Mark’s advice is worth a read and can be found on the Politics Show website. I think I’d go along with all of it, particularly the advice about Clegg sacking his hangers on, with one minor qualification.
He says don’t fire Chris Rennard and I wholly agree. I’ve been accused of calling for this over the past couple of weeks including in my CiF piece yesterday. I said no such thing. What I have done is highlight the degree to which Rennard himself appears to be on the defensive at the moment, the way he consistently presents his critics as Flat Earthers who want to go back to the 1970s and the fact that we do indeed need, if not to go “beyond Rennardism” then “Rennardism plus”.
My experience of Chris though is that he will fight tooth and nail to resist this. He is a pathological sufferer of the Not Invented Here syndrome. Progress in many areas over the past few years has been at a snail’s pace for precisely this reason. There is a real danger that this inflexibility will end up becoming untenable. And this is reflected in the noises off. It is striking how audible they are becoming. It’s a problem that needs to be nipped in the bud.
So yes, Nick: don’t sack Rennard. But Chris: stop being so inflexible and learn to accommodate change.
(speaking of my CiF article yesterday, I’m amazed at how it has 26 replies and not a single one is a response to anything I wrote. I’m sure that isn’t a record on CiF but it’s pretty amazing. I do wish they’d sort out their ratings service)
I must say I like the suggestion of giving Chris the home office. But mostly as a mischeivous punishment for his complaint that the party scores lower on home affairs than on the environment.