I'm standing for Scottish Executive Committee - please vote!

As Scottish Lib Dem members who have received their ballot papers will now realise, I am standing for election to the Executive Committee.

My friend Caron blogged yesterday that the way forward for the Scottish Liberal Democrats is to "be awkward, wearing our hearts on our sleeves and not letting anyone put us in the corner". I couldn't agree more and, if that's the kind of Liberal Democrat you want on your Executive Committee, then I'm pretty sure I meet the criteria!

I'm not into indulging in an internet campaign of self-promotion and you won't find any facebook groups called "Andrew Page for Executive Committee" or the like.

But these are challenging times for Scottish Liberal Democrats and it's absolutely vital that we elect the right people with the vision, the awkwardness and the unwillingness to be put in a corner that Caron rightly identifies as so important to our political future. We also need people with an understanding of our past as well as the nature of our current challenges; people with the courage of their convictions with a positive political outlook. But, most importantly, we need Liberal Democrats who are ready to stand up and be counted even when it's uncomfortable, who won't conform to a robotic orthodoxy, who aren't afraid to take on the attitudes that hold us back and who are unafraid of honesty.

There are some good candidates on the list. There are tough choices to be made in these important internal elections - and not only for Executive Committee. But this is a time like no other in the history of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and we need the right people on board to take the party forward.

So I would encourage our members to vote, and to think carefully about the kind new direction for party that their votes could help to create. Of course, if I am elected to the Executive Committee I will do my very best to...well, be myself!