I am at a loss as to what the Liberal Democrats or the country gains from having two Lib Dem peers act as advisers to Gordon Brown.
Does anyone in their right mind believe that Baroness Neuberger or Lord Lester will hold sway or influence Gordon brown in their advisory capacity ? Will it further the cause of Liberal Democracy ? Or will it allow the Liberal Democrats to be labelled as Gordon Brown's Poodles ?
As far as I am concerned, anyone who wants to work with the Labour government whilst the Labour Party has a majority should resign their party membership and join the Labour Party. Alternatively they should be stripped of their membership.
There are enough grassroots campaigners working their socks off on the ground without these peers undermining everything the party campaigners are trying to do by allowing the Lib Dems to be seen as working with Labour.
This is a gift for the Tories and a major gaff by the Lib Dems. Wake up Ming to what is going on !
15 comments:
I'm quite interested to see how this will work out. Brown is much cannier than we give him credit for. He is trying to be all embracing.
All embracing of suffocating ? I think he is trying to strangle the Lib Dems and they are not being canny enough to see it.
Isn't the point of politics to get in to power ? Surely this is what the Lib/Dem party is getting in this case ?
What's your problem ?
This latest incarnation of Nu Labour is neither Liberal nor Democratic, it is this sort of thing that has lead me not to stay with the party after thirty five years.
Stephen,
Yes, to get into power, not to be among the minor trappings of Brown's ( call me Gordon) power base.
The peers could give their expert advice without being named on the payroll; Lord Lester states he has already been doing this for some time.
Brown's camp are manipulative plotters and must be delighted to have collected some of our best names to use freely in their propaganda.
Very undermining; difficult to see why I shouln't transfer my membership along with the peers.
Beth
No the point of politics is to get your party into power not yourself. These so called LibDem peers have done it at the expense of the party.
In all Con/LibDem marginals e.g Eastleigh, the Conservatives will be able to say a LibDem vote is a vote to prop up a discredited Labour government. Now due to Mings stupidity and the selfishness of a number of peers they have the evidence to back this up.
It's frankly a disaster. Brown is very canny as some have pointed out above. The LibDems will be very badly squeezed at the next election and may lose many seats.
I agree with the comments of a large number of those who have posted. This idiotic decsions by Ming shows weakness. The party is collapsing in opinion polls and is going down the toilet in Westminster.
We'll get hammered at the next election unless something is done to change things at the top.
Ming is so out of touch with what the membership wants and it is not Lib Dem peers propping up or advising Labour.
Be careful what you say about poodles. They are among the most intelligent and valiant of dogs, and very loyal.
Whilst my party clearly benefit form the absolute stupidity of both these peers and Sir Ming, I have to agree with Nich that if this was my party I'd be going bananas and demanding they be expelled. What is wrong with the political antenea of the current LibDem Leadership?
Oh come on. What on earth is the harm in giving a bit of advice.
Perhaps we should instead keep all our policies top secret, just in case we might convince anyone else of them.
come on now Liberals - if you are serious about ever having your hands on government you will have to accept jobs from Labour or the Tories - there is NO chance that you will win a general election - so why not just grow up and accept the offer of working in Government. Julia Neuberger would have made a first rate health minister but for silly partisan reasons your leader told her to turn it down - its not only your loss - but a loss to the country.. but to be honest it just makes you lot look like a group of oppositionalists - when given the opportunity to join the Government you turn it down, and Gordon clearly wanted to extend his government to include none labour people - digby jones etc - you could have been part of that - instead you are seen in the eyes of the public as lacking any seiousness.
You obviously don't understand what a coalition is. It is not oppostion members presiding over Labour policies. If Gordon Brown wants Lib Dems then he needs to take on board basic Lib Dem policies and principles.
I'm dissapointed that Nick Starling speaks for so many in the party who simply don't understand that all politics is the 'art of the possible.' The idea that talented professional experts/big achievers in our party should be 'disciplined' by the Party for working with machinary of government is astonishing - and has all the doctrinaire rigidity of uncompromising facist and communist parties. It is no coincidence that those who want to enforce the virginal purity of the libdems, and keep us outside all the networks of government, are by and large people who've achieved very little in their lives - little within the party and nothing outside it. I myself work as policy officer for big national charity - I couldn't do my job without working closely with the governmnent, labour ministers and MPs. I'm also a loyal party member, though increasingly exasperated.....
I think if you knew my CV you'd realise that you know little about me, least of all how to actually spell my name.
i'm sorry that by being a teacher, I have in your words "acheived little". I find my job rewarding and worthwhile and I am in a poisiton where I do not even seek promotion because I enjoy my job.
My political CV is too long to go trough, but when you get incolved in a parlaimentary seat with a 10,000 tory majority and help turn it in top a 10,000 Lib Dem majority and when you've been agent to as many council seat gains as myself, then I will happily take the lecture.
I' not sure Nich speaks for so many in the party. This is his personal blog. I'm sure there are many who agree with him, equally some don't, but I don't see his blog as speaking for the party as I don't see Iain Dale's blog as speaking for the Conservatives.
Post a Comment