Rochdale MP and Sir Cyril welcome new leader

12.00.00am GMT Wed 19th Dec 2007

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen and former MP Sir Cyril Smith have congratulated Nick Clegg on his appointment as leader of the Liberal Democrat party.

"Liberal Democracy is in safe hands" said Paul Rowen, while Sir Cyril was relieved to discover that the candidate he had backed had won, having never supported a winning candidate in a Liberal leadership race before.

Nick Clegg became the new leader of the Liberal Democrats. Nick Clegg narrowly beat Chris Huhne to become leader in a tense count.

"Nick consistently showed during his time as our Home Affairs Spokesperson that he was willing to take on Labour and the Conservatives", said Paul Rowen MP. "This is an exciting time for our party and I hope that under Nick we will see a genuine renaissance in our political fortunes."

Sir Cyril Smith said: "Nick visited my house only last week and was shocked when I told him of my record in leadership elections. He said it was 'time for a change'. After all this time in politics I am pleased to back a man with youthful energy and enthusiasm to move our party forward! I look forward to him coming back to Rochdale as our new leader."

Paul Rowen hoped that Chris Huhne MP would remain at the forefront of British politics after fighting what he termed 'a solid campaign': "The fact that the result was so close illustrates the difficult choice many members had.

"It's now time to reach out and move this party rapidly forward. There is too much of a cosy consensus between Labour and the Conservatives. The Lib Dems have never been as important in exposing this."