I JOINED the Liberal Democrats, a quarter of a century ago when Paddy Ashdown became leader.

By then, I had a dislike of the Conservatives, and could never vote for Labour.

Nothing has changed.

The aim of the game is, to get into Government and that is exactly what Nick Clegg did, despite having five fewer MPs in 2010.

He should be praised, for putting the Party well and truly, on the map. The Liberal Democrats did stop the Conservatives from being too right wing, and introduced many good policies.

Which, the Tories have now stolen.

Vince Cable, as with Ed Balls, were both too left wing, and harped on about the ‘Mansion Tax’, which I had warned years ago, was a vote loser.

What we have witnessed in England, there is no majority for a left wing Party.

My point is that, it was not the fault of Nick Clegg that the Liberal Democrats were so badly hit last week. It was the simple message, Cameron or Miliband?

The Greens with all their new members, not surprising still have just one MP.

George Galloway, Respect Party, has gone. UKIP were massive losers, due to them, being so confident that at one time claiming to could take dozens of seats, then it came down to 10, then a handful. Only, to end up with one, after losing, another!

Again, as I predicted, they are now in meltdown.

However, the Liberal Democrats have gained (at the time of sending this email) 12,000 new members including 100’s in Scotland.

Personally, I believe the Liberals will grow again and quickly.Once we know who the new leader is, and I would like Nick Clegg to put his name forward.

Let us, the membership decide whether he should stand aside or not. Now, with Vince Cable gone and one or two other ex-SDP/Labour types, he could do what should have always been the strategy, to take command of the middle ground, and of the European Union.

If you do not want to join the Liberal Democrats but believe in our membership of the EU, you could always join the European Movement. It’s open to anyone.

I think any constituency by-elections will be interesting, and another opportunity for the Liberals to gain more seats.

I say Liberal, as I too had been saying for sometime, to drop ‘democrats’ from the party name.

Richard Grant, Burley