Huhne's Second Leadership Bid

AS AN Oxford student in the 70's Chris Huhne attracted controversy when he published an article condoning opium usage during his stint as Editor of Isis magazine.

This lack of tact surrounding Cinderella issues has followed him through his career, most recently getting him into trouble over claims that the Speaker in the House of Commons had fallen asleep during a speech by Gordon Brown last month. Not particularly appropriate when he is running for the position of leader of the Liberal Democrat party - for the second time in two years.

With the Liberal Democrats currently under fire for poor leadership – former leader Ming Campbell has just resigned after eighteen months in the role - it is curious why two almost identical candidates have been put forward.

Both educated at the expensive Westminster school followed by Oxbridge, Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have been heavily criticised for not differing between either themselves or the other party political leaders. Clegg, currently leading in the polls, has lambasted Huhne for his lack of tact and any clear radical plans.

When question about the recent divisive debates held at Oxford Union however, Huhne was more diplomatic. He explained: "I don't approve of giving platforms to people with those views.

"However once a platform has been given it is appropriate to challenge these views in an open debate. I personally would not give them platforms myself."

His experience at Oxford also appears to have coloured his views on how UK universities should be funded. Huhne calls for universities to approach alumni for cash, an approach that has traditionally been successful at wealthy Oxbridge colleges.

The Liberal Democrats are currently the only major political party that are advocating the scrapping of tuition fees, however Huhne was not clear on how this was going to be funded. Surely its not that hard to sell the dumping of tuition fees to debt-ridden students?

"I'm not suggesting that the universities will be able to make up all the money that it makes from tuition fees from alumni donations, but it's a fruitful way to raise the money needed to be internationally competitive.

"This would of course be in addition to the money that is coming from the research councils."

While Huhne has held his ground over his controversial views on the decentralisation of public services he does not feel that this will extend to higher education, saying that they will always need to be controlled by central government because of their reliance on public money.

However, he was concerned over the high level of investment that UK universities have in the arms trade. The MP explained: "I think it is up to individual institutions how they want their services provided and it is not the place of the government to interfere in this.
 
 "I don't think that the government should be laying down rules for how university's behave, but I also don't think its appropriate for university's to run portfolios containing these companies."

This view sits well with his anti-Trident views which have earned him support with prominent members of his party. It has been highlighted that this is the only difference between himself and his opponent in the Liberal Democrat leadership contest, with Clegg keen to keep the nuclear deterrent.

Huhne elaborated the difference: "We have a different stand on Trident and I have said in this contest as I said in the last that I can not imagine that after the 2010 treaty talks that we would want to replace it.

"The world that we live in now is very different to how it was in 1989 before the Berlin Wall fell."

While Huhne has a strong economic background his lack of clarity over his plans for funding higher education appear to have hindered his chances.

His rival Clegg (who spoke to Student Direct last week) is currently ahead of him in the polls but has also failed to come up with any ground-breaking plans for his party if he wins the race.