The 'nice' party is losing its innocence

Key points

• Problems mount for Liberal Democrats

• Mark Oaten admits a relationship with a male prostitute

• Events may affect public perception of party

Key quote

"If you are in public life and you are an MP and you take a high profile role, then I'm afraid you are going to be subject to scrutiny." - Chris Huhne, Lib Dem leadership contender

Story in full

THE nice party is losing its innocence. For years, the Liberal Democrats have traded on their character - a vote for them was, essentially, a vote for decency. It was a temptation that fate could not resist.

Charles Kennedy, on whose personal standing the party drew much of its support, has now quit - admitting he had a drink problem and had repeatedly lied about his condition.

Now Mark Oaten has quit as its home affairs spokesman under the most lurid of circumstances: a married father of two caught visiting a male prostitute. The Lib Dems are used to being called naive and insubstantial - but they now risk looking sleazy.

The original hope was that the Liberal Democrat leadership election would raise the public esteem of the party. It had, after all, had its most successful general election in a generation, with 62 seats and a 22 per cent share of the vote.

But so far, the top three events from the Lib Dem contest have been Mr Kennedy's drink problem confession, Mr Oaten's sex scandal and Sir Menzies Campbell bombing spectacularly at Prime Minister's Question Time. None of it is good PR.

So how damaging is it? In Westminster, the Oaten affair is being treated with the utmost sympathy. Off the record, MPs were offering sincere sympathy of the "there-but-for-the-grace-of-God" variety.

If you want normal people to be politicians, suggested a Labour peer yesterday, they will do normal things and err, like humans do, so the public would understand.

But this is precisely the problem. The British public has long had moral standards far higher than those paid to represent them in parliament - and tends not to regard the sex, drink and money scandals of MPs as normal behaviour.

It may be quite normal in Westminster - a hotbed of vice since the English kings started to summon advisers there in the 14th century. Holyrood, with its curtain-burners and taxi-hailers, is fast catching up.

But the ordinary voter, fed up with such shenanigans, has always been able to turn to the reliable - if a little eccentric - Liberal Democrat party.

Now its MPs also, it seems, are little better than the average parliamentarian.

A tarnished and even tawdry reputation need not sink a party. John Major's Conservatives won in 1992 after all manner of sex scandals in the preceding decade - albeit a small taste of what was to come under his tenure.

But the Tories then traded on competency ("they're sleazy, but they'll run the country"). Labour now trades on social justice ("they'll tax you, but they run the country and help the poor"). The Lib Dems trade on their character ("I like that ginger chap").

This is why the Lib Dems are more vulnerable than any other party to having their name dragged through the mud. This is why the party may very well have seen its electoral peak.

When Mr Oaten bowed out of the race last Thursday, with a suspiciously worried look on his face, and some nonsense about spending more time in the garden (it's January) he must have known what was coming. So Sir Menzies Campbell has a second crisis - and it plays very well into his hands. His main rival is the unmarried Simon Hughes. The word "unmarried" is pejorative in politics - it goes down badly with voters for anyone aged over 30.

Unfair, perhaps, but it's a fact of political life that voters like family men - especially when their party is recoiling from a scandal. And the shock of Mr Oaten may tilt the balance back to Sir Menzies.

It may not be over yet. Mr Kennedy has grown the Lib Dems into a sizeable political force - it is large enough now to have warring factions, which is what did for him in the end.

It is also large enough to attract media scrutiny. A month ago, few would have cared what Mr Oaten did with his free time but since, foolishly, standing for party leader, he has drawn attention to himself.

The Westminster rumour mill is packed with gossip about various Lib Dems - no doubt all of it scurrilous. But we are now in an era where much more of it is likely to find its way into print.

The danger for the Lib Dems is not being regarded with the same disdain as were the John Major Tories - they would need several sex scandals and at least two money scandals for that.

But the danger is that, without any discernible policies or a charismatic leader - they may be seen as a joke party packed with insubstantial libertines. This is what they must fight against.

All this will do David Cameron, the new Conservative leader, no harm at all. He is a family man, with another child on the way, and may well emerge as the decent man of politics.

As the father of a severely disabled son, he has another role outside politics which invites empathy. His rivals may baulk at seeing pictures of him kiss the boy in the newspapers - but politics is as much about image as about policies.

When the Lib Dems choose their new leader - and the bookmakers still favour Mr Hughes - it's a fair bet that Mr Cameron will emerge as Britain's most popular party leader. This title was for years occupied by the Lib Dems and they will need to do something to get it back.

The Conservative leadership race was lengthy - but it grabbed the headlines for all the right reasons as Mr Cameron came out of nowhere to become the new golden boy of British politics.

The standing of the Lib Dems is being increasingly badly damaged with each time they make the lead item on the news. And the ballot papers have not even got out yet.

A leadership contest is an opportunity for a party to showcase itself. The Lib Dems are not covering themselves in glory.

The election race has a month to run, but may yet leave voters with a depressing conclusion: that Westminster is home to a parcel of rogues and that the Lib Dems are no better than the rest of them.

Campbell rallies the party to overcome shocks and setbacks

SIR Menzies Campbell yesterday pledged to steady the Liberal Democrats as its members reacted to the news that Mark Oaten, the home affairs spokesman, had resigned after a sex scandal.

The Lib Dem acting leader called on his fellow MPs to show "unity and purpose" after Mr Oaten - who withdrew from the leadership race last week - admitted to liaisons with a male prostitute.

The announcement shocked a party still coming to terms with the resignation of Charles Kennedy, its former leader, who admitted he had a drink problem and was later persuaded to quit.

Sir Menzies, who is neck-and-neck with Simon Hughes for the party leadership, said that it was essential that the party was not distracted by the latest controversy.

"No party is entirely subject to what happens to any one individual. The party is much bigger than that. My task as acting leader is to secure a sense of unity and purpose," he said.

"We have a strong political agenda. We have a sense of purpose, we have a great deal to do and a great opportunity in which to do it."

Mr Oaten's resignation came after reporters from the News of the World confronted him at home in his Winchester constituency with evidence of the relationship with the male prostitute.

It alleged the affair took place last year, after the two met on a website, and lasted six months. Mr Oaten, 41, is married to Belinda, with two daughters aged nine and seven. He will be temporarily replaced with Alistair Carmichael, the Orkney and Shetland MP who had been one of the original agitators for Mr Kennedy's removal.

OutRage, the gay rights group, hinted that there was more such news to come from the Lib Dems - and said they had more undeclared homosexuals than any other party in the House of Commons.

"The Lib Dems often boast about their progressive gay rights policies, but they are the only major party with no openly gay MPs," it said.

"We are disappointed that no Lib Dem MPs have chosen to come out," it added.

There was sympathy in Westminster. Chris Huhne, the third Lib Dem leadership contender, said Mr Oaten's resignation was an "extremely regrettable" loss to the party.

But he said that all MPs should be expected to maintain the highest personal standards. "If you are in public life and you are an MP and you take a high profile role, then I'm afraid you are going to be subject to scrutiny."

Sheila Campbell, chairman of Lib Dem-controlled Winchester council, offered full support yesterday saying Mr Oaten was "amongst friends" and that his behaviour had been an "aberration" from his strong parliamentary performance.

But his constituents seemed less forgiving. Around Winchester there was disbelief and sympathy for Belinda, his wife. Paul Parke, 43, from Winchester, said he was surprised that Mr Oaten stood for re-election under the circumstances.

"I am not particularly keen on people who deceive their family," he said. "He has two daughters and a wife - he is not somebody who would get my support."

Mr Oaten's decision to stand for the party leadership took his party by surprise. As a co-author of the Orange Book, a Lib Dem pamphlet proposing market-orientated ideas for the future, he was seen as a candidate from the party's right.

Nominations for the party leadership close on Wednesday and the winner will be announced on 2 March.