Jess and Rosa were part of this production of ‘Allo ‘Allo that was put on for the 1940s weekend here in Haworth.
For those who didn’t hear it the Alexander excuse for the LibDems getting a drubbing seemed to be that people always vote against the government in mid-term election as if this is some kind of national game. He then suggested that as the LibDems haven’t been in power for over 60 years this is the first time that the public have been able to play this game with the LibDems and therefore played it with extra enthusiam. That is simply laughable. It becomes depressing if you think that he really believes it, as that would show that he really really doesn’t get the reality of the situation at all, and therefore we can expect to see few changes from this disastrous government in the coming months. The NHS, social services, jobs and care for the vulnerable will continue to be sacrificed on the alter of false financial necessity.
The reality is that the drubbing is simply what some of us have been predicting for months. Simon Hughes on TV seemed to be getting it a bit better last night when he suggested that the real problem for the LibDems is that they have been perceived to be a progressive party of the left but that now they are delivering a Tory agenda.
That is closer to reality. What it misses is that many people put their trust in the LibDems. People voted for them to keep the Tories out. In case they have forgotten people were using social media to swap votes across the country to try to keep the Tories out. People tactically voted to keep the Tories out.
It nearly worked as well but when it didn’t the last thing those people expected to happen was that the LibDems, who many had just trusted for the first time, would not only enter government with the Tories but would so cravenly capitulate to them at the same time.
The few concessions that the LibDems extracted from the Tories in exchange for their first taste of power in over 60 years were so miserly that they might as well not have bothered. As if that were not enough to cause electoral meltdown the other factor that has come into play is that many long term LibDem supporters also thought they had been voting for a centre-left progressive party. The direction the coalition is going in has come as a shock to them as well. So much of a shock that they have deserted the party in droves. Possibly never to return.
The final straw is that the past year has shown that the LibDems are no different to Labour and the Tories. They have abandoned pre-election pledges and policies for short term gain. They trot out the same ‘his is real politics’ or ‘in the real world we have to compromise’ platitudes that the other parties do. What they have done looks like opportunism. What they have done looks like grasping power for power’s sake. What they have done looks like yet another party that cannot be trusted. What they have done looks like a sell out.
People thought they stood for more than that. There was a reassurance about the existence of the Liberal Democrats as a party that might not have power but that was decent and different and trustworthy. People could think that though our politics may be shabby, the main two parties may be corrupt but at least we have the Liberal Democrats who stand for what is right.
In betraying those beliefs the Clegg faction of the LibDems has damaged not only their party but the whole democratic process. It’s not just Labour and the Tories that can’t be trusted. It’s the LibDems as well and therefore all politicians. No wonder we don’t care what system we use to elect them. They really are all the same.
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