Lib Dem figures

BBC News Online offers a quick guide to some of the key figures who made the news at the Liberal Democrat conference.

Charles Kennedy: I'm the boss now

Charles Kennedy

The Liberal Democrat conference was dominated by the new party leader Charles Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy, already proven as a media player, used his first conference speech as party leader to try to build on the publicity the leadership competition generated during the summer.

However, he alarmed many Lib Dems by insisting he would not take the party to the left of Labour.

He also angered some by refusing to rule out extending the party's controversial links with the government.

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Simon Hughes: Runner up

Simon Hughes

The leadership contest runner-up, Simon Hughes, warned delegates that the party could go "down hill at the next general election."

In an interview with BBC News Online, he predicted that the Lib Dems could lose six of the seats they captured off the Tories in 1997.

He can also have hardly endeared himself to his new party leader by remarking that Mr Kennedy had never been "a great policy promoter."

He was also out of step with Mr Kennedy when he called on the new leader to take the party to the "centre left" of the political spectrum.

Mr Hughes has also been a critic of Lib Dems co-operation with the government.

It remains to be seen what role he will be given when Mr Kennedy appoints his new team.

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Jim Wallace: Lib Dem in government

Jim Wallace

The performance of Scotland's deputy first minister Jim Wallace came under scrutiny at the conference.

The leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats strongly rejected claims he had sold out the party's pledge to abolish tuition fees in order to secure a coalition with Labour in the Scottish Parliament.

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Paddy Ashdown: Bowing out

Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown stepped down as the party's leader for 11 years earlier this year and will retire from the Commons at the next general election.

As a result his farewell speech to conference was always likely to be an emotional event.

However, many delegates were surprised by the stern tone of his speech in which he urged the party not to become "lazy and complacent."

He also accused the Lib Dems of becoming too staid in their attitudes to improving public services.

Mr Ashdown also hinted that at times his greatest problems had come from within the ranks of his own party.

"You have been a great party to lead - which is not the same thing, incidentally, as an easy party to lead," he said.

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Menzies Campbell: Party grandee

Menzies Campbell

The Lib Dems foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell moved a motion on the reconstruction on Kosovo at the conference.

Mr Campbell, who refused to enter the race for the party leadership, is a respected senior statesman of the party.