Sir Menzies Campbell should consider his position, says the Times today. "The Lib Dems have not been at such a low ebb in years and the leader's personal rating is now at a level not witnessed since the traumatic days when Iain Duncan Smith headed the Conservatives ... Sir Menzies has to project strength quickly."
"If he has fresh ideas, he cannot afford to wait for months before revealing them. If he intends to take on his activists over policy, he must signal that immediately. He also has to commit himself wholeheartedly to improving his presentation skills. Gordon Brown has shown in the past few days that a mediocre performance can work a little magic on stage."
The Populus poll, which reveals that more than half of the party's voters think Sir Menzies should go, confirms what some Lib Dems have been muttering on blogs over the past week or so. Ambitious young activist Rob Fenwick conducted a postmortem after the disappointing results on May 4 which hinted that Ming, and the rest of the party, had to up their game.
"He has to ask himself if, when the lights are on him in a general election, the public will respond warmly to him and deliver the Liberal Democrats a boost in seats - or whether Cameron's Tories will deliver us, and him, a brutal squeeze."
Laurence Boyce broke ranks on Lib Dem Voice last week with an unapologetic post called Ming Must Go. Boyce is neither a party member nor an activist, but his attack on Sir Menzies' "irredeemably lame" performances at PMQs struck a chord with many.
Today Fenwick was circumspect about the Times poll. "Stop emailing me it - I don't do polls. Not even today."
Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne, the two MPs most likely to succeed Sir Menzies, are relatively new to parliament. Some Lib Dems wonder if that is the disadvantage it seemed during the leadership contest.
Clegg talked about the need for a "Lib Dem narrative" at a fundraiser on Sunday. Some in the party feel it has fed for a long enough off the past glory of opposing the war in Iraq. When Tony Blair has gone, the pressure to move on and outsmart the Tories with a radical (but credible) environmental agenda can only grow.
* This is an expanded extract from the Wrap, our email digest of the daily papers. Try it free for 30 days.
