Friday, February 22, 2019
Are the Liberal Democrats coming across as too needy in their search for allies?
There is news this morning that a ninth MP has left Labour, however, as the Independent reports, Dudley North MP, Ian Austin is going to sit with the independent Independents. Confused? you should be.
In fact, Ian Austin's final destination means that he is not the ninth MP to desert Labour for some ill-defined grouping of malcontents, he is in fact the fourteenth Labour MP to make this walk. That is because the non-aligned MPs who have walked away from their party for various reasons (or who have been ousted) include former Labour MPs such as Ivan Lewis, Jared O'Mara, Fiona Onasanya, John Woodcock and Frank Field.
So far none of these five have shown any inclination to pair up with Chuka Umunna and his merry gang. That may well change as the Independent Group start to find an identity, some policies and a leader, but none of that is in place, and the question has to be what programme exactly can such a diverse group unite around?
The easy answer of course is opposition to Brexit, or at least an opportunity for people to vote on the final deal. They also share an antipathy to their former party. But in terms of further policy work there is nothing, and there is certainly no indication of future direction of travel that can justify the enthusiasm with which Vince Cable and his group of MPs have embraced the defectors.
Now, I like a good troublemaker as much as the next guy. I believe that it is healthy to stir the pot every now and again to see what emerges, but I am more cautious about making allies of these people. I am of the view that if we are to work with the Independent Group in the longer term we should at least have a common approach to the big political issues of the day, apart from Brexit.
This is not made easier by the fact that, whereas Vince and co. have been very nice, almost felicitous in their praise, members of the Independent Group have been downright nasty about the Liberal Democrats, almost as if they do not want to be tainted by association. That is no basis for a partnership.
And what about policies? Well, many members of the Independent Group voted for Heathrow expansion, which immediately raises questions about their stance on climate change. There has been no indication as to what they thing about electoral reform, though at least one was active in the No2AV campaign, and on a whole raft of policy areas where the Liberal Democrats have carved distinct positions such as civil liberties, internationalism etc, we have only silence.
That is only to be expected at such an early stage, so why is Vince Cable going gungho for an electoral pact, as if it were the second coming of the SDP? It isn't and nor is it likely to be. Has Vince never heard of playing hard to get?
At the moment the eleven Liberal Democrat MPs are acting like Billy-no-mates, hanging into the coat tails of whoever will have them. We are better than that. We have nearly 100,000 members, thousands of councillors and grassroots activity in hundreds of communities around Britain. The Independent Group have none of that. It does not help us to rebuild when we seem so eager to sacrifice our own identity for expedient alliances.
By all means carry out exploratory talks with the defectors, help them to establish themselves and look for common cause, but for goodness sake, could our MPs have some decorum in the way they approach this. And more importantly, could they also remember that the Liberal Democrats are a democratic party and that if they are to once more try to remould British politics, they need to take the membership with them.
In fact, Ian Austin's final destination means that he is not the ninth MP to desert Labour for some ill-defined grouping of malcontents, he is in fact the fourteenth Labour MP to make this walk. That is because the non-aligned MPs who have walked away from their party for various reasons (or who have been ousted) include former Labour MPs such as Ivan Lewis, Jared O'Mara, Fiona Onasanya, John Woodcock and Frank Field.
So far none of these five have shown any inclination to pair up with Chuka Umunna and his merry gang. That may well change as the Independent Group start to find an identity, some policies and a leader, but none of that is in place, and the question has to be what programme exactly can such a diverse group unite around?
The easy answer of course is opposition to Brexit, or at least an opportunity for people to vote on the final deal. They also share an antipathy to their former party. But in terms of further policy work there is nothing, and there is certainly no indication of future direction of travel that can justify the enthusiasm with which Vince Cable and his group of MPs have embraced the defectors.
Now, I like a good troublemaker as much as the next guy. I believe that it is healthy to stir the pot every now and again to see what emerges, but I am more cautious about making allies of these people. I am of the view that if we are to work with the Independent Group in the longer term we should at least have a common approach to the big political issues of the day, apart from Brexit.
This is not made easier by the fact that, whereas Vince and co. have been very nice, almost felicitous in their praise, members of the Independent Group have been downright nasty about the Liberal Democrats, almost as if they do not want to be tainted by association. That is no basis for a partnership.
And what about policies? Well, many members of the Independent Group voted for Heathrow expansion, which immediately raises questions about their stance on climate change. There has been no indication as to what they thing about electoral reform, though at least one was active in the No2AV campaign, and on a whole raft of policy areas where the Liberal Democrats have carved distinct positions such as civil liberties, internationalism etc, we have only silence.
That is only to be expected at such an early stage, so why is Vince Cable going gungho for an electoral pact, as if it were the second coming of the SDP? It isn't and nor is it likely to be. Has Vince never heard of playing hard to get?
At the moment the eleven Liberal Democrat MPs are acting like Billy-no-mates, hanging into the coat tails of whoever will have them. We are better than that. We have nearly 100,000 members, thousands of councillors and grassroots activity in hundreds of communities around Britain. The Independent Group have none of that. It does not help us to rebuild when we seem so eager to sacrifice our own identity for expedient alliances.
By all means carry out exploratory talks with the defectors, help them to establish themselves and look for common cause, but for goodness sake, could our MPs have some decorum in the way they approach this. And more importantly, could they also remember that the Liberal Democrats are a democratic party and that if they are to once more try to remould British politics, they need to take the membership with them.
Comments:
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Certainly the MPs are coming across as a bit desperate.
Most of the actual members seem to be more circumspect.
Most of the actual members seem to be more circumspect.
I totally agree with this!! We are coming across desperate and just feeds into the narrative that we are irrelevant and have no policies. "hand of friendship" is correct approach but talk of pacts when they don't want electoral reform (apart from Chuka) is crazy!!! We should make it clear this is a precondition for any electoral arrangement.
They are still saying LibDems should defect to them! We are in danger of maneuvering ourselves into an impossible position.
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They are still saying LibDems should defect to them! We are in danger of maneuvering ourselves into an impossible position.
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