Simon Hughes elected Lib Dem deputy leader

TGF UKIP

Should guarantee Hughes residency on the Today Programme.

David Lindsay

He is more Eurosceptical than the coalition. Not that that's saying anything.

shorpe

Smart choice. They need a lefty near the top to reassure the yoghurt-knitting fraternity that Clegg hasn't sold them out to Cameron for a go in his big, shiny Prime Minister chair.

strapworld

An overblown,self publicist,troublemaker and a man who does not know the meaning of loyalty. The truth is, as the coalition government proves to be successful in getting the people behind it, the less trouble can be caused by Hughes.

He is more a threat, internally, to Nick Clegg as this will give him greater opportunity to visit Lib dem strongholds to gain support for a tilt at the leadership.

I cannot see how he will get an opportunity, on a regular basis, to ask questions within PMQ's etc.

Gawain

Hughes is too "nice" to be a threat.

SUSAN HILL

Hughes is absolutely not nice. Last thing he is.

John wright

D.B. Why the congratulation for Hughes .?If you were a little older you wwould remember the very dirty campaign he ran against Peter Thatchell to get into The Commons, smearing his homos whilst lying about his own homosex. Strapword is right he is a disgusting troublemaker who does nothing to raise the ethical standards of parliament.Such hypocracy is just as bad asmoney corruption .

J H Holloway

Has he decided which side of the fence he's on yet?

Hadrian

In one corner we have Simon Hughes, in the other David Laws. If Laws were in charge I'd feel a lot more reassured. Come back, David, and very soon!
Susan- I'd be interested to know why you find Hughes so 'not nice'!

Paul L

A bitter wee man.

Colin Cumner

I wonder how many other people are sick to death of hearing about the Lib-Dems and their influence (or lack of) on the policies of the Coalition? It is worth taking note that they are still very much the minority in the Cabinet yet the media seems to focus on their every move as if they were really 'calling the shots'. But, hey, perhaps then they ARE. Sobering and unsettling thought.

Woody

It's interesting how in the last Parliament the chamber used to empty whenever he got up to make a speech - haven't seen him make a speech in this one yet but will be interesting to see what happens.

Naomi Muse

Probably the best for the job at the moment.

Lord Monkington-Smyte

@Gawain

Google "Hughes Tatchell homophobia bermondsey campaign". It makes for delightful reading.

David Ossitt

It would have been a reasonable thought to have expected Simon Hughes to have been one of the elite LibDems who were to be chosen as ministers in the coalition.

That he is not a minister; can only be for one of two possible reasons, (A) he was not asked, or (B) he refused any such offer.

If the reason was (A) then his party do not rate him, if, as I suspect it was for reason (B) then it tells us that he does not agree with his party joining the coalition.

I am delighted that this nasty piece of work is not in the government.

Mike Woodman

Simon Hughes is little more than a devious worm. Take a look at his cringeing performance an the Islamic Peace and Unity Conference - www.youtube.com/video_response_view_all?v=ttz8-ucWhYc

Ahmed Khan

Hughes is the lowest form of life. Having initially got elected by exploiting the sexual perference of Tatchell only to reveal later he too is gay. Typical Liberal hypocrypt!

This is good news for the coalition in the sense that muppets like Hughes will make the evenual 'sitch-up' of the Liberals much easier for both Cameron & co and the for the public to accept.

David Lindsay

Into the Nineties, except perhaps in closed homosexual subcultures, "straight" had no colloquial meaning except "honest". And would you really rather have had Peter Tatchell in Parliament? If so, why?