Impaled on the fence
One of the defining characteristics of Liberal Democrats is their sheer ruthless opportunism when it comes to election campaigns. The stories are legion and are often the basis for amused/horrified conversations amongst Members of Parliament.
Last year, a cross party Liberal-Labour-Conservative panel began to consider the future of education in Suffolk and unanimously concluded that the county’s three-tier system should move to a two tier structure, in common with almost all of the rest of the country. Nevertheless, when the panel reported, one of the first matters raised by local Conservative MPs was how the county’s Liberals would react. After all, there are district council elections in May! We knew instinctively that they would characteristically sniff where the wind is blowing, and respond accordingly.
The trouble is that barring most middle school parents, teachers and governors, the rest of the educational establishment is content with the proposed change.
On Friday, we were told that the local Liberal Democrats have called for referendums, truly a ridiculous idea; we all fell about laughing. We knew that they would cook up something. It is the nature of the beast.
As was in evidence in the Trident vote in the House of Commons, habitual fence sitting is not in accord with the real time political battle between Conservatives and Labour, for the next Government. As once again shown by Suffolk’s Liberal Democrats, this highlights their unwillingness to take decisive positions, which happens when your political roots are embedded in a blancmange. All of which is a pity because so many actual LibDem voters are decent people with very genuine motives. Their natural home is with David Cameron’s Conservative Party who are fighting for civil rights, social responsibility and green issues with an increasingly real hope that these policies will actually be put into place in government after the next general election.