Ming wins.

First round:
Campbell 44.7%
Hughes 23.2%
Huhne 32.1%

Second round:
Campbell 57.9%
Huhne 42.1%

Turnout was a whopping 72%.

As a good “citizen journalist“, I took notes at the Edinburgh leadership hustings to type up later. I don’t think that’s going to happen – I’m still full of cold and not up to long posts. Stephen and Richard were there and have written good summaries.

Two aspects of the hustings I will mention. The first was the turnout. The room was so full that the Dyanmic Earth fire regulations meant there had to be an overflow room and the candidates repeated their speeches to the people who couldn’t get in the main hall. In an age of apparent political apathy, it was great to see so many people – some of them not even party members – turn out to hear politicians speak.

The second thing that I noticed at the hustings was that it wasn’t a pro-Ming rally. I had, perhaps naively, assumed that Ming’s home town would be lined up behind their local candidate, but there seemed to be a good split of supporters in the room, along with many people who were undecided. I felt that Chris Huhne’s speech won the biggest round of applause, which came as a pleasant surprise. Ming did his “I’ve got a speech but I’m not going to make it” turn, which seems somewhat less sponataneous when you’ve read other reports of it – he did it again last night.

The candidates were pretty well matched when it came to questions and I suspect that, as the hustings have gone on, they’ve adopted some of each others policies and turns of phrase to fill in gaps of their own. None of them scored a knockout blow, although I was pleased to see that Huhne has started reference Ming’s U-turn over Iraq. Huhne stickers appeared to be shifting well after the event.

I went to help me decide how to cast my second preference. Cracking a few jokes and being fairly genial, Ming was good enough to convince me that he does deserve to be my second choice. Simon did well on the day, but he did nothing to convince me that my concerns about him are unfounded.

Having voted, I worked out today that I could offset my disappointment if Huhne loses by betting on both Simon and Ming. I may not have got the best odds available, but with Simon at 16-1 and Ming at 3-2, I’ve placed my bets in such a way as to ensure a profit if Chris loses. And if he wins, I’ll be too pleased to notice. 🙂

Hughes: “Under my leadership, the laws of statistics will be turned on their head.”

(With apologies to Rob.)

I dont’ think there was a clear winner this week. Once again, the sheer fact that Chris Huhne was able to perform on an equal footing with two others who have been MPs much longer demonstrates that time spent in the Commons isn’t everything.

Campbell and Huhne were well matched, with Hughes further behind. Campbell benefited on Iraq from a couple of audience members who agreed with him, but it was telling that Huhne got a big cheer for mentioning the YouGov poll (on Dimbleby’s prompting) that put him in the lead.

Simon seemed caught out over some of his comments (although his team have already refuted that) and Ming was a bit too defensive about his “naive populism” remarks, snapping that he certainly didn’t say that…about Simon – before clarifying that he’d never say that about his colleagues. Both Campbell and Hughes cracked some ropey jokes.

I was happy with Chris’s performance and he remains my first choice. I think he came across as the most likeable and – to use the Kennedy criterion – the one I’d most want to have a drink with/be stuck in a lift with. Ming performed much more strongly than Simon and I will probably give him my second preference. I can see both Chris and Ming as successful leaders in their own ways; I find it hard to see Simon in that way any longer.

Scottish hustings are Sunday week. My ballot paper will be sent on its way shortly afterwards.

(Via Nick, some more comments. I agree about the walk-on…)