Good to hear from you, Dave. And I'm glad to hear you were prepared to stand up and try even in the face of the nay-sayers. That's important. And I agree that historically the LibDems have been at their best on local issues, which is why, again historically, they proved themselves to through the councils in most cases before being successful in National Government.

But it doesn't chance the fact that people will be asking 'What is the purpose of the LibDems' at the next election, and you will need a more solid answer than 'they stand for a spirit of liberty'. In fact, as you will be aware, in the foundation of the party the term 'liberal' was more closely related to 'free trade and deregulation' than 'civil liberty'. And what are we to make of 'a genuine respect for democracy' when the democratic message you have just got appears to be that you were not wanted (for now, at least)?

I am not anti-Liberal, by the way. It is simply that there are some hard questions coming up and they need to be answered, not dodged.