Letters from the candidates

One of the nice things about the leadership election was all the important people who wrote to me. Today I heard from Ming Campbell and Chris Huhne.

First, here is Ming after his victory was announced:

The Liberal Democrats are a party that embraces new ideas, that cherishes our principles, and that refuses to sacrifice our values for convenience.

Tony Blair has squeezed values out of politics. Under New Labour, politics has become managerial and not inspirational.

David Cameron has taken the same course, shunning conviction and desperate only to copy the value-free managerialism of Mr Blair's Number 10.

Britain does not need a third managerial party. It needs a distinctive liberal democratic party. I believe that a modern Liberal Democrat party is better placed than any other to understand and address the most pressing challenges of our time:

the overbearing centralisation of public life in Britain, which has led to a pervasive feeling of individual powerlessness, and to public services which still fail too many of the people they are supposed to serve;

the absence of social justice, with persistent levels of poverty and social immobility, and a tax system still biased against the poor; and

the disturbing effects of globalisation and the urgent need to rebuild confidence in the international rule of law; the threat of catastrophic environmental degradation.

These are the urgent challenges of our times.

If you agree with me on these key issues facing our country, you can donate now to help our campaigns at www.libdems.org.uk.

And here is Chris Huhne:

Without your help, I could not have done anything like as well. It was disappointing not finally to pull it off, but we certainly came from a long way back against all the odds.

We will now go forward as a united party led by Ming, reinforced by the experience of all the common ground forged during the leadership campaign on what is undoubtedly going to be a more radical environmental platform.

Thanks again for all your help and support.

And Simon Hughes? He doesn't write. He doesn't visit...