Who should be in the Shadow Cabinet?

I was inspired for this post by the Liberal Democrat Voice Members' Survey of the month which asked which MPs we thought should be in the Shadow Cabinet.

First, one of my favourite politicians is Alistair Carmichael. He is down-to- earth, funny, hard working, intellectually well up to mastering any brief and a supportive adviser to a number of people. He is also brave enough to speak his mind when he needs to, as seen earier this year when he had to resign for voting for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

He has served his time now, though, and I think he should be brought back into the Shadow Cabinet as quickly as possible.

As regular readers will know, I backed Nick Clegg for the leadership. One of the questions in the survey was "Do you regret the way you voted?". My answer is resoundingly no - I think Nick has done a very good job in his first few months. He is working to sort the Party out and has managed to get a reasonable public profile for himself.

He has made one colossal mistake in my view, though - and that was to get rid of Paul Holmes, one of the best housing spokespeople we have ever had. Paul knows his stuff, was credible in the housing sector and is sorely missed. The current housing crisis can only get worse and we need someone with Paul's experience and credibility to take on that portfolio.