Labour is "nasty" - ooooh!

Andrew Marr's cuckqueaned wife Jackie Ashley laments in CiF that "by playing nasty [against the LibDems], Labour is wrecking its own chances".

The electorate turned against the partisan tone of Labour in power, she says, and likes the collegiate and good-humoured attitude of the coalition government. If Labour plays nice, then it can win over the LibDems and regain power. "Labour's proper response is to keep acknowledging past failings and stay politely aloof."

What acknowledgment of past failings is she talking about? What failings does she admit to, indeed? Not a word - although even an unconditional NuLabourite like Mrs Marr should at least concede the possibility that the electorate turned against the Labour regime because people were tired of endless spin, the government was led by a hated bully whom nobody had the guts to oppose, and who had made a total mess of the economy? 

Reminds me of Teresa May telling the Tories in 2002 that their biggest problem was being seen as "the nasty party". What bullshit. Their biggest problems were that they had not faced up to the consequences of a decade of internal divisions and total disloyalty to their leaders, which they continued to display towards the charisma-lite Iain Duncan-Smith, the leader chosen by party members, and they were up against the still very popular Tony Blair at a time of growing prosperity.

For many Lib Dem activists, the price of winning the alternative vote is not worth the pain of helping deliver a Tory-dominated cuts agenda, slashing public services and increasing inequality. Is that what the long tradition of social radicalism the party represents amounts to?

By any measure, social inequality increased under the Labour regime. One hopes that people will remember that, also that the "cuts agenda" was forced upon the Coalition by the Labour regime having increased government expenditure far beyond the ability of the country to pay for it even before the financial crisis.

I don't think you can polish a turd, but who knows? Maybe the LibDems will choose to commit electoral suicide by showing that they cannot hack it in office, and the Brits will buy into the big lie once more.

P.S. See this piece by Ed Milliband in CiF the next day. I cannot imagine anything that could do more to help Clegg to keep his party united and in government than this mendacity-packed appeal to LibDem voters to defect to Labour