Young Clegg beats Huhne to be leader

The Lib Dems elected their new party leader today and, by a whisker, they went for the younger of the two candidates, 40-year-old former journalist Nick Clegg. He received 20,988 votes from party members against 20,477 for 53-year-old Chris Huhne. Age is an issue among Lib Dems: their last leader, Sir Ming Campbell, finally threw in the towel because he couldn't stand the constant questions about whether he was up to the job at 66 - never mind the fact that he was a former champion athlete.

Those close to Clegg, who was the party's home affairs spokesman, have indicated that he will make a swift reshuffle of senior spokesmen before Christmas - and that he will be big enough to give his rival Huhne, currently the environment spokesman, a senior job, despite some harsh words between the two men on the campaign trail.

Clegg has indicated that he plans to ask Vince Cable, the admired acting leader, to stay on as shadow chancellor. Cable has made a name for himself in the short months he's had to stand in - to the point where some in the party were wondering why they needed an election at all with such an able man leading the fight in the House of Commons.

Clegg has also indicated a desire to have Charles Kennedy, the leader before Ming, back in the fold. But Kennedy, who had to resign after the booze got the better of him, has ruled himself out of a frontbench role for the foreseeable future, saying he has too many international commitments.

Educated at Westminster school and Cambridge university, Clegg says he owes his political beliefs to his Dutch mother who was detained in a Japanese POW camp during the Second World War in Jakarta. All he has to do now is cast off the unfortunate nickname of 'Calamity Clegg' that the Huhne camp gave him during the leadership race. ·