Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
What you notice from this particular posting is the absolutely typical piece of Liberal Democrat opportunism. Smithson favours a deal not on policies (heaven forbid they would be taken into consideration) but on the basis of the personalities involved. So, Clegg's demand to prop up a Labour Government, as opposed to supporting a Conservative regime, is based on... wait for it.... Labour agreeing to elect a new Leader (because Gordon Brown doesn't call them Lib Dems!!!).
Presumably if they didn't, Clegg would be expected to haul his sorry arse over to Conservative Central Office and see what they would offer him.
Truly, deeply, pathetic!
Believe me, even in our Council, if I thought for a split second that the Labour Party were prepared to offer a coalition with the Liberals on the basis of Labour being allowed to decide who the Leader of the Liberal Party was... I would feel ashamed. I would most certainly vote to go into opposition.
Somewhere in the middle of this sordid little piece, Smithson laughably refers to the Lib Dems "democratic principles". You're having a laugh!
I think the Lib Dems are rightly getting squeezed. When an economic crisis hits, it is only the parties who could potentially form the next government that are of relevance. The Lib Dems aren't relevant at the best of times and they certainly aren't relevant now.
Fergus said:
December 18, 2008 11:43 AM | permalink
You're not quite right about what I've previously and jokingly called "Smithson's Axiom", though you'll be just as dismissive of what he's actually said. Understandably, from your viewpoint, and from the obvious position that, well, they're only opinion polls after all.
His actual axiom is that the poll to be most relied on in any group is the one that puts Labour in its worst position. That may well also put the Lib Dems in their best position, but it doesn't automatically follow.
Some of his analysis of the underlying information is interesting, though, and goes some way to explain why polls taken so close together can vary so much in their results. Still doesn't tell us which one is right though!
December 18, 2008 10:01 AM | permalink
I think the Lib Dems are rightly getting squeezed. When an economic crisis hits, it is only the parties who could potentially form the next government that are of relevance. The Lib Dems aren't relevant at the best of times and they certainly aren't relevant now.