Former MP Lembit expelled from party

Ex-Montgomeryshire MP and former leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Lembit Öpik, has been kicked out of the party for advising the Conservatives on how to beat them, it has been reported.

Lembit Öpik upset his former colleagues by claiming the party had “become a parody of itself” and suggested that there is “currently no vaccine against stupidity”.

In the run up to the Senedd election, he spoke at a ‘How to Stop the Lib Dems with Lembit Öpik’ event organised by the Conservative Party.

He was introduced by former Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling, Conservative Member of Parliament for Epsom and Ewell.

His appearance at the event has led to him being booted out, according to a source in Lib Dem HQ that spoke to The Sunday Times.

In response to the news, the paper’s Atticus column said: “Not that anybody needs too much help nowadays.”

Lembit, who led the party in Wales between 2001 and 2007, was once touted as a Lib Dem leadership contender.

But the once safe Liberal Democrat Montgomeryshire seat has turned into a Conservative stronghold, with Glyn Davies and, more recently, Craig Williams, cruising to comfortable election victories since 2010.

Party officials were quick to distance themselves from Lembit’s comments with Nation.Cymru reporting that Alison Alexander, the party’s Senedd candidate in Montgomeryshire for the election, responding at the time that she did not “recognise the party he criticises” and claimed people who have “fond memories of the good Liberal” would find his comments very sad.