Sir Ming is Ming

The late, lamented satirical blog Ming's Dynasty, formed in the aftermath of the LibDem leadership election earlier this year, would have had a field day with the current goings-on in the LibDem party.

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Welsh Assembly Member Peter Black kicked it all off last week with a well-argued piece on his blog saying that Sir Ming Campbell needed to shape up by the time of September's party conference - or ship out.

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Then the News of the World claimed that Charles Kennedy (now off the booze) planned to challenge Ming in an audacious bid to regain the party leadership, leading to a spate of denial stories in last weeks national papers.

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Meanwhile, over at Conservative Home, (a curious little site) they are once again talking up the leadership chances of their favourite LibDem Nick Clegg - the one they hope will split his party.

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To make matters worse (or at least more fun), LibDem blogger Jonathan Calder has written a piece in The Guardian which, while attempting to defend Ming, actually serves to highlight his real problem. In his piece, Jonathan argues that Lib Dem image-makers should stop trying to turn Ming into something he isn't and just "let Ming be Ming."

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The problem is in fact diametrically the opposite - not that Sir Ming isn't being allowed to be Ming, but that Ming is in fact Ming.