And another thing…

Doesn’t it make sense for them to target the weaker of the two larger parties?

Seems sensible and that is suprising from the libdems.

At least we can all agree that it’s not going to be red.

Nick Thingy has got to find ways of drawing attention to himself and his party. It’s just a pity he can’t come up with anything original.
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I know, perhaps he could invite the winners of Britain’s Got Talent to perform outside his house.

Nah, Sammy, it’s already been done.

Cf Fightback #8.

(Or is it #9? I forget).

My Tom, you do have a nasty, vindictive streak in you.

What’s the matter? Nick getting in the way of the Punch and Judy Show?

Wow this is Tom thowing his toys out of his pram and I thought you were a closet Lib/Dem/Snp.

You cannot blame him for taking his chances. They used to be called Pink Tories many years ago before the meaning changed and pansies were flowers.

[...] I actually agree with Tom Harris [...]

But surely Nick Thingy must be confused and wrong. Given the party he ‘leads’, surely he would prefer to shore up nice cuts rather than nasty cuts.

The leader of the Liberals is promoting his party. It worked as well as you’ve brought to our attention his comments.

I don’t take the Liberals seriously and would hate to see some ConLib pact in the next government but surely this kind of talk must eventually ram home to you and the comrades that time is running out. The deal is being sealed as it were.

Why wouldn’t they target Labour seats.

The “ABL” (anyone but labour) vote is massive now. The way it’s going Labour will belucky to be in third place after next election.

Saying that, can it really get any worse that this week ?

It’s a flash in the pan that every LibDem leader has – getting his face in print in a national newspaper other than the Independent.

All this little achievement means is that the annual LibDem leadership election has been cancelled this year, and he can rest himself in readiness for the upcoming facing-six-ways-at-once contortion that is the LibDems at general election time.

The caption under the photo’s wrong. Surely it should read ‘David Cameron’?

Infantile name-calling doesn’t add to the climate change debate
from And another thing… by Tom Harris

Caption under Nick Clegg’s photograph: Charlie Kennedy.
Also: Yes, of course it is, Nick. Now run off and play, and don’t get into any trouble…
And: Nick Thingy

Don’t want to accuse you of cognitive dissonance Tom, but that’s what the evidence points towards.

Ah, but you see, Paul, there’s a difference: climate change is a serious subject, and the LibDems… well… aren’t.

I have to say as a journalist and independent, the way you denigrate the Lib Dems on this blog is not only unfair and unbecoming of you but is probably least pleasant aspect of what is otherwise a superb read.

It is not Nick Clegg’s job to shore up a “progressive” Labour government (and I use progressive in the loosest possible sense), but to try and give more genuinely liberal and fair values as large a voice as possible.

Cleggy’s barking up the wrong tree in focusing on Labour seats, although given his background (member or the Conservative Students at uni) it’s probably not surprising. Tactically it’s a mistake when the successes the LibDems have managed to notch up tend to be in rural areas, and taken from the Tories. (It’s a source of great rancour for them that this support doesn’t translate into more parliamentary seats.)

North Norfolk is an example of a traditionally Tory seat which went LibDem and has stayed that way (possibly because of Norman Lamb’s personal popularity). Similarly, Charlie Kennedy’s consituency was a surprise gain back in 1983 from the Tory MP Hamish Gray. I actually wouldn’t mind if my rural, Tory consituency (* Huntingdonshire) went LibDem. Having said that though, I do find the LibDems are irritating – they permanently bask in the rarified air of the moral high ground, without any realistic chance of ever encountering the real dilemmas and compromises of government. And that frustration gives them a humdinger of an attitude problem.

I read some time ago about a Labour councillor who said when he first went into local politics he naively assumed that the LibDems would be natural allies with Labour, since both occupy similar ground on the centre left. However, he said he (personally) had never encountered such a bunch of what he called ‘back-stabbing, middle-class t*ssers’. He added that he wound up actually preferring the local government Tories to the LibDems. Simplistic and predictable as they were, ‘at least with the Tories you know where they’re coming from,’ he said.

*The local MP, Jonathan Djanogly, became embroiled in what the local paper called Gatesgate – a £25,000 claim for security gates from the taxpayer – despite JD himself being a millionaire.

Is the Labour Party Kang or Kodos?

The Lib Dems had the courage and common sense to see through TB’s talk of 45 minutes and weapons of mass destruction, and stand firm against the Iraq war. This alone makes them a serious subject. Anyway, I believe people indulge in infantile name calling when they are scared or intimidated by their victim. Watch the disgraceful attitute of Labour MPs to LibDems during PMQs and see how scared they really are!

I’m not sure that the strong vote for the Lib Dems up here in the Highlands would hold up that well if it was thought there would be any kind of deal done with the Tories, whether that deal was explicit or implicit. Wonder how Charles Kennedy feels about it?

Introspective at 10.52 am: “a superb read.”

Thank you!

I suspected that might be the part you picked up on!

Clegg is surely seeking to replace the Labour Party as the main party of the left.

He’s not seeking an alliance with the Tories. He’s trying to find a more effective vehicle for opposing them.

Frankly, if it’s a choice between rabid Olden Labour (rather than New Labour) and Clegg, I could be tempted.

Possibly.

“Introspective at 10.52 am: “a superb read.””

so that it then you read it here first he’s crossing the floor, well sort of shuffling along a the bit.

I always suspected undeneigh all that social democracy rubbish there was a liberal.

Well done, you’ll lose your seat for this though, sorry.

Well Tom, you’ll be pleased to see that the liberals are back to being their old selves.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6840585.ece

All things to nobody.

Be fun seeing how they can claim economic sensibility after Cable has been exposed as a know nothing, rather than an economic seer.

[...] Tom Harris MP usually has interesting things to say and here he gives a view on the third party, the Liberal-Democrats: [...]