MP Simon Hughes: The party's way forward is to involve people from now on

Bermondsey MP Simon Hughes told a meeting in his constituency that he opposed the timing and manner of November's announcement, which extended work with Labour from constitutional matters to broader issues.

But that move was backed by the party's MPs and its executive committee, and everyone should accept it, Mr Hughes said.

He warned the two dozen activists, who were launching the Campaign for Liberal Democracy, against descending into factionalism.

Those behind the new campaign fear the party will lose its own image and be swallowed up by Labour. They want to call a special party conference to block the plans.

'Us and them'

Mr Hughes told the rebels: "If we concentrate on a decision made a month ago, we are in danger of looking like 'us and them'.

"That's a bigger help to our enemies than it is to us and what we are about."

Mr Hughes pointed out that he wanted the party to continue to oppose Labour policies, and said many of the sick, the poor and the elderly "are being sold out by the Labour Party".

Simon Hughes: Warned against factionalism

"It's absolutely clear that it would be folly beyond belief to put ourselves in a position where we don't reap the benefits of the disappointment and disillusion with the Labour Party," he said.

But Mr Hughes' pleas appeared to go unheeded by the group of dissidents.

Gordon Lishman, a member of the party's federal finance committee, told the meeting he was strongly in favour of factions.

"The idea that political parties need to be united is an extension of the Fuhrerprinzip," he said, referring to the doctrine of absolute obedience to Adolf Hitler.

Mr Lishman warned Mr Ashdown against "the short-term attractions of office rather than of power".

'Time to call a halt'

And David Howarth, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Cambridge City Council, said the agreement with Labour "threatens our existence as a separate party".

He added: "It's time for us ordinary party members to call a halt."

Donnachadh McCarthy: "There has to be a genuine opposition"

Donnachadh McCarthy, a member of the party's federal executive, who organised the meeting, said he was not against co-operating with other parties.

But he added: "We are not interested in narrow pacts done behind closed doors that exclude the Greens, exclude the Tories, exclude the Nationalists and suffocate our voice."

An observer from the Ashdown camp present at the meeting described the activists as the "usual ragtag bunch who don't seem to have anything better to do on a Saturday afternoon before Christmas".

The party's federal executive is scheduled to meet on Monday to consider plans for a membership ballot on the issue.

But a ballot appears unlikely, as neither the leadership nor the dissidents want one.

Mr McCarthy has collected 95 of the 200 signatures of conference delegates which are required to trigger a special conference to debate the plan.