Listening to the debate were Lib Dem backbench MPs, Malcolm Bruce and Alan Reid.

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The debate was opened by a relative newcomer to the Commons, Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, and Lib Dem veteran Malcolm Bruce.

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The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has rejected a call from the Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce to investigate the pricing policy of holiday companies.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Parents 'ignore holiday fines'

Treasury spokesman Malcolm Bruce has the backing of three, while Simon Hughes, Don Foster, David Rendel and Jackie Ballard have just two MPs each to act as proposer and seconder.

BBC: News | UK Politics | Lib Dem contenders compete for MPs' support

Malcolm Bruce was disappointed by the OFT's decision.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Parents 'ignore holiday fines'

"If developing countries are to escape from aid dependency, and from poverty more broadly, it is imperative that their revenue authorities are able to collect taxes effectively, " the committee's chairman, Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce said.

BBC: UK Politics

Almost all of the Lib Dems' 46 MPs, including Mr Ashdown, and many peers crowded into a Commons committee room to hear addresses from the six challengers - Charles Kennedy, SImon Hughes, Jackie Ballard, Don Foster, Malcolm Bruce and David Rendel.

BBC: News | UK Politics | Lib Dem contenders compete for MPs' support

At the weekend, the Treasury spokesman Malcolm Bruce, will probably drop the party's famous pledge of 1p extra on income-tax rates for education spending, because the Lib Dems now believe that the Treasury can afford to spend more on education without having to put up taxes.

ECONOMIST: The party is either being very clever, or very stupid