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Question: What did you make of Sir Menzies Campbell's resignation?

Lorely Burt: Well I thought that it was absolutely characteristic of the man. He's always put the party before himself and his own self interest. He could see the difficulties that we've been having.

We've been pilloried by the press, most unfairly, he's been discriminated against on the grounds of age. But at the same time, he recognised what was best for our party and he's taken the necessary steps and I admire him even more for that.

Question: Some people have suggested he was pushed out or that he didn't get enough support, which amounts to the same thing doesn't it?

Lorely Burt: No I don't think he was pushed. I think he's an open communicator. Obviously, colleagues have spoken to him, as have I, and we have open discussions about the state of the party and what's best. So I think he's made that decision - I was really shocked when I heard that he was going to resign, really shocked. But as I say, he's made that decision and the decision was entirely his own.

Question: It means you'll be on to your third leader in quite a short period of time. Will that be destabilising for the party and it's image over the longer term?

Lorely Burt: Well that depends on who that leader is. And I think of the contenders that we know about already, we've got some hugely capable people, really able, strong leaders. And I think it will be a great tonic for us as a parliamentary party and I look forward to seeing who finally wins it, because I'm really happy about all of the ones that I know about right now.

Question: The polls have been pretty dire for the Lib Dems and the increased support for the Conservatives seem to be coming mainly from the Liberal Democrats. Would you hope that a new leader is able to address that challenge of a reviving Conservative Party perhaps with some more right-wing economic policies?

Lorely Burt: I was with you until you started talking about right-wing policies. The thing is, both parties have been vying for the middle ground. The Liberal Democrats don't move in our approach to politics and our basic principles. So I think that our new leader will communicate those effectively, but we're always listening to what people say.

Things like inheritance tax, we were the first to propose a much improved inheritance tax situation. Aviation, taxing the aircraft, that's been our policy since 2004. And action on non-domiciles, we've had policies on that and we've been trying to get the government to recognise the unfairness in the situation with non-domiciles for a long time. It isn't that we need right-wing policies - we've actually got brilliant policies. They do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the other parties have adopted our policies.

Question: You're standing to be chair of the parliamentary party. What have you got to offer?

Lorely Burt: Well I think that I'm an open and approachable person. The job of the chair is to represent the interests of the parliamentary colleagues and I think I could do that because I've got good communication skills. That sounds very schoolboy, like a CV, but what that means is having the strength and ability to put the points of view of the colleagues to the leader, to the chief whip and to anyone else in the party who needs to understand how they feel. But also the communication goes both ways and I think that my ability to talk to people and my general approachability, I think that I can do that job for this party.