If he were leading the party, it’s hard to believe anyone would notice. He used the occasion – daringly, you might think – to pitch for his party’s leadership. You don’t expect a shadow spokesman to do such a thing in the middle of a Commons debate.But here he is, denouncing his leader’s election performance and presenting his prescription for party renewal: “There has been too much tactical thinking and not enough strategic vision We need to look for new opportunities and challenges. Our long-term prospects are dependent on finding new voters …

We need to ditch the hang-ups of those who seem obsessed with apologising for our history and turn the goodwill and respect that still exists so extensively for this party into new opportunities. We need to look ever more outwards …”In point of fact, I’ve changed two words (voters and party) and pedants will insist he was talking about the Government’s foreign policy. But every portrait is a self-portrait and Dr Fox was talking about himself.It is, in all, a very great pleasure to be back.simoncarr75 hotmail
More from Simon Carr. It is tempting not to vote when you know that your vote is wasted, that’s the most dangerous thing about our system In my constituency there was only going to be one winner My vote, my wife’s and my son’s were wasted. I think PR would bring more young people into voting and it would engage more people in the voting process..

With the nice, strokeable Green Party comes the BNP and all the extreme right groups which you have to tolerate as well.Wayne Hemingway, fashion designerWhen you see the figures – 20 per cent of the vote and only 10 per cent of seats, for example,I can understand the arguments… So I am in favour of proportional representation to the extent that I think it is a fairer system But, with the good comes the bad. Leaders such as Tony Blair promise you anything to get in, and when they’re in, they do what they like.Jo Brand, comedianI don’t think the system as it stands is particularly democratic because of the way the votes are divided up into big and small constituencies and people say that a party could get into power without majority support, which is ridiculous. The Greek meaning of a democratic government is a system ‘run by the people for the people and tolerating minority views’ which does not need leaders. The Romans introduced leaders to distance themselves from democracy. I despise tactical voting, it absolutely sickens me, we should be able to vote for who we want to vote for.

I’m a single transferable vote lady myself.Katherine Hamnett, fashion designerThe system we have has got nothing to do with democracy It’s a travesty I totally agree with PR. I wouldn’t care about PR if that wasn’t the case.Claire Rayner, agony auntOf course we’ve got to change the system. I wish I lived in a democracy, you can’t possibly have a true democracy with a FPTP system. The real problem is that our government is a pack of bastards. People talk a lot about the apathy of voters, and there are key areas of numbness that surround the body politic.