen and one he and the Labour Party should be ashamed of.

The last time I was in Oldham it was to help run the Royton South by-election (which we won), which preceded the Littleborough & Saddleworth parliamentary by-election in July 1995.

We won in Royton South, which was next door to Little & Sad, and I well remember a very gloomy Peter Mandelson turning up on the Friday morning expecting to celebrate a Labour victory but having to excuse a bad loss.

I helped with the local by-election because I was getting married on the penultimate weekend of the main by-election campaign and was therefore unable to be part of the campaign team.  I even had to undertake extensive negotiations with Chris Rennard in order to persuade him to release some of our guests for the wedding!

I am already going through my diary to work out when I will be able to head up to help and look forward to meeting Lib Dem activists from around the country there.