LibDem's Huhne and Clegg square up

The battle for the Liberal Democrat succession is shaping up after both Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne put their names forward.

Mr Clegg, the home affairs spokesman, has said he will launch his campaign on Friday in his Sheffield constituency.

He is the bookies' favourite to lead the party following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell.

Earlier, environment spokesman Chris Huhne became the first contender to throw his hat into the ring. The 53-year-old was runner-up in the previous campaign 18 months ago.

Speaking at a Westminster restaurant, he said that he would be campaigning for a "fairer, greener society where we put people in charge".

Sir Menzies quit claiming he was fed up by constant criticism that he was too old for the job.

His unexpected resignation on Monday evening shocked the party after he barely consulted his colleagues.

The move followed a slump in opinion polls. Support for the LibDems has halved since the 2005 General Election to just 11 per cent, with its popularity steadily sliding against Labour and the Tories.

Up to seven Liberal Democrat MPs are rumoured to be sounding out colleagues about launching a challenge.

But deputy leader Vince Cable and party president Simon Hughes, who has stood for the leadership twice before, have ruled themselves out of the contest.

Earlier, ex-LibDem leader Charles Kennedy also said it is "highly unlikely" that he will run for the party's top job again.

"You should never say never in politics, but as close to never as you can get," he said.

Mr Kennedy said he had received "thousands" of messages of support from "all over the place" since Sir Menzies resigned and wanted to reply to them first "out of courtesy".

He insisted he had no knowledge as to whether Sir Menzies had "a knife in his back or not", and said he believed the party would be back on an even keel quickly.

"After the initial adrenaline that surrounds a major event like this, things do quite rapidly calm down," he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to Sir Menzies in the Commons and greeted acting leader Mr Cable, saying: "If things go on in this way, every single member will have a chance of being leader of the Liberal Party."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.