Campbell wins Lib Dem crown

Sir Menzies Campbell has been crowned Liberal Democrat leader with 57 per cent of the votes cast by party members.

After Simon Hughes was eliminated, Sir Menzies edged out Chris Huhne on second preferences with 29,697 votes to 21,628.

In the first round Sir Menzies won 23,264 votes to Huhne's 16,691 and 12,081 for Hughes.

"Today is a victory not for me, it is a victory for all Liberal Democrats," the new leader declared.

He said the party's Dunfermline and West Fife by-election win had proved the critics were wrong to "write us off" and "burst the bubble of Mr Cameron's Conservatives".

To predecessor Charles Kennedy he said the party will "forever be in your debt".

And he said Huhne "will be a big part" of the Lib Dems' future along with the "brightest and best" young generation of MPs in parliament.

Modernisation

"I am going to modernise our party so as to make a reality of three party politics in Britain.

"And I'm going to show that the Liberal Democrats are the party of ideas and innovation in Britain.

"I'm going to encourage the brightest and best from every walk of life and every part of the country to come and join our party.

"I'm going to lead the party in a crusade against poverty, the poverty of income and the poverty of aspiration.

"Fairness and freedom are the inalienable rights of every citizen in this country.

"I'm going to ensure that the party champions environmental protection.

"We have a duty to pass on a world fit for our children and grandchildren.

"I'm going to make the Liberal Democrats the party of democratic revolution combating the unelected quango state, the unaccountable power of central government and the secrecy that still pervades far too much of Britain.

"I'm going to make the Liberal Democrats the party that looks beyond our shores, that recognises that prosperity and security and sustainability are all dependent on effective international action.

"And I'm going to make the Liberal Democrats the party that pledges to take power from Westminster and Whitehall and give it back to men and women in their own communities so they can determine how their schools, hospitals, police and transport are to be run.

Opportunities

"Leadership will mean tough questions and hard answers as we seek to embrace the opportunities created by a new political landscape.

"Let me make it clear now that caution and consolidation will not do.

"Safe pair of hands yes, but ready to take risks, ready to challenge orthodoxy and ready to challenge the party too.

"The prizes can be the most enticing for Liberals and progressives for decades.

"We have the brightest political generation in our ranks.

"Who would not relish the chance to lead in those circumstances? And who would not relish the chance to take on Labour and the Conservatives.

"Our task now is this: To build a strong, effective powerful Liberal Democrat party with the objective to ensuring a greener, fairer, decentralised and democratic Britain, a Britain at peace with itself at home and admired abroad. That task begins now."

Mandate

Both losing candidates pledged their "full support" to the new leader.

Huhne said the party needed a contest and that Sir Menzies had won a "decisive mandate".

The turnout of 72.5 per cent was above the 62 per cent recorded in the last leadership election, held in 1999 when Paddy Ashdown stepped down.

Officials said that 72,062 ballot papers were sent to party members, of which 52,036 were returned.

The 23 per cent of votes cast for Hughes in the first round were redistributed almost equally between Sir Menzies and Huhne in the second round of counting.