Who could lead the LibDems?

There may be some candidates, but who is up to leading the Libdems? They are a collection of people who have progressed by encouraging protest and opposing one of the large parties. They have postured that they are somehow a central party between the other two, and therefore safe from the excesses of the others. This was never entirely true, although some people believed them, but now the other two have re-positioned themselves across the centre of politics.

I was a Liberal councillor in the days before they joined the Social Democrats, but in three years I failed to discover what the Party believed. The Liberals have a tradition of freedom of the individual (although it is selective - valid in personal behaviour in sexual matters, for instance, but not in the economic sphere or education), while the Social Democrats have a tradition of coercion of the individual after majority voting (the earlier Social Democrats in Germany were almost Marxist!).

The LibDems have no coherent philosophy, no obvious core, which differentiates them from the other two parties, and the two wings are almost as far right as the Conservatives go and almost as far left as Labour go. So apart from using phrases such as "greater equality" (whatever that means), greater personal freedom, opposition to war, joining the United States of Europe, with all sorts of unresolved conflicts between them, how can you summarise their position? How do they differ from New Labour and its incomprehensible sound bite and failed"Third Way"?

The new Leader has quite a task in hand, and although the party will doubtless give a period of honeymoon eventually they will pull apart because of the internal incompatibilities.