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Why the lib-dems are shit

PTK said:
[Sorry, I messed up the posting of this, and had to re-post it].

Haringey Labour Party shifted to the left a few years ago, and the Council abandoned its plans to "socially cleanse" part of the borough. It also increased Council Tax relief to jobless householders. Momentum played a role in these victories.

People suffering from the cuts to social security benefits implemented by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government would have benefited from the policies introduced by a Corbyn-led government within months. It would have abolished the draconian sanctions regime imposed on unemployed people by Job Centres, and abolished the cruel regime of Work Capability Assessments imposed upon the ill.

A Corbyn government would have repealed Tory anti-union legislation, making it easier for workers to take strike action.

The reversal of many (alas, not all) benefit cuts would have put an upward pressure on wages and increased the bargaining positions of the organised working class.
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Would have butters no parsnips
 
When you look at the electoral basket-case that the yellow tories are at present it's odd to think that just 15 months ago they were capable of gaining a YG Westminster polling lead!

Yes, really...what a fucked up few years...

1598705392415.png
 
Pickman's model said:
Says a lot about who yg talk to
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I'm no particular fan of Zahawi's outfit but, tbf, that singular poll was at the very strange pinch-point in Westminster polling when EU election considerations took over sentiment and the UK briefly exhibited a 4 party system! All of the polling outfits had the LDs in that ball park figure:

1598705893879.png
 
Pickman's model said:
I'd forgotten all about the chuka collective, I wonder where they are now
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The most militant internal opponents of Corbyn’s leadership, who defected in February 2019 to form something called ‘Change UK’, then the ‘Independent Group for Change’, are now finding new careers in lobbying and consultancy after losing their seats in last year’s election. Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger have joined the communications firm Edelman UK, while Chris Leslie has become chief executive of a trade association for debt collectors. The party they believed to be dangerous and no longer able to accommodate them is now rebranding itself as a kind of democratically elected management consultancy.
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Pickman's model said:
I'd forgotten all about the chuka collective, I wonder where they are now
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The one consolation of last year's awful election was seeing all the Chuk bunnies lose their seats.

averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com

Dear Change UK, a Belated Love Letter

Dear Change UK, A year has flown since you came into my life. You were a mould-breaking gun slinger of centrism, fresh as a daisy and pr...
averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com averypublicsociologist.blogspot.com

Dear Change UK,

A year has flown since you came into my life. You were a mould-breaking gun slinger of centrism, fresh as a daisy and pregnant with mucho newness and changeable changeness. And I was, and still am, a no-mark politics nerd blogging from the back streets of Stoke-on-Trent. As your star ascended, you didn't cast a glance in my direction. And when your brilliance faded, affecting nothing but indifference among those minded to vote in the EU elections, I still kept the faith. You never amounted to much, but I was a loyal fan and you provided good fodder for half a dozen blog posts. For that, accept this love note as a demonstration of my gratitude.

Unlike those who use today, the anniversary of your foundation to rub salt into the wounds of your demise, or josh about on Twitter with phrases like "Chuka who?" and allusions to funny tinges, I want to celebrate you in the best way by recalling your accomplishments. For while you might feel bitter about the hostile environs you were born into, and how once sympathetic journalists no longer return your calls, you have made three important contributions to British politics.

The first is no political party can spontaneously come into being. You, dear Change UK, were ill-served by your parentage. Your founding MPs didn't know the first thing about organising, having either had their seats engineered for them by old fixers who had done the requisite moving and a shaking for them, or spent so long on the back benches marking time, drawing salaries, and leaving their constituency parties to seed - until the tidal wave of Corbynism rolled in and put them on notice. Nor were you helped by defections from the Tories, all three of whom, Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, and Anna Soubry, were similarly assisted by the party apparat earlier in their careers. Because they had everything done for them, from their point of view politics was a heavily mediatised world. Building support for parties were neither the fulcrum of articulating or representing interests, but an exercise in smart marketing - just like jolly old Macron, across the Channel. Build it and they will come, but this ain't no Field of Dreams. And thanks to their absence of basic organising nous, you had to suffer the indignity of two name changes, an ultra-bland logo after the original was rejected by the Electoral Commission, and your being forced into a broken party model. Sadly for your fate, you were hobbled from birth.

The second lesson, much to your disadvantage, was the absence of a political space for you. Your founders misread the polls that consistently returned huge majorities of voters who self-defined as inhabiting the centre without interrogating what this means. A sign of millions upon millions hankering after a centrist hero, or those same millions don't know (nor care) what professional politicians understand by 'the centre', and so interpret it according to their common sense? There are plenty of slightly racist Tory voters who think their politics are in the centre, simply because they might also agree with nationalising the privatised utilities. Or because low level bigotry is, to them, commonsensical. If that wasn't bad enough, you were launched while another self-defined and properly-established centre party was a going concern, and who managed to gobble up the lion's share of remain votes during your first - and only - electoral outing. Who knew being accepted as the authentic third party in British politics, and the one most closely associated with pro-EU arguments would prove an insurmountable obstacle to a half-formed party whose best known members were strangers outside the thin layer of Westminster watchers? What you were to prove was the impossibility of a centrism independent of the fringes of the two main parties, and the Liberal Democrats. And thanks to your example, the idea another bunch of MPs might try and emulate your singular example is poppycock and deserves taking seriously by precisely no one.

And last of all, your best achievement, and one I am raising a toast to you for, is your conveyance of some of the worst Labour MPs of the 2017-19 parliament out of politics. Whether they lied about the party, repeatedly scabbed on collective efforts, briefed against the membership to the press, made stupid and self-serving arguments, or later became a laughing stock, it is an unalloyed good that none of these people sit in parliament any longer. It's almost as if they created you and treated you cruelly, and you wreaked upon them vengeance by terminating their careers. One hopes, in time, the Tory party will prove as effective in immolating the Commons careers of its own MPs.

There we have it. Change UK. The Independent Group. The Independent Group for Change. You made my heart sing during an otherwise dark year in politics, and it pains me to know history will forever counter-pose your farce to the old SDP's tragedy, a cautionary tale of knowing what not to do. Yet for me, and a peculiar band of leftists, you did more than render a service and off some terrible MPs. We feel genuine adoration, one that has shades of pity, but adoration nonetheless. You scorned our affections but we will never spurn the admiration we have for you. And so tonight I light a candle, knowing it will be a very long time before we see your like again and that just perhaps, those who plotted your emergence but were too cowardly to join the ride have learned some lessons. Especially about the fragility of MPs without a proper party to support them, and how no one is bigger than the collective.

Yours with tenderness,

Phil
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Full article in case anyone can't get behind paywall

------
The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats claimed more than £250,000 under the government’s furlough scheme to subsidise the wages of their staff.

The Electoral Commission published figures disclosing that the Tories claimed £70,164, Labour £9,914 and the Liberal Democrats £178,907 between April and June. During that period the scheme, which is being gradually wound down, covered 80 per cent of the wages of those on furlough.

The Conservatives said that the party did not furlough staff at its headquarters and that the claims were made by local associations. The Liberal Democrats reportedly put nearly half their staff on furlough at their headquarters in response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the total value of party donations was £9 million, compared to £16 million over the same period last year. Parties have been struggling to raise money during the pandemic.

Labour outstripped the Conservatives, with a total of £3.7 million in donations, predominantly from trade unions. The Tories received £2.5 million and the Liberal Democrats £1.3 million.

The biggest individual donation was made to the Liberal Democrats by the head of an investment fund. David Tilles, the executive chairman of Mondrian Investment Partners, gave the Lib Dems £500,000. Labour received £291,575 from Unison, £290,125 from GMB and £530,000 from Usdaw.
Malcolm Healey, the owner of Wren kitchens, gave the Conservatives £250,000, while John Armitage, a hedge fund manager, gave £100,000.
Lubov Chernukhin, an ex-banker whose husband is a former deputy finance minister to President Putin, gave them £66,000. She has given the Conservative Party a total of £1.8 million since 2014, making her its biggest female donor.
They also received £279,000 in donations from property developers. The party is facing a backlash from its own MPs over an overhaul of the planning system.

The Tories are offering virtual stalls at this year’s party conference at prices ranging from £6,000 to £25,500. All the parties are holding their conferences online this year amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “CCHQ has not furloughed any member of its staff. Local political associations are, however, no different from other voluntary sector organisations in facing challenging times. The purpose of the coronavirus job retention scheme is to encourage organisations to keep on furloughed workers and prevent local job losses.

“This funding from the coronavirus job retention scheme has been openly published, and all payments are in line with the prevailing guidance from HMRC and the Electoral Commission.”
 
The Lib Dems' prospective Mayoral candidate (Geeta Sidu Robb) has been suspended from the party after a video of her antisemitism emerged : Lib Dems drop mayoral contender over antisemitic comment about Jack Straw

This women is a millionaire 'health food entrepreneur' and former member of the conservative party (the antisemitic statements were made while she was a member of the conservative party). She was also vice-chair of the 'People's Vote' campaign.

Her prospective candidacy for the Mayoralty was announced by the Lib Dems last Tuesday (she was one of two who would be chosen), despite comments she made on Channel 5's Rich Home, Poor Home where she swapped her £7m home for a two bedroom flat in a community housing project. During her appearance on this programme she said that staying at the top of a tower block was her "idea of hell" and described leaving the "safety" of Chelsea as an "edgy experience". The Lib Dem hopeful was filmed struggling to use a can opener and stating that she did not want to drink tap water.

She is also apparently on record saying that vaccines have caused her son's eczema.
 
Fozzie Bear said:
www.independent.co.uk

Lib Dems to drop commitment to UK membership of the EU

Exclusive: Motion at virtual conference will say rejoining must be by ‘public assent’
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

It's almost as if they have no coherent values of their own...
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Well there's no point to them anymore is there? Prior to 2010, their biggest selling point was that the fact they weren't the Tories and you could vote for them in a seat where the Labour candidate was even more of a no-hoper than elsewhere.
The trouble with them is they didn't realise that fact and that joining the Coalition would wipe out 90% of their vote in one fell swoop. They're desperately thrashing around for something to be relevant over, they were hoping it was Europe but it wasn't and now they can't find anything else. Any LibDem recovery will need to wait until enough younger voters who can't remember what they did have got old enough and that is going to take years.
 
Twats
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However, his stance is already being challenged by members. About 700 are said to have signed up to a conference motion to back rejoining the EU “preferably within 10 years”. A similar motion calling on the party to back EU membership in principle will be voted on at the virtual gathering.
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Davey said the departure of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader would help the Lib Dem revival in seats where it was competing against the Tories. He said the fear of a Corbyn government had hindered the party at the last election. “Corbyn was not helpful to us in our key marginals with the Tories. And the only way we’re going to get Johnson out of No 10 is if Liberal Democrats win more Tory seats, and I’m determined we win many more seats off the Tories.”
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Deliberately aiming for the tory vote - but hey vote LD to keep out the Tories
Liberal Democrats are planning a four-year drive to woo “soft conservatives” repulsed by the “thuggish” values of the Tories under Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, the party’s new campaigning chief has revealed.
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Last edited:
MickiQ said:
Again I think this is where he is going wrong whilst there are undoubtedly a few centrist-right voters in this for them, it will not compensate for the centrist-left ones who felt betrayed by the Coalition. I have to admire his optimism but not his grip on reality.
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(my emphasis)
But those voters are already gone, most wavering liberal-left centrists potentially turned off by Corbyn will be attracted back to Labour by Sir Kier and those daft apeths that saw the LDs as some sort of radical alternative have moved to the Greens (or PC/SNP).

Solely from the strategic point of view I think Davey/Cooper's plan is probably the best one available to the LDs, I don't think it will get them many votes but what is the alternative?
 
I don't think there is one either, they would need to build public trust as an alternative to the Tories in order to win back voters who are opposed to the Tories but not necessarily supporting Labour and that will take them a generation. They always trumpeted themselves as neutral and principled only to take a side (and the wrong one at that) when it suited their leaders ambitions.
Changing the leader doesn't change that, Death of Squirrels proved that.
The LD's are currently on a par with the Twyford chimps on the political relevance scale.
 
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