I wonder how many activists and campaigners like me remain comfortable in the Lib Dems because Simon Hughes dares to say what many of our MPs are unwilling to say or actually have bought in to the coalition with the Tories so much, they actually don't want to say.
Today Simon says we will not enter in to an electoral pact with the Tories. We will stand candidates against the Tories, and it is part of our constitution that we have to field candidates.
Of course, this is not to say that the Tories will field candidates against Lib Dems, indeed, it probably suits the Tories more to step aside in seats where Labour could get back in. But from a Lib Dem point of view, and for those of us fighting Tories in local government, it is very nice to know Simon Hughes is fighting on behalf of activists.
11 comments:
Looking from outside of the Lib Dems inwards, I have a lot of respect for Simon Hughes. He seems unafraid to make the case that the Lib Dems are still their own party, something which a bizarre amount of MPs seem uneasy saying.
I sometimes wonder what on earth the LibDems actually want.
This is their ONLY chance of implementing some of their policies which they apparently cherish.
Putting aside the fact that they LOST seats at the last election, are they more comfortable with being in opposition, banging on about "the other two" or do they really want to make a difference and can say that they have achieved something in this coalition.
Where would the Lib dems be without Simon Hughes ?
Mainstream electable probably.
Don't forget that many grassroots Tories wouldn't accept standing down for LDs, Norfolk Blogger, and you will likely see a crop of Independent Conservative candidates. For example - Norwich South where the LibDem MP has a 310 vote majority and the Tory candidate got 11,000 votes last time. Would the Tories there accept not running a candidate to back the sitting LibDem MP? I doubt it very much indeed.
If the constitution insists that 'every voter must have the chance to vote for a lib dem candidate' how did the party stand aside for Martin Bell?
I'm not really arguing for or against a pact, but I don't think it's as clear cut as you make it seem. The option does seem to be on the table.
Whilst I'm more than happy that Simon said it, we didn't actually need him to do it. The only people who've been talking about an electoral pact are Tories.
shame simon will be losing his seat then
as he already knows
Nich,
I know we had words back in May but I agree with every single word of this. As a Londoner and a Lib Dem, I can only begin to guess at the debt the party owes to Simon who kept the flag flying in London for years until the breakthrough in 1997.
I support the Coalition and more wholeheartedly than you I suspect, but I emphatically do NOT want any kind of electoral pact with the Conservatives. In 2015 we stand on our record in Government and our liberal principles and we stand independent.
To go down the road of pacts is to go down the road of the Liberal Nationals and there's no future in that. As to what happens after 2015, I don't know but I do know we will decide as a strong independent party.
Clegg will be in the Lords
and the Lib Dems will be destroyed
by Conservative and Labour advance
The Tories have played the Lib Dems for fools, a perfect fig leaf for neocom policies
And yes Simon will be a victim,have you seen the local poll
he has more council house voters than any other in London whoare now scared out of their minds the Coalition will take their home
Q Where would they be without Hughes.
A.In the real world.
I knew you would be a fan of his.
Totally agree with you Nich (as a fellow primadonna of course I would!) It worries me that so many folk, in our party and without (as demonstrated by some of the ludicrous comments on here)just can't cope with dissent - unless it is them dissenting! Actually, the real irony is that the likes of "Jonny Norfolk" right wing Tory toffs no doubt, who live in gated communities and wouldn't know the real world if it came and bit them in the bottom, perpetuate the myth that some are "born to rule" for the benefit of him and his ilk, and the rest of us can go hang. That is why I am glad we have the likes of Simon speaking out for those who have always been the downtrodden and oppressed, who have never had a voice and who have been betrayed by Labour and Tory alike.
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