Huhne: 'We must be radical but rational – you won't see me streaking down the street'

The downfall of Sir Menzies Campbell was nasty. So Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg have agreed that the party needs to be very publicly nice from now on.

The pair may be arch-rivals for the Liberal Democrat leadership contest but they have agreed a secret pact to avoid the party becoming known as the "nasty party" following Sir Menzies' departure.

Mr Huhne stole a march on Mr Clegg by being the first to announce he is running for the leadership, but he has disclosed that they held talks this week to avoid their contest – which is likely to be a two-horse race – becoming bitter and damaging to their party.

"One of the things I am determined on," he told The Independent yesterday, "and I think Nick is too – because we have talked about this – is that at the end of this contest, Nick and I are going to go on working together, whatever happens. We have the best interests of this party at heart, and we basically agree on far more than we disagree."

Asked whether they had had their conversation on Monday, before Sir Menzies announced he was stepping down, Mr Huhne said: "I am not going to go into that." Having lost two leaders in two years – the first when Charles Kennedy quit over a drink problem – the Liberal Democrats are in danger of being seen as ruthless rather than the cuddly party. Sir Menzies appeared in a Channel 4 interview on Tuesday to point the finger at supporters of Mr Huhne when he accused some in the party of playing a "dangerous game" by undermining him.

Mr Huhne brushed aside suggestions that his supporters were involved in the Westminster whispering campaign against Sir Menzies. "That is not actually what he said," said Mr Huhne. "I was extremely pleased he was explicitly asked about me and he said very clearly I was loyal. I can't answer for other people and I have done my damndest to support Ming through this. I thought he was being extremely harshly dealt with."

One of the clichés of politics is "he who wields the dagger does not lift the crown". That applied to Michael Heseltine. But Mr Huhne condemned the "Camelot Tendency" among the media for wanting a younger, more photogenic leader. He made his announcement at a metropolitan restaurant, the Atrium, near the Commons, flanked by some of the team who backed him when he ran in 2006, including Lynne Featherstone and Sandra Gidley, who chaired his last campaign.

Mr Clegg, meanwhile, was collecting a string of influential backers yesterday, including Sir Menzies' chief of staff Ed Davey, David Laws, the schools spokesman, Norman Lamb, the health spokesman, Alistair Carmichael and Julia Goldsworthy. Phil Willis, the former education spokesman, was also said to be backing Mr Clegg.

Mr Clegg, 40, may be the bookies' favourite but Mr Huhne, 53, who came from a standing start almost to beat Sir Menzies in 2006, has the advantage of already having a street-wise team in place to fight a tough campaign.

Both men have remarkable similarities – they are both old boys of Westminster School, became MEPs and come from wealthy backgrounds. Mr Huhne, a former City editor of The Independent who went on to make a fortune in the City before turning his hand to politics, is seen as leaning more to Gordon Brown than Mr Clegg, who is being portrayed as more inclined to David Cameron – a picture both men reject.

Mr Huhne does not deny he is also likely to be cast as the "grey" candidate. "I can't possibly deny I have grey hair and Nick doesn't," he said. "The party has to think of the considerable talents Nick has and I have – what is the best balance to ensure that, given the volatility of the electorate we have seen over the last few weeks, would it be rash to assume we are only going to be against David Cameron or are we going to have to tackle Labour as well? I think we should not underestimate Gordon Brown. I think he is a pretty formidable talent."

Some Liberal Democrat spin doctors believe the two-party squeeze which has resulted in the Liberal Democrats going down to 11 per cent in the opinion polls – where they would be wiped out in a general election – requires radical policies such as the total rejection of all nuclear weapons instead of a smaller replacement for Trident.

Mr Huhne rejects such a view. "Our voters expect us to be rational," he said. "You will not find me or Nick streaking down the high streets of Britain like la Cicciolina, the Italian Radical porn star. Clearly we do need radical policies. You can't fault us on that front. We have the most comprehensive and radical policies for reducing carbon emissions in this country in net terms by 2050. Nobody else has done that."

He owns seven houses – five to let and two (in Eastleigh, his constituency, and a town house in Clapham, south London) which he shares with his wife, Vicky Price, a civil servant, and their five children. Asked about the last thing he downloaded on his iPod, he said: "I lent my iPod to one of my teenage kids. She managed to break hers, so I will have to pass on that. I am a Grateful Dead fan. I like upbeat, sunny, West Coast, Beach Boys. I am a natural-born optimist. I love sunshine."

So when he gets a chance to relax, does he hang ten on a surfboard? "I love skiing. There is nothing so scary as being at the top of a mountain and hurtling down."

As the interview ended, he stepped out of his room at the Commons and bumped into Mr Clegg, who was looking for the office of Phil Willis to sign him up for his campaign.

Huhne's CV

Born: July 1954

Education: Westminster School, The Sorbonne, Paris (certificate in French language and civilisation), Magdalen College, Oxford (politics, philosophy and economics)

Career:

Trainee reporter, Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, 1976-77

Brussels correspondent, The Economist, 1977-80

Leader writer, The Guardian 1980-84, and Economics editor 1984-90

Economics editor, The Independent On Sunday, 1990-91

City editor, The Independent and The Independent On Sunday, 1991-94

Founder, Sovereign Ratings IBCA, 1994-97

Managing director Fitch IBCA, 1997-99

Vice-chairman Fitch Ratings, 1999-2003

Politics:

MEP for the South-East of England, 1999-2005

Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh since May 2005.

Treasury spokesman 2005

Leadership candidate 2006

Lib Dem environment spokesman, 2006 to date