If you haven’t yet seen what this is all about, then hop over and read the article on the BBC first.

I must confess to be surprised by all of this, and now that I’ve heard about it, I do really feel sorry for Kennedy. He has seemingly handled a drinking problem on his own; got the help he needed and put a stop to it. And yet, under immense pressure has had to call an impromptu press conference to confess to having had a problem and also, in some kind of political grovelling match, attempt to redeem himself by re-running for his position of leader in a full leadership election.

Now don’t get me wrong, no party leader or even politician for that matter, is perfect, and this shows in the way some of Kennedy’s fellow MPs clearly feel about his ability to lead the party. It’s all rather interesting though. As the reporter said just before the end of his live broadcast “the public seem to be behind Kennedy”, and this is, from what I have heard round about anyhow, entirely true.

More importantly though I think at this stage, is not the fate of Kennedy, or even in fact who ends up leading the Lib dems, more how much damage this whole episode will do to the party and the votes they receive at the next general elections and indeed local elections (although less so here). Last general election saw the Lib dems gaining a fair amount of ground over the conservatives (statistically anyway), so it should be a concern to any Lib dem or labour supporter at this stage that this business, along with David Cameron’s obvious strength as tory leader may in fact cause the tories to gain a significant number of votes.

I’m sure a few tory voters will be rubbing their hands together tonight though thats for sure. As for the synical side of me, the question I’ve just asked myself is that if the tories and the lib dems are going down the leadership election route, how long before labour does so just to keep up with the times?