In a hung Parliament, who exactly would the Lib Dems side with?
I know that the obvious response is “Why Should Anyone Care?” but if we’re going to navel-gaze about British politics (and we are, for a little while, at least) we might as well deign to include the fifth wheel that is the aptly-coloured Yellow Party1.
I ask because Ms Gore – who describes yours truly as ‘Not Yet Lib Dem’, a statement which seems accurate enough to me – was asking something similar about the Lib Dems in her desperate quest to single-handedly cajole the flailing fish off the rocks and back into the stream before it’s too late. She wanted to know if the Lib Dems should start voting tactically with the Tories to distance themselves from Labour (the answer is of course and emphatically YES) but I think what’s more interesting is what happens if they’re put in the position of dealing with a hung parliament.
Obviously, they shouldn’t side with anybody. When met with an enviable opportunity to have the casting vote in any major decision, the sensible choice would be to take it – and since the LDs are such towering intellectual powerhouses you’d expect them to recognise that. If the Conservatives were the largest party in a hung Parliament, the Lib Dems could even start making a great case for why people should vote for them over Labour, and in a second election could possibly push themselves into becoming Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
Wouldn’t that be a thought.
We all know that wouldn’t happen, though. Instead, the possibility of forming a barely significant piece of a serving Government would turn their head, they’d broker a deal to form an alliance with whichever party had the largest vote share in exchange for some meaningless concession, and they’d devalue themselves and their political objectives for a short term gain which will prove utterly futile.
Which is a shame, really, because most Lib Dems seem to be nice enough people at heart. If they spent a little less time doing utterly convincing impressions of Jay-Z – and of course reminding us how much more intelligent they are than everyone else – they might actually be able to achieve something with their lives.
- Any Lib Dems of a nervous disposition who may be reading: it’s OK, you can put down the inhaler. We’re all friends here. I figure you must have a sense of humour – otherwise, you’d join a proper Party… [↩]
It is difficult
I`d call Charlotte Gore ‘not yet a Conservative ‘ , because if we are to take seriously her claims to be anti collectivism then she is quite obviously in the wrong Party.
Of course she means well but then so did the unilateral disarmers who , with catastrophic stupidity thought there was an equivalence between the Soviet Union and the USA. ( many of them Liberals as they are to this day). She means well , but then her Party criticised New Labour from the left for most of the period in which he black hole in the Public Purse was created , good job no-one listened . She means well but her Party wants to remove direct electoral accountability and replace it witb a toff stitch up PR equation to ensure the elite can never be removed .
They all mean well but they were prepared to lie outright about their actions over Lisbon and then when the cameras were elsewhere support New Labour in the Lords . They mean well but their support is overwhelmingly the very Public Sector parasites that know they depend on a left government for their pensions and bureaucratic sinceres , more even than the Labour Party as Coffee house recently showed .
When real life decisions about risk and liberty occur , cars smoking , Health and Safety Coucil snooping , the Liberals are quicker to use the state`s powers than anyone and Chris Huhne wanted Wilder banned , and what he called anti gay remarks banned. (Chris Huhne actually won the leadership contest had the votes been counted properly by the way )
In other words they are Liberal with those who share their Liberal assumptions but with no-one else
They claim to be returning to classical Liberal economics but we will not hear anything about how these lower taxes will be funded .We heard nothing from them but abuse when Margaret Thatcher actually took on entrenched opposition to fight for a free economy . When the miners had to be beaten, they sat on the fence , they are never there when unpopular things have to be done .
The problem is two versions of freedom. For me it is instinctively freedom from the state and its constraints .For many Liberals it is freedom ‘positively’ conceived ie the freedom that a well funded Educational system provides for life chances
Conservatives would also accept some of this argument but you cannot have it both ways .More of one equals less of the other . Liberals were a tiny minority in the days of Clement Freud brought back to life by the SDP , ie Social Democrats which is what they tend to be in practice , when they talk of Liberty they mean by it a collectivist compromise that is actually a vacuum
When Brown was popular Nick Clegg was in negotiations with Brown for inclusion in a New Labour Cabinet (Independent ), now they see the wind change they are worried about the Southern seats and are playing it down .They are also the only exclusively bourgeois and white Party with the least understanding of working class life and the most contempt for the institutions that sustain it . Marriage ,the country , self reliance and social conservatism
Charlotte seems very nice but why why why can she not support the Conservative Party , the sake goes for Cicero Songs and any decent Lib Dem ?
Why must she use her powers for evil ?
Newmania
April 17, 2009 at 12:05 pm