What the pretenders had to offer

By Gary O'Donoghue
BBC political correspondent

The four leadership rivals

It's been a difficult few weeks to be a Liberal Democrat - don't take my word for it, the party's Home affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten said so.

Not only have they effected the messy removal of a much-loved leader (they thought they were nicer than that), but they've seen a resurgent Tory Party trying to move its tanks onto their lawn.

So the week-old leadership battle is a welcome distraction for most, and they turned out in force today to see what the new pretenders had to offer.

And before you ask, yes there were beards present and quite a lot of jumpers, but it is Saturday and I'd quite liked to have been wearing a jumper myself.

As for the candidates, they all appeared in suits and ties - Sir Menzies Campbell suggesting in his speech that he'd rather have open minds than open-necked shirts. You're right, it didn't get much of a laugh.

Grand thoughts

That may have been partly because it was pretty hard to hear one in 10 of his words, due to a rather dodgy PA system in the Old Theatre at the London School of Economics, an aptly radical setting for the party that peppers its pronouncements with the 'r' word like it was going out of fashion.

Sir Ming battled bravely on, crisp and clear one minute, gone the next - much like listening to the World Service on shortwave in some far-flung corner of the cosmos.

His thoughts were grand enough, the sentiments fine and noble, the attack on David Cameron was clever, perhaps too clever.

But the overall effect, given the technical hiccups, fell short of the barnstorming grandiloquence that would have helped erase the painful memories of his first appearance at Prime Minister's Question Time as acting leader last Wednesday.

Only one of these men will sit in the hot seat...

Bizarrely the PA system appeared to behave itself for the arrival of Simon Hughes on the platform. His target was New Labour and what he believed were the rising social inequalities between rich and poor.

He probably just about clinched it on the clapometer, they even laughed at most of his jokes. But these are Simon Hughes people, activists and old Liberals who lap up talk of higher taxes.

Afterwards, Mr Hughes could scarcely stand still, he was so excited - the bookies' favourite is clearly of the view he could win this.

Changed minds

But every race has its dark horse. Step forward Chris Huhne, a man who's only been in Parliament for eight months and who's sitting on a rather small majority at Eastleigh in Hampshire.

He's an economist by training, a journalist by trade, and someone who's pretty anonymous to the public, even by Liberal Democrat standards.

But many in the hall liked what they heard, particularly talk of radical increases in eco taxes to pay for tax relief for the poor. The delivery was a little dry and academic, but all the same there are a few Liberal Democrats going home this evening having changed their minds about the real choice before them.

Given the strictly alphabetical nature of the hustings, it was down to Mark Oaten to give the last hurrah.

Sir Menzies joined his three opponents on the hustings

In a nod to the wounds that have undoubtedly been inflicted by the removal of Charles Kennedy, Mr Oaten in effect apologised to the activists. He is thought to enjoy the support of the ex-leader for the top job.

But he was also giving a nod to the new Tory leader David Cameron - opting to speak at times without notes and doing a bit of wandering around on stage, a la Cameron at the Conservative Party Conference last autumn.

So what does it all amount to? Certainly no knock-out blow to any candidate at this stage - but the bell has only just rung at the end of round one.

And they could all end up benefiting from this process if it raises the party's profile as well as that of its leading lights.

They'd just better make sure the PA system they use to communicate with the public works a bit better than the one that crackled its way through the hustings today.