I RECEIVED this by email a short time ago from a friend and colleague, Huw Irranca-Davies, the Member for Ogmore.

He clearly shares my disgust at the cynical and hypocritical behaviour of the LibDems in propping up this Tory government. I’m happy to publish it in full:

The Silence of the Lambs

As the Chancellor revealed the true scale of the attacks on the poor and vulnerable, the carnage on jobs and the economy, there was one overpowering visual and aural image that will stay with anyone who was in that Commons chamber: The Silence of the LibDems. Some looked down at the green carpet, some at specks of fluff on their skirts and trousers, all looked away. They couldn’t make eye contact with each other, let alone with the Labour MPs directly opposite.

At the end of Osborne’s shameless assault on working people, on public sector workers, on the low paid and poor, the Conservative massed ranks cheered. Their spirits were up, they’d heard the voice of Thatcher and Friedman rising up through the Chancellor’s throat, and they bellowed their approval. Nothing gets the true blue-blood flowing through their veins more than an all-out attack on the public sector and the poor.

But to the side of the Conservatives was a group of dumbfounded mutes. Like the nice boy from a good family who has been led astray by that rough-type down the road, they sat shame-faced, embarrassed and silent as their new Tory friends cheered themselves into a real mob-frenzy. Just one or two LibDems who’ve clearly bought into the whole “cuts are good, deeper cuts are better” package tried desperately to encourage their compatriots to wave their order-books and cheer. But to no avail. The shame was simply too much for most of the LibDems.

Only weeks ago, they were against these cuts. Only weeks ago, they were against an increase in VAT because we all know it rips into the poor. Only weeks ago they were actually on the right side of the arguments. Their silence is not good enough. They need to stir themselves off the comfortable green benches of the ConDem government and vote against this regressive budget which will damage the economy and disproportionately hurt the poor. Let them put their principles – and the people they represent – above their twenty-two ministerial seats and a few pennies tax off a pint of cider.

In thinking back to that great but brutal film “Silence of the Lambs”, the LibDems should recall what happened to those lambs just after the silence descended. Not pretty. Not good. Off to the slaughterhouse!

The only ones enjoying this are the Conservatives, the new Hannibal Lectors of UK politics.

I would disagree in only one respect: The Silence of the Lambs is a much over-rated film.