BRITAIN: Simon Hughes launched his bid to lead Britain's Liberal Democrats yesterday and was promptly installed as the bookmakers' favourite to beat early front-runner Menzies "Ming" Campbell.
Sir Menzies suffered a bad press after a dismal first outing as acting leader against Tony Blair at prime minister's questions on Wednesday. And despite Sir Menzies having the support of an estimated third of Lib Dem MPs, William Hill and Ladbrokes greeted Mr Hughes's formal launch yesterday by putting his chances of victory at 11-10 and 5-4 respectively.
With Mark Oaten already declared, and economics spokesman Chris Huhne tipped to enter the race tomorrow, the Conservatives mocked Lib Dem rules allowing MPs to nominate more than one candidate, so raising the possibility that several more contenders might enter the field before nominations close on January 25th.
In the end, however, Mr Hughes has indicated that he anticipates a two-horse race with Sir Menzies for the right to succeed Charles Kennedy, forced out last Saturday after admitting a personal struggle with alcohol.
Launching his campaign from the fashionable Oxo Tower by the Thames, Mr Hughes immediately set about shedding his left-wing reputation, stressing the party had to move beyond its record on Iraq, the environment and civil liberties and assure people they also had the right policies on the economy, pensions and security.
While reserving himself on the policy detail, Mr Hughes told BBC Radio 4's PM programme his would not be "a simplistic high-tax, high-spend" platform.
Mr Hughes praised Mr Kennedy's achievement of the best Liberal parliamentary representation in 80 years, but said this could be "a stepping stone to greater progress".