Squandered Opportunity for Electoral Change

I have a big stake in this. I have been a member since the Party was formed back in the 1980′s and I was in the Liberal Party before that. I have been a District and County Councillor and stood for Parliament twice, most recently last year in Surrey against Jeremy Hunt. I served as a Branch Chairman and on the Executive of my local Party. Like many committed Lib Dem members I believe Nick Clegg has failed us badly.

For committed Lib Dem supporters it is shocking that Clegg has squandered the golden opportunity to achieve electoral reform, perhaps for a generation. No other Lib Dem leader has had such an opportunity, but Clegg has comprehensively failed to deliver on this political reform which falls directly under his Ministerial remit. First he failed in the negotiation with Cameron last year, which left us with the rather uninspiring AV system as the proposed change. He then failed on his choice of timing, by fixing the referendum date at a point when (because of the ‘savage cuts’ agenda) the coalition was likely to be deeply unpopular with left-inclined voters whose support would be needed to secure reform. Due to Clegg cosying up to Cameron he undermined his credibility with those same voters and thus their support for a voting system that would benefit the Lib Dems. He left the Yes campaign too little time to mobilise and plan for the vote. He then failed to rein in the Tories and prevent the scandalous tactics of the No2AV campaign. The last of these points is symptomatic of his wider failure as Lib Dem leader in this coalition.

What are the Lib Dems for?

Nick Clegg’s cosy relationship with Cameron and his personal unwillingness to assert himself in the face of the ‘ruthless and calculating’ Tories (as Vince Cable describes them) is a huge factor in the loss of support for the Lib Dems. I have just watched the Lib Dem leader of Eastleigh Borough Council on TV describing Clegg as naive. That’s one perspective. Personally I wonder if Clegg isn’t actually a natural ally of Cameron, not simply because of their similar class backgrounds but because they share much in the way of political ideology. Whether Clegg likes it or not, for decades most of our support has come from left of centre voters. It is these voters who are saying to us that they feel betrayed by our broken promises and by our rightward shift (which I call the Toryfication of our Party). Clegg is seen as weak by many people who suspect that he is a Tory at heart anyway. Whether or not that is true, he has failed to provide a passionate left of centre leadership. His heart just does not seem to be in it.

People naturally ask “What are the Lib Dems for?” and “What’s the point in voting Lib Dem?” When we make an explicit promise to vote against any proposed increase in University tuition fees (and actually sign a pledge saying exactly that) it is no surprise if people turn against us when we do exactly the opposite. Simples! Why should the voters believe any promise Clegg makes to them? The tuition fees vote was a political disaster for us. By this foolish act alone, Clegg has fatally undermined his credibility with millions of people, especially the young who had thought we were ‘different’ from the usual manipulative, unprincipled, deceitful politicians who pitch for their support. The contempt that many young people now have for the Lib Dems will be hard to remedy.

Clegg should have made the tuition fees vote a red-line issue in the coalition agreement. It was a failure of his political judgement that he did not do so.

Loss of Identity

Few people would suggest that the Tories have lost their principles. Most people know what the Conservatives stand for. This can no longer be said of the Lib Dems. It has all got very fuzzy. On the BBC Andrew Marr programme this morning Clegg said that the lesson he has taken from last Thursday’s elections and the AV defeat was that the Lib Dems failed to communicate effectively. Well Mr Clegg – you are the leader, so that must be your personal failure to communicate. Your dalliance with Cameron and Co has eroded our Lib Dem distinctiveness and alienated millions of voters.

Clegg now wants to assert his position, flexing his political muscles over NHS reform. The problem is that he is not the one to re-establish our integrity and identity. The damage to his credibility has been too deep. The electorate now see him as weak and ineffectual. Many believe he is a Tory at heart. The disillusionment is too great for him to win back their support.

High Stakes Poker needs a ‘ruthless and calculating’ Lib Dem Player

There is much talk today of the risks of the coalition breaking up. Some Tories are saying that if the Lib Dems get too uppity then there will be an election and the Lib Dems will be wiped out.

My analysis is that Cameron would not risk an election now. He likes power and position too much. If there was an election this year then there is every possibility that Labour could end up as the biggest Party and, with the current electoral boundaries, it is very unlikely that the Tories would win outright (although not impossible).

This is a high stakes poker game. It needs a Lib Dem Player willing to call Cameron’s bluff. Clegg appears to like his position as Deputy PM too much to risk losing it and, in my view, he doesn’t have the courage or shrewdness for the game. My choice for such a role would be Chris Huhne. We need a tough operator like him at the top of our Party. The right wing press know he would change the dynamics of the coalition in our favour, hence their attacks on Huhne today.

A Different Agenda

People who are not particularly interested in politics will naturally ask what would change with a new Lib Dem leader. It will be vital to have a clear distinctive Liberal Democrat Agenda. There could be a very long list but as a start my preferred agenda would include:

1. Major investment in transport and green energy infrastructure;
2. No more wars of intervention (unless defending our citizens or direct interests);
3. A clear timetable to put up the tax threshold to £10k (by April 2012 at the latest);
4. A firm ‘No’ to the risky, messy, expensive NHS reorganisation;
5. A ‘Robin Hood’ financial services tax;
6. International action on tax avoidance by the Super Rich;
7. Carefully tapered benefits cuts for those moving into work;
8. Stopping the Trident replacement now before any more money is spent;
9. Instigating a wholesale review of University Tuition Fees with a view to implement reductions and a meaningful cap before 2015, with some targeted subjects being entirely freed from student fees to encourage young people to get qualifications in key areas of benefit to the economic future of our country;
10. Encouragement for foreign students to come here instead of pushing them away (Doh! they bring in money);
11. Splitting up the big banks to reduce future risks and consideration of a wide range of options including mutualisation or transferring ownership to all people on the UK electoral roll!

Clegg’s failure is evident in three areas:

Loss of integrity

The failure of Nick Clegg’s leadership of the Liberal Democrats really became evident to the public with the trebling of University Tuition Fees when Clegg rolled over and reneged on an explicit promise to vote against any rise.

Let’s remember what Lib Dems, including myself as the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate in SW Surrey, said before the General Election:

“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next Parliament and to pressure the Government to introduce a fairer alternative”

And on film Nick Clegg said it even more plainly as can be seen in a number of YouTube videos such as this one

Watch and cringe at this Lib Dem Party Political Broadcast during the General Election here.

Of course it isn’t just the betrayal over tuition fees that has turned the electorate against us. They also see the ‘savage cuts’ as unfair. Why? Because the bankers are still raking in huge bonuses, big companies are avoiding paying UK taxes on a shocking scale and the super-rich get richer by the day, whilst services for the disadvantaged, the poor and the elderly are being slashed. At the last election we in the Lib Dems made great play of the word ‘fairness’ but the public believe we have failed to deliver it in government.

Furthermore the Lib Dems are being pushed to support misguided and dangerous reforms to the NHS which could have a devastating effect upon service delivery. These reforms were not in the manifesto of either the Lib Dems or the Tories! One thing the British electorate will not abide is a politically motivated backdoor privatisation of their NHS. The reforms may not be full scale privatisation but the fear that the profit motive of private health care providers will skew service delivery to the detriment of patients, is not scaremongering.

Failure of strategy

Those who voted Lib Dem in the last election are wondering what we have achieved for them. People face inflation eating away at their income, the threat of redundancy hanging over them and local services being savaged. Many people feel matters have got worse under the Tory-led Coalition and that the Tories have been propped up by Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems who have been seduced by power. The public were not impressed by the proposal to tinker with the voting system to gain advantage for the Liberal Democrat Party, whilst they suffered from the consequences of Tory economic policy.

If we listen to the voices of Lib Dems in government today we will hear them emphasising the need to focus on sorting out the mess left by Labour. It is a Tory strategy and it does not wash with those who are our natural supporters. Most people recognise that the worldwide financial crisis was predominantly a failure of the banking sector and of government regulation (by both the Labour government in the UK and by the right wing Republican administration in the USA). It is a scandal that the greed and the cataclysmic mismanagement of the banking sector have still not been forcefully addressed. Targeting so called ‘benefits scroungers’ as the cause of the country’s problems does not go down well with most Lib Dem voters, especially when the super-rich and big companies are avoiding paying many billions of pounds in tax, dwarfing any losses to HMRC from benefit fraud

The referendum on the Alternative Vote was the big prize that Clegg trumpeted. The Alternative Vote was never likely to inspire much enthusiasm amongst those of us who want a fairer voting system and Clegg’s decision to hold the vote on 5th May, rather than at a later date when the Lib Dems might have been in a stronger position electorally, was a strategic error for which he must take the blame.

Failure of political leadership

After the General Election the Lib Dem leadership had the opportunity of a political lifetime. The mathematics of the new Parliament placed us in a fabulous position to, at last, have Lib Dem policies put into practice in national government.

As Kingmakers we could have extracted a hefty price in terms of Lib Dem policies being implemented. But Clegg and his circle were far less interested in Lib Dem policies in government than they were in certain Lib Dem places in government. Bums on seats at the Cabinet table and in ministerial offices were the priority. The rationale was to get our hands on the levers of power (hence the desire for a formal coalition) but even by that reasoning Clegg failed. We did not gain a single one of the chief offices of state: the offices of Prime Minister, Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary all went to Tories. Tories also became Defence Secretary, Education Secretary and Health Secretary. Yes Clegg was given John Prescott’s old job and Vince Cable got to be Business Secretary but Clegg has undermined his own role (heading up political reform) by his abject failure to deliver even the modest electoral reform of AV, whilst Cable faced public ridicule for his ham-fisted macho posturing over Rupert Murdoch.

Of the leading Lib Dems only Chris Huhne as Energy and Climate Change Secretary has utilised his position to good effect to date. Most embarrassing of all is Danny Alexander as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, serving up the Tory gruel to the poor and explaining that it’s all the fault of the previous managers of the Workhouse (meaning Labour), somewhat ignoring the role of the Bankers!

The Toryfication of the Lib Dems in government is perhaps most shocking when considering economic policy. In contrast to our warnings before the election to avoid cutting too quickly or too deeply, Clegg and co joined Cameron and Osborne’s post-election party and have become drunk on the intoxicating liquor of their agenda, which is a crude plan to cut back the State for largely ideological reasons.

New leadership needed

For all these reasons I cannot support Nick Clegg as leader of my party and I urge those close to him to persuade him to relinquish that role immediately. Another leader, given a fresh mandate by our membership to pursue our Liberal Democrat agenda in the coalition, would have an excellent chance to turn the political tide. There is still enough time to rebuild our Party before the next General Election. Now is the time to act. There needs to be something akin to a ‘day of rage’ against Nick Clegg. I was live on BBC Radio 5 this morning making my voice heard. I urge all our members to make their views known as forcefully as possible now.

If the Coalition falls now, on the current electoral boundaries, it is highly unlikely that the Tories would gain an overall majority and it is very possible that Labour would be returned as the largest Party. Cameron would not risk this. If the Lib Dems have a leader who will stand up to Cameron then we have a chance to re-establish our political credibility. If not then we will dwindle to a rump of MPs after the next General Election and, more importantly, we will fail to protect the public from the right wing politics of the Tory Party which are doing so much harm to our economy and causing so much suffering to the disadvantaged across our country.

I have a lot of friends in Palestine, having developed projects involving youth exchanges and support for charitable work there.

A Forgotten People?

Unlike many Christians I do not turn a blind eye to the oppression of the Palestinian people which is the ‘new apartheid’ in my view.

With hopes of a viable independent Palestinian State dwindling further, following the gutless reaction of the US to Israeli settlement construction in Palestinian territory, I thought this article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz was a useful reminder of one example of the oppression of the Palestinian people. Read the article here ‘Shin Bet tortures prisoners and denies access to lawyers’. Haaretz is Israel’s oldest daily newspaper.

Israeli Human Rights Champions

Not all Israelis support the actions of their government in respect of the treatment of the Palestinians. When I was out there last I met the Executive Director of the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem who do valuable work exposing human rights violations on all sides of the conflict. Their website has this summary of what they are about.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.

B’Tselem in Hebrew literally means “in the image of,” and is also used as a synonym for human dignity. The word is taken from Genesis 1:27 “And God created humans in his image. In the image of God did He create him.” It is in this spirit that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights.”

I also met other smaller groups and heard personal stories exposing the real life tragedies of people on both sides of the ‘Apartheid Wall’.

Clegg changes his tune on Israel

One good thing that Nick Clegg did in opposition was to call for Gordon Brown to ‘halt arms exports to Israel’ and he condemned the Israeli actions in Gaza a year ago. Sadly this is another aspect of Clegg’s changing politics as he took a very different stance in November when he met with the ‘Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel’, The Jewish Chronicle reported it under the headline ‘Nick Clegg: we got it wrong on Israel’ and other Lib Dems were less than impressed with the change of approach. The effects of a little bit of power? Does Clegg still believe in stopping sales of military equipment to Israel? The Coalition Agreement is pretty vague and simply says, ‘We will support defence jobs through exports that are used for legitimate purposes, not internal repression’. I am sure that the current Israeli government would argue that all their military procurement is for ‘legitimate purposes, not internal repression’ but all the Palestinians I know would strongly disagree!

It will be interesting to see how Ed Milliband approaches Israel/Palestine. Will he take the position of organisations such as B’Tselem and other Jewish groups who recognise the deep injustice of the plight of the Palestinians or will he give the green light to the current extreme right wing government in Israel to continue the land-grab of Palestinian territory and brutal oppression of the people of Gaza?

I don’t usually quote the Daily Mail but they have quite a good article on Jeremy Hunt’s private and public contacts with the Murdoch empire. Click here for the article.

I wonder if more details about the Murdochs and Hunt will come out soon? Can’t see the Sun or The Times doing an expose! Murdoch must be laughing all the way to his lair.

Vince was foolish to be so indiscreet with the two young women from the Torygraph who posed as his constituents, whilst recording his comments about having “declared war on Mr Murdoch” and suggesting “I think we’re going to win”! Vince was naïve and wrong to make such comments to two complete strangers, even if they hadn’t been part of a Torygraph entrapment exercise.

BUT to then put Jeremy Hunt, of all people, in charge of the decision on the Murdoch’s bid to take full control of BSkyB is inept and demonstrates the extent of the Tory domination of the Coalition. Hunt has a LONG track record of attacking the BBC and peddling the same line as Rupert and James Murdoch on a range of media issues. I have Blogged extensively about this here and here and here for example.

Hunt’s position on Media Competition and News International

During the run up to the General Election I wrote to Hunt to ask him serious questions concerning his impartiality should he be elected and then become Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which, sadly for me, is precisely what happened. Here’s the letter I sent him.

In his reply to me he made no mention of the Murdochs or News International but commenting about the Tory plans to cut back the powers of Ofcom he wrote ‘we have made it clear that competition issues must remain at arms length’.

With Hunt’s public comments on how relaxed he is about Murdoch expanding his empire it’s hard to see how Hunt can be impartial in his new quasi-judicial role in respect of the Murdochs’ bid to take full control of BSkyB. Take this comment for example in a Broadcast magazine interview: “Rather than worry about Rupert Murdoch owning another TV channel, what we should recognise is that he has probably done more to create variety and choice in British TV than any other single person”.

The Farce of Hunt ruling on the Fox Empire

After Cameron stripped Vince Cable of his powers in the BSkyB matter, he transferred the role to Jeremy Hunt, with Nick Clegg’s agreement! Now Mr Hunt will be in the quasi-judicial role of considering the Murdochs’ plans to take full control of BSkyB and thus further increase their power over UK media interests.

Hunt is due to receive a report from Ofcom, the media regulator, on the impact on plurality of the bid by the end of the year. After that he has to decide whether to refer the deal to the Competition Commission.

It will be Hunt’s role to decide whether or not to ask for an investigation by the Competition Commission.

If he decides NOT to ask for such an investigation he will have given the green light to the Murdochs to expand their empire significantly with all that implies for political balance in TV coverage in our Country.

Even if he DOES ask for an investigation by the Competition Commission, it would ultimately be his decision whether the deal should be permitted, once he has received the advice of the Competition Commission.

So much for Jeremy Hunt’s promise to me that ‘competition issues must remain at arms length’!

So much for the political judgement of Nick Clegg in going along with this farce!

In 'the thick of it' in Parliament Square

The Tory/Lib Dem Coalition government voted to massively increase tuition fees for students. There was heated debate in the House of Commons but Nick Clegg was unapologetic and eager to push the policy through. This was despite huge opposition from young people who protested on the streets of London outside Parliament yesterday.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg appeared arrogant and out of touch in his media interviews. This went down very badly with young people!

Students on Westminster Bridge at around 1pm on 9th December 2010

I saw the protests from both sides of the police lines and saw many injured young people and one injured policeman. There were some upsetting scenes which I chose not to photograph. This included one young man with blood pouring from his head onto the road. There was a whole group of injured young people sat on the pavement. Police at times did seem very heavy handed with the crowds and there was huge anger amongst protesters. See video footage of police horses charging the crowd – unlikely to be shown on Sky!

Students reason with the law

The impact of the Lib Dem leadership voting for the policy was very evident outside as young people challenged police control lines and chanted “Shame on you for turning blue” whenever Clegg’s name was mentioned. He was, of course, called a lot worse.

Sense of Betrayal is Felt by Young People

There was a deep-rooted sense of betrayal amongst young people and probably the majority of the anger was directed at Clegg and his supporters (a reducing number of people as time goes on).

For my part I believe that it’s crucial to be a man or woman of your word. If there is an explicit promise made in writing and on film (and it’s a promise that has no conditions attached ) … well you can’t renege on it – at least not without undermining your credibility with the electorate and feeding the cynical attitude that ‘you’re all as bad as each other’.

Broken Promises Undermine Coalition Politics

The Observer said this on Sunday, “the (tuition fees) furore risks cementing coalition in peoples minds as licence to break promises”. When the referendum on changing the voting system comes there’s a real danger that people will say, ‘well if that’s the result of the kind of coalition that would come from electoral reform, I don’t want to vote for it’.

In any case Clegg did not hold the Party together. His attempt to appear tough with his own MPs backfired badly as more Lib Dem MPs voted against or abstained than voted for the policy put forward by the Lib Dem leadership. Clegg is weakened by this – as is our Party. So a pretty comprehensive disaster Nick! You have managed to deeply damage public trust in our party, particularly amongst young people and you have caused major division in the Lib Dems at the same time.

That is the kind of leadership we can do without.

28 Lib Dem MPs voted in favour of trebling tuition fees proposals, 21 voted against, 8 abstained.

Here are the names of the 21 Lib Dem MPs who voted against the trebling of tuition fees

Mass protest in Parliament Square

Over 130 Lib Dem Parliamentary candidates from the 2010 General Election are petitioning Nick Clegg and all the elected Lib Dem MPs to vote against the policy. You can see the up to date list of signatories here.

The public are already scathing about the betrayal of students by the Lib Dem leadership and will see straight through the latest attempt to put a gloss on it.

Let’s remember what Lib Dems, including myself as the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate in SW Surrey, said before the General Election:

“I pledge to vote against any increase in fees in the next Parliament and to pressure the Government to introduce a fairer alternative”

And on film Nick Clegg said it even more plainly as can be seen in a number of YouTube videos such as this one

Watch and cringe at this Lib Dem Party Political Broadcast during the General Election here.

The Lib Dems used to be seen as different from the two main Parties – more trustworthy, principled and straight-talking. Those very attractive selling points have been thoroughly trashed by Nick Clegg’s betrayal of our PROMISE on Student Tuition Fees.

Now our MPs plan to make matters worse by a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick himself. They say, “We won’t actually vote for the policy – so nobody will be able to blame us for it!”.

Do they really think the public will swallow that?

I despair of my Party leadership and fear for the future of the Lib Dems.

The situation in Ireland is a stark warning to the coalition leadership in the UK. There are big lessons to be learnt from the crisis facing the Irish economy and people. We must hope that Cameron, Clegg, Osborne and Cable read it right, but I fear they will not.

Economic Prophet?

Johann Hari had it spot on when he wrote this article back in July predicting disaster for Ireland – ‘Cameron’s cuts will kill, not cure’.

The right wing media are using the economic situation in Ireland to try to re-enforce their economically illiterate calls for ‘savage cuts’ in UK government spending.

But the truth is very different. The lessons from Ireland are that if you cut too deep and too fast the patient bleeds to death. Johann’s article from four months ago points out the dangers, ‘As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz explains: “If you introduce austerity measures, the amount you can raise in tax falls, and welfare payments go up – so you don’t have enough money to pay your debts anyway.” That’s why the bond markets have turned on Ireland.’

We hear little in the way of challenge to the Friedman-like economics espoused by so many of the political establishment. We need to hear much more if we are not to make the same mistakes as Ireland.

And Hungary is another case in point as I pointed out here.

What Drives the Right Wing Economic Agenda?

Everyone should read Naomi Klein’s book ‘The Shock Doctrine’. She exposes the lies of the rich and powerful and how they have carved up the world’s economies at the expense of the disadvantaged and downright poor. The economics used to justify this were those of Milton Friedman and the ‘Chicago School’. The coalition has clearly rejected Keynes whilst being seduced by the Chicago School of Economics. They can’t wait to wield the axe. I fear for the weak and vulnerable in our Country, but men and women on average levels of income will suffer deeply too, whilst the fat cats of the City continue to lap up the cream.

We need to build a real alternative to the unholy alliance in Parliament that accepts the deeply flawed economic analysis that is driving our national politics. I want to be part of such an alternative and I’m looking to see where it might exist. Let me know if you feel the same.

The shocking and unacceptable violence perpetrated by some students in London today caught the Police by surprise. It seems to have caught Clegg by surprise too. Amazing! Did he really think there would just be a meek acceptance of the trebling of tuition fees and the ‘savage cuts’ he is supporting? How naive is that?

It is so reminiscent of the Thatcher era. I remember the poll tax riots only too well. As a Lib Dem Councillor opposed to the poll tax I was forced to hold out in council offices whilst protesters waited outside and I remember all councillors leaving the building having to run the gauntlet of protesters after our budget meeting, with protesters held back by police. Then I was on the right side of the argument and held my head high. Today I feel ashamed of our Party leadership for such a grievous betrayal of our election pledge – one that stokes the fire of protest and undermines our right to ask the public to trust us with their vote.