The beginning of the end of the UK coalition | 30 comments (30 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 6)

I think voters will be spitting with fury.

Clegg has cursed at least one generation by doing a violent U-turn on tuition fees, and supporting the continued dismantling of the NHS.

He has stood by and whistled idly while disabled job seekers are bullied and harassed, the chronically ill are forced to work, and the long-term unemployed are - literally! - coerced into forced labour.

But he chooses to draw a line in the sand about Lords reform.

Nice one, Nick. Good luck persuading voters that your party has anything to offer in the next election.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Aug 6th, 2012 at 05:50:47 PM EST

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

It remains to be seen what the general public make of events (and particularly the 10% or so who have been supporting the Liberal Democrats in recent polls).

Anyone who was going to give up on the Lib Dems, because of Conservative elements in coalition policies, has probably already done so.

by Gary J on Mon Aug 6th, 2012 at 06:04:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 4)

Strategically, the issue is The Third Party is no longer credible as a Labour vote splitter.

From the days of the Soc Dems with Shirley Williams and the rest, the splitters have made it possible for the Tories to push through policies that have no real electoral support.

I have no idea if Williams knew what she was doing, but considering she ended up working for Harvard and the Institute of Politics I wouldn't find it surprising.

Clegg is part of that long-lasting Third Party tradition, with the difference that his enabling has been overt rather than covert.

So we're back to Milliband's Blair-ish weak-tea third-wayism - which is better than having Tory nutters running around breaking things, but only marginally.

If I'm right I think we'll see another splitter movement during Milliband's second term; they're just too useful not to have one around.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon Aug 6th, 2012 at 06:22:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

Who do you think would lead the SDP mark 2. David Milliband perhaps? If the kid brother can have a party to run, why not David?

by Gary J on Mon Aug 6th, 2012 at 06:55:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 3)

In the logic of what you suggest, a splitter movement would only be necessary if Ed Miliband were to quit the Blair-ish weak-tea third-wayism.

What do you say, Ed?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 02:44:52 AM EST
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Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 3)

Ed Milliband strikes me as a bit more sincere than Blair. I was wondering if he was aspiring to be a Labour version of John Major.

John Major was famously a cricket fan. Ed Milliband outed himself as also being one, when he appeared on the BBC Radio Test Match Special programme a few weeks ago. He then admitted that the old Yorkshire and England player (and famously opinionated commentator) Geoff Boycott, was his childhood hero.

I do not think think attending the cricket was just a sham, just to get some niche publicity. Not only did Ed Milliband attend The Oval Test (in south London) when he was on the radio, but the Second England v South Africa Test at Leeds where he was attending in his own time. The commentators on Test Match Special reported that, during a rain break, the Leader of the Opposition was seen following Boycott (the Yorkshire County Cricket Club President) to go and look at the Yorkshire cricket museum.

What all this says about the policy Ed Milliband would follow, if he became Prime Minister, is difficult to say. Labour has been quite evasive about exactly what they would do if they were restored to office, since the last general election. I suspect it would not have been enormously different from what the coalition has done, so far as austerity politics is concerned.

by Gary J on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 03:54:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 3)

For better or worse, being evasive until much closer to the election has been the opposition tactic for about 20 years now. I doubt we'll get much more understanding of Ed until the next election looms.

FWIW, I think Labour would have started out on the austerity road in a similar fashion to the coalition, but would have U-turned by now. There are plenty of Blairites who are in love with the nonsense economics of austerity (and the class war side-effects) but where Tory and the remaining Lib Dem voters are all for shrinking the state, no matter what the cost, there would be more pressure on a Labour government to change direction.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 06:11:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 2)

I think Ed probably is more sincere than Blair (what a benchmark...).

But being a Geoff Boycott fan doesn't plead in his favour. I mean, cricket, yes, but Boycott...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 03:37:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

Well having listened to the Interview, His earliest International was the game where Boycott scored his hundretdth century, during a test match and was carried shoulder high by the crowd. You can see why it would have an impact. (TMS is a cultural icon and with a sunlamp and apropriate herbal acompaniment was my winter holiday on my sofa, especially when play was in the Carribean)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 06:37:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

Boycott can definitely run his pie-hole. Imagine how entertaining it would be for him to start holding forth on political topics.

by rifek on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 12:14:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 2)

Sir Geoffrey rocks

I was listening to the Test Match commentary. And Jonathon Agnew was complaining that the security had been so tight it took him an hour to get into the ground. So out of nowhere came Geoffrey Boycott, who sneered "We've Tony Blair to thank for that."
"I'm sorry Geoffrey," said Agnew, with a hint of "WILL you keep quiet" but Boycott asserted "Tony Blair's to blame for that. He was told if we went to war with Iraq it would increase the risk of terrorism but he wouldn't take any notice."
"Well," said Agnew, "I think it's the terrorists to blame really," mumbling as if he had a dozen producers yelling into his earpiece "SHUT HIM UP - distract him by suggesting he was weak against left-arm spinners or something."
But Boycott held firm, which was how British radio broadcast for surely the first time ever the sentence "We should never have invaded Iraq in the first place that's pushed out gently on the off side and there's no run."

by LondonAnalytics (Andrew Smith) on Fri Aug 10th, 2012 at 10:09:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

Gods, that's funny. The latest test with SA could have used such a distraction.

by rifek on Wed Aug 29th, 2012 at 01:53:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 7)

What would it take to be less sincere than Blair? Richard Nixon's dead.

by rifek on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 12:12:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

Clegg cursed his party by entering the coalition, so why shouldn't he curse everyone else? The Lib-Dems will be a rump after the next election, with defectors going both directions. I wonder if both Tory and Labour radicals will be emboldened, knowing that the moderates have no viable alternative to defect to.

by rifek on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 12:19:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 0)

I would have thought that those who were going to leave the Liberal Democrats, have already done so. The effect of joining the coalition has been bad, in electoral terms, but not as catastrophic as some political opponents hope.

The party overall has been weakened, but I am not (at the national level) seeing the shredding process, which tore apart the Liberal Party between the World Wars.

Then you had cross-cutting schisms, with the Asquith-Lloyd George division of the 1920s giving way to a three way factional split in the 1930s (mainstream Liberals, Liberal Nationals and the Lloyd George family group). There were members of all these groups who ended up going left, right or forward. For example of Lloyd George's MP children, Gwilym ended up as a Conservative and Megan as a Labour MP.

by Gary J on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 02:29:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (none / 1)

There were figures earlier this week that membership had fallen by 25% over the last 12 months

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 01:34:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 2)

Less shredding than the interwar period is not wholly optimistic...

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Wed Aug 8th, 2012 at 01:41:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The beginning of the end of the UK coalition (4.00 / 3)

The problem is that, with FPP still in place, ANY losses relegate the Lib-Dems to level two. They had to play for PR or something closer to it to hold on, but Clegg punted it away.

by rifek on Wed Aug 29th, 2012 at 01:49:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The beginning of the end of the UK coalition | 30 comments (30 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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