NORTH MP Phil Willis has thrown his weight behind leftwinger Simon Hughes to succeed Charles Kennedy as Liberal Democrat leader.

The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, described the party president, now the favourite to win the contest as, "a radical leader with a genuine liberal agenda".

Mr Willis had previously said he might stand himself because he was determined the race would not turn into a "coronation" of Sir Menzies Campbell, the early frontrunner.

The former education spokesman was among three Liberal Democrat MPs, three Scottish Parliament members and two former MPs who declared for 54-year-old Mr Hughes yesterday.

Mr Hughes, who lost to Mr Kennedy in 1999, is seen as a traditional Liberal, putting an emphasis on radicalism, civil liberties, public services and the environment.

Home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten pulled out of the contest yesterday, leaving Mr Hughes to fight it out with Sir Menzies, the foreign affairs spokesman, and Chris Huhne, a treasury spokesman.

Mr Willis said his party was choosing a leader at a time when both Labour and the Conservatives were following a "Tory-Blairite" agenda.