When the Cameron clique set out to re-brand their faction as akin to the 'nice' Liberal Democrats but more electable, they appear not to have considered the possibility that the electability issue could become fungible. The potential for it increased sharply as soon as the Lib Dem leader was given equal billing in the TV debate, and it came sharply into focus when (so all and sundry appear to agree) Clegg out-pointed his rivals.
By showing a toughness nobody suspected him of possessing - and which is, indeed, underlined by the photo of him on the UKIP poster - Clegg may have broken the game open.
Brown, who it seems spent much of the debate agreeing with Clegg, clearly believes that the Lib Dems can only gain at the expense of the Tories, which will leave Labour as the largest party.
Whether that calculation proves correct or not, it certainly shows more political acumen than the Tories displayed in trying to recast themselves as Lib Dems. Pathetically inadequate though the latter have been during my lifetime, the one thing they are good at is being Lib Dems.
By trying, and failing, to steal Lib Dem clothing, it may be that the Tories have drawn fatal attention to their own ideological nakedness.
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In NW Oxford we have the difficulty of possessing a non-representative councilperson who seems to be a Labour Trojan Worm. She has the placid manner of terminal boredom plus the fighting spirit of an overfed hamster. Her basic policy is to encourage the continual building of more flats for transient singles in our little overage residential area. My question is - How can we at least reduce her plurality enough to get some actual representation rather than just more supine obedience to Gordon's Housing Policies?
ReplyDeleteShould we circulate whinging complaints to our neighbours, put up Nixonian posters like 'Active Pedophiles Support Jean Fooks on Residence in this Area'or 'Support Jean Fooks on More Council Housing in Hernes Road' ?
Right now we are thinking about circulating a petition to the neighbours about her ambiguous posture on tearing down a good-sized house and putting up Plan A (eight small family homes) or Plan B (24 flats). The Council is presently charging the developer £600 for asking a meeting to argue for Plan A. Go figure. Then we send the petition to our elected Lib Dem MP. What say?
Woops, I forgot to say that our Council Rep is Lib Dem. The local property to be developed has been hanging about in the wind for over a year now and all she can do is bend with the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks to you, Mother Fooks!
See my post above. This is a good moment to give the Lib Dems an opportunity to distance themselves from the government. On the other hand, thanks to the Town and Country Planning Act of 1948, developer-bribery is the name of the game at the local government level.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but in this case, the developer WANTS to do the family homes ( a la Nick Clegg?) and she is supporting the Council's desire for 24 flats. We want to vote Lib Dem but she is a self-satisfied wank-wimp.(read Lib/Lab)Maybe she's just 'going along in order to get along', tra la.
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