Because the Brits haven't got a proportional system. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
The original Libs were the party of Jeremy Thorpe, who remains the only significant British pol in recent history to be put on trial for attempting to murder a lover. (Did he also fiddle his expenses?)
So the fail is strong with them.
It's not that they're disreputable - it's that currently they're not nearly disreputable enough.
