After May’s general election, both Labour and the Lib Dems needed a new leader, but the contrast between their leadership elections could not be starker.
Labour is in the midst of a full-blown civil war. To outsiders, it appears to be a party in total meltdown, as veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn continues to poll ahead of his more mainstream rivals.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems MPs are under new leadership, after the bloodless ascension of Tim Farron, who beat rival Norman Lamb in a relatively good-natured contest. It would be easy to dismiss the leader of eight MPs as insignificant, but it matters profoundly to Lib Dem members who want to rebuild their party.
After such a terrible result they could have tried for a fundamental overhaul, in the way parts of the Labour party are doing with Corbyn.
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