2007 Leadership Contest
Following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell on 15 October 2007 Huhne was considered to be one of the strongest contenders for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats. On 17 October, Huhne became the first member of the party to announce his candidacy saying "I've decided to give it a go" and declaring his vision of a "fairer and greener society". Huhne said that he wanted the party to be committed to the idea that "everybody's individual worth and chance is given its full possibility"
On 28 October 2007, Huhne announced that he had secured the support of 10 of his 62 parliamentary colleagues for his formal nomination. His rival Nick Clegg announced the support of 33 MPs. Huhne also claimed backing from at least twelve peers, four MSPs and three Welsh Assembly members. After former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown announced his support for Clegg, a previous Lib Dem leader Lord Steel declared his support for Huhne, based in part on Huhne's position on the Trident missile system.
In the last week of campaigning his team were bullish about his chances, predicting a win. Following the final count the party membership chose his rival Nick Clegg by a narrow margin of 511 votes out of more than 41,000 counted.
About 1,300 postal votes were caught up in the Christmas post and missed the election deadline. An unofficial check of the late papers showed Huhne had enough votes among them to hand him victory. Huhne stood by the result, saying "Nick Clegg won fair and square on the rules counting the ballot papers that arrived in by the deadline. There is no question of any re-run." Following the leadership election, Clegg chose Huhne to be the Liberal Democrats' Home Affairs Spokesman.
Read more about this topic: Chris Huhne, Member of Parliament
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