What's a British liberal to do?

Gareth perhaps epitomised Scottish left-wingers in this comment:

I won’t really be satisfied ’til Blair, and probably Labour, are out of power. Oh, for a viable alternative….

I have two immediate comments to make about this.

First of all, you need a viable alternative first. You might have to campaign and network to create that alternative, but you’ve got to have a replacement for Labour before you can credibly start bashing them. Dissapointed Labour voters might vote LibDem, SNP, Green, SSP, or some as yet unidentified other party that hasn’t yet become prominent. But they’ve got to know about them first, otherwise criticising Blair leads to apathy and abandonment.

Secondly, as a counter-balance, no party should remain in power more than 10 contiguous years. People should not go into politics / choose a political party because that way lies power, influence and money-making opportunities. Remember Jonathan Aitken and Neil Hamilton. The uncertainty over whether we’ll elect them or not makes politicians decent; the promise of a shoe-in corrupts. I’m willing to give Tony Blair a third term, but I won’t give him a fourth. I’ll do whatever I can do to make sure he doesn’t get it (I don’t know if that’s possible in safe-seat Glasgow), because that way lies mental tiredness and increased potential of corruption.