Thank You Charles

as I started to type this simon Hughes has just said on BBC 24 that this is a thank you to Charles day, I wholeheartedly agree.

Firstly thank you Charles for taking on the leadership of this party in 1999 when many said we had reached our peak, and thank you for taking us to even greater heights in the tow elections since.

Thank you for you great contribution over 22 1/2 years from the baby of the house to the leader of the third largest party.

Thank you for being an inspiration to me as an activist and candidate. For being someone who has brought together the varying strands that make up the Liberal Democrats and for leading us along the same path.

Thank you for your courage on Thursday to stand up and acknowledge in public the problem you have been fighting for some time. It cannot of been easy, it my eyes and in the eyes of many others it made you more of an electoral asset to our party.

Thank you for realising today that you need support not just in the country but also in the House and that you made the right choice for the party today.

Thank you Charles, I'm sure this will not the last we hear of you within the party.