Yes, I Do Have a Trouser Press. No,I Don'twear Sock Suspenders. And I Might Make Tax 50p in the Pound ; As the Lib Dems Celebrate by-Election Victory, a Most Revealing Interview with Would-Be Leader Sir Menzies 'Ming' Campbell

Mail on Sunday › February 12, 2006

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Summary

I am expecting to see Sir Menzies 'Ming' Campbell, the current favourite to win the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, at his office in Westminster at 10am.

Early in the morning I receive a call saying the interview is off because the Lib Dems have overturned Labour's 11,563 majority in the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election. But why is our meeting off, I ask? Has Ming fainted with shock? Are they at this very moment administering smelling salts?

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Extract

Yes, I Do Have a Trouser Press. No,I Don'twear Sock Suspenders. And I Might Make Tax 50p in the Pound ; As the Lib Dems Celebrate by-Election Victory, a Most Revealing Interview with Would-Be Leader Sir Menzies 'Ming' Campbell

It turns out that the acting leader has caught a plane to Scotland to capitalise on his party's surprise victory. Fortunately he has an engagement in Cheltenham in the evening and it is agreed I meet him at the local Thistle Hotel at 6pm.

Sir Ming's team have booked us The Penthouse Suite. Given the recent sex scandals that have embroiled the Lib Dems, I wonder if this is not giving hostages to fortune. But I note the bed is missing. Ah ha, crafty move. No opportunity for rumpy-pumpy.

Sir Ming enters and it is immediately apparent h...

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