An alert to anyone who was planning to attend the Scottish LibDem leadership hustings next Monday: they’re postponed until Sunday 19th. This is because of an ID cards vote in the Commons on Monday and, quite reasonably, the candidates need to be there.

I don’t usually watch Question Time, but I’ve been tuning in recently as each of the LibDem leadership contenders have taken turns on the panel. (Next week will see a debate between all three.) Last night, it was Chris Huhne’s turn so I was particularly interested, and expectant.

I wasn’t disappointed. He was calm, collected and confident, in marked contrast to Simon Hughes who seemed – understandably – on edge last week. He was fortunate to be first to answer and immediately seemed in command of both the issues and the panel. None of the questions tripped him up and he put forward the LibDem case on issues from freedom of speech to Iraq with ease.

Once again the panel had two Tories, but only one openly so (Adam Rickitt, who seemed uncomfortable and a little out of place, was credited as an actor, just as Zac Goldsmith was identified previously as a magazine editor – both are on the Tory approved candidates list). Rhodri Morgan, Welsh First Minister, was the panel’s most obvious big hitter, and there was also a Plaid Cymru AM. Morgan got himself into hot water with the audience by refusing the state his position on Iraq on the basis that he isn’t an MP, and wasn’t at the time of the vote to go to war. Huhne pointed out that he hadn’t been an MP either at the time but that hadn’t stopped him from holding the view that the war was wrong or from going on the big anti-war march in London.

I’m not just saying this because I’m backing him: Huhne ran rings round the other panellists. Of all of them, he seemed the most statesmanlike, the most knowledgeable and – of course- the most liberal.

For the next week, you can watch the episode on the Question Time website.

How long does Sir Menzies Campbell think our troops should be in Iraq?

Just over a year ago, he co-wrote this article in The Times, calling for occupying forces to aim for withdrawal in what was a year’s time – around now. Under the headline “Our troops must quit Iraq when the UN mandate ends in a year” and the subhead “We need to fix an exit timetable”, Robin Cook, Douglas Hurd and Ming wrote:

By its actions our Government has imposed on all of us, supporters and opponents of war alike, an obligation to the people of Iraq. But that obligation cannot be open-ended. The costs of our presence — financial, political and human — rise every day. We can give the people of Iraq an opportunity but they must take it: we cannot take it for them. The British Government cannot long delay reaching a judgment. Donald Rumsfeld’s four years are not an option for Britain, with our more limited troop numbers.
[…]
The UN mandate expires in a year’s time with the completion of the timetable for direct election of a representative government under an agreed constitution. Both Britain and America should inform the assembly elected this weekend that we expect to leave by the end of that UN mandate. Both the assembly and the occupying forces must then each do its part to fulfil the necessary political and security tasks to meet that timetable.

In May, just after the General Election, he spoke to UPI:

Sir Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for Britain’s anti-war Liberal Democrats, said there was “compelling evidence” the presence of coalition forces was “as much a part of the problem as the solution.”

“A substantial number of those parties that fought the elections at the end of January, fought on the basis of the withdrawal of the coalition forces,” he told United Press International. On April 9, the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam, 300,000 people demonstrated in Baghdad demanding coalition forces withdraw, he added.

“I think it’s pretty clear what the attitude of the Iraqi people is on this topic,” he said.

Earlier in the week, Chris Huhne followed these comments up with a call for a proper timetable for withdrawal:

Liberal Democrat leadership contender Chris Huhne has called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. The move comes as vigils are taking place following the death of the 100th member of the UK’s armed forces since the conflict started three years ago.

Mr Huhne, a Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, said withdrawal this year was “well within the bounds of what is feasible”.
[…]
Mr Huhne said: “The important thing is to hand over to Iraqi security forces and we’re not going to be in a position to do that unless we concentrate minds by setting a very clear deadline.

“So I’m not obviously calling for immediate withdrawal. We have to recognise our responsibility.

“But it has been recognised for some time that a timetable that sets the end of this year is well within the bounds of what is feasible.”

Ming Campbell would support this. Wouldn’t he?

The Liberal Democrat leadership candidate and bookies’ frontrunner, Sir Menzies Campbell, hit back at his rival Chris Huhne today over green taxes and for calling for an early withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

A spokesman for Sir Menzies told Guardian Unlimited that Mr Huhne’s call yesterday for a complete withdrawal of British troops by the end of the year was “naive populism”.

Hmm.

Chris Huhne on why he’s standing for the LibDem leadership (requires Flash):

There are more videos on Chris’s campaign site.