Ming Campbell resigns - our view

Once again we have allowed the two-party obsessed media to call the shots and the panicky minority in the party have got their own way again.

We did not vote for Ming but we accepted that he had won the leadership fair and square and by a large majority. We have given him our 100% support. He was up against it from the start but it was not just him who needed to raise his game. We all did. We can do well in elections against all the odds but we cannot sustain the interest of the media in between. We have failed to find a way of drawing the attention of the media away from two-party game and we have failed to get our message across to the public.

Electing yet another new leader will not make the slightest difference unless we can select someone who can handle the media and get the message across. Charles Kennedy had that skill. Being young, bright and handsome gives you an advantage, it now seems, but this is not enough. The new leader needs something else. He or she needs the total backing of our MP's, Councillors and members. Like Charles, Ming did not get this support, certainly not enough of it anyway.

Once we elect the new leader we all need to get behind whoever it is and give them the support they deserve. We should be quicker to defend and smarter in the way we react to situations.

Our MP's have been excellent in debates in the house, seen by few people, but hopeless at PM questions, when the eyes of the country are on them. They need to get this right. It is never going to be an easy ride for anyone but we all have to get behind a new leader and back them through thick and thin.

Finally we send our best wishes to Ming and thank him for what he has done for us. He is a man of real integrity and great dignity. It is a real shame that he did not get the backing he deserved.