THE hasty demise of Sir Menzies Campbell proves that - in politics - it's not what you do, it's how you do it. Who doubts that the Liberal Democrats, under his leadership, have set the policy agenda in recent years: on tax, the environment, inequality, immigration and, of course, Iraq?

No wonder poor old Ming limped back to Edinburgh in disgust after being forced to fall on his sword on Monday. Who can blame him? But the truth is that, at 66 going on 76, Sir Menzies simply never cut it in the Commons chamber or the TV studio and seemed a diminished figure after becoming leader.

I remember the Prime Minister's questions when he raised the issue of pensions, only to be cut short by a cruel, but devastating, shout of "Declare your interest!" from the Tory benches. Similarly, the rock music obsessive in me recalls that, while David Cameron is a Morrissey fanatic, Sir Menzies described himself as "from the Bill Haley generation".

The question for the Lib Dems now is whether a younger, more dynamic leader can deliver a bigger bang for the impressive buck of many Lib Dem policies?

It will not be easy.

Iraq, the issue that sent Labour voters to the Lib Dems, has been neutralised by Gordon Brown, while David Cameron's "Vote Blue, Go Green" message is winning back Tory defectors.

What's particularly unfair is that popular Lib Dem policies - on inheritance tax, 'green' flight taxes and taxing the 'non-doms' - are quickly pinched by their opponents.

Nevertheless, the Lib Dems are still way ahead of the rest on taxing pollution, instead of work, with that eye-catching pledge to slash income tax to just 16p. And there is a gaping hole where Tory policies on schools and hospitals should be, issues where many voters believe Labour has failed to deliver on the higher taxes paid.

This is surely where the new leader - presumably either home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg or environment spokesman Chris Huhne - must concentrate his efforts.

On their success or failure rests not only the future of the Lib Dems but also, perhaps, that of Gordon Brown.

Labour must secretly be hoping for some improvement in Lib Dem fortunes, because it would hit the Tories hard in the South.

Who says there is little choice in politics these days. I mean, just look at the credentials of the two frontrunners in the Lib Dem leadership race. There's Mr Huhne, a former journalist and Euro-MP who went to £8,600-per-year Westminster School, up against Mr Clegg, an ex-Euro MP and journalist, who, er attended Westminster School.

With Mr Brown jetting off to Lisbon today to defend his "red lines" in the EU treaty negotiations, it is depressing to witness how low the Euro-haters have now sunk.

This week, both a national newspaper and a senior Labour MP compared the Prime Minister's refusal to hold a referendum with Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler. Then Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed the red lines were more like the Maginot Line, which failed to prevent the Nazis invading France.

Is there anything more embarrassing about being British than this pathetic attempt to keep fighting the Second World War in the European Parliament?