Am I just an old cynic or ....

… isn’t this just a Tory cabinet with a few LibDem token places
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2010/may/12/election-2010-new-cabinet?

…. was it worth this sell-out?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2010/may/12/election-2010-new-cabinet

…. and isn’t this a stitch-up?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2010/may/12/election-2010-new-cabinet

…and wasn’t this a lie?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2010/may/12/election-2010-new-cabinet

Or am I missing something?

The Skin

Would you rather have had another election right now, or a Tory minority government? If things go badly for the coalition, the latter would probably have been better for the Lib Dems in the long term. But maybe they thought that waiting for the right balance of seats (ie Labour with enough seats to form a stable coalition with the Lib Dems, but not a Labour majority) was unlikely to come along in the next decade or two, and it's worth the try of the coalition - moderating some of the Tory policies while it happens.

If you think the correct course was to try to bring down a Tory government right now, I'd say I'd expect the Tories to win an outright majority in an election after that.

The "lie" bit referred to an article on the Guardian website about the Tory admission that NHS cuts were likely to be much greater than the manifesto promised. It appears to have been superceded by later stories, or I'd have reposted.

As I've said before, the LibDem deal with the Tories came as no surprise to me. If Nick Clegg wishes to be royally shafted and to destroy his party in the North and the Celtic Fringe in return for a Mickey Mouse post in a spurious "coalition" then that's up to him.

The Skin

Tory bastards

Its leader delivering a speech whose main soundbite became a British Nazi Party election slogan.

Its Chancellor wanting to out "Thatcher" the Conservatives.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/25/alistair-darling-cut-deeper-margaret-thatcher

Neo Con Labour has nothing to be proud of. Absolutely nothing.

Although for those of us who have experienced con-dem rule locally, it sure seems like same old, same old...

and he has 'captured' much of the former Tory shadow cabinet in a manner which even Peter Mandleson might admire.

Cleggs agenda is Clegg advancement along Orange book lines not fulfilling the historical destiny of the Liberal Democrats. In that respect he is a bit like Blair without the surface charm. Although many on the left might find this hard to understand there are a good few Tories out there who feel that Cameron has betrayed their party by cutting this deal with the Liberal Democrats. They feel he has been far too accommodating and that the agreement to a fixed term Parliament with a 55% no confidence vote required for dissolution is actually for the Lib Dems benefit since they are the poorest of the major parties and have most to fear from an early election. They would have preferred a minority government for a year before returning the matter to the voters. Cleggs game plan is clearly to play for time using his period in government to increase his own and his party's profile. At the same time he will be hoping that the Labour party fall into infighting and recriminations over their election loss while Cameron is slowly undermined by disaffected Tories and Eurosceptics. Given that the Liberal Democrats lost seats and barely increased their vote under Cleggs leadership I tend to think Clegg has played a blinder. He is going to emerge as the strong character and Cameron as the weak one. Just mark my words.

I've been watching people in places like Twitter and SheffieldForum.co.uk and it is notable how things are breaking down at present.

You've got Tories and Lib Dems who have become loyal supporters of the coalition.

You've also got Tories and Lib Dems who don't like the coalition and perhaps think it's a bit of a sell out from their own sides point of view.

You've also got Labour activists who are very keen on calling Clegg a sell out, even though the exact same people were happily cheering Tony Blair over Iraq, ID cards, PFI and so on. Whilst they have lots of fair comments to make it might just help if they recognized the failures of their own side. As it stands a lot of Blairites are acting as if the general public has the memory of a goldfish.

It has to be said though, that the general view I hear outside of the internet is that people are OK with the coalition for the moment. Whether or not that will still be the case after the budget is another matter but there you go.

... reminds me very much of the warm glow at the time of Blair's first election victory - a new fresh face at the top (two for the price of one, this time round :evilgrin:), happy shiny new people (together with a few old familiar faces) around the cabinet table, promises of clean government, ethical foreign policy, reform of creaky old systems, local power, people politics and "the middle way". And a mildly sceptical, but on the whole happy, right-wing press.

And we all know how that ended up.

As for me, the coalition comes as little surprise, as I've said before, because I regard the LibDems as a party of the centre, not of the left.

The Skin

There were quite a lot of people back in 1997 who really did buy into Tony Blair in a big way. It also lasted quite a while.

It also helped that the weather was much nicer in May 1997 but that's another matter.

The current arrangement on the other hand tends to be regarded as the best outcome of a fairly poor choice. I also can't see the curent government's honeymoon period lasting as long as Blair's did.

The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion.

This will include:

* A Freedom or Great Repeal Bill.
* The scrapping of ID card scheme, the National Identity register, the next generation of biometric passports and the Contact Point Database.
* Outlawing the finger-printing of children at school without parental permission.
* The extension of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act to provide greater transparency.
* Adopting the protections of the Scottish model for the DNA database.
* The protection of historic freedoms through the defence of trial by jury.
* The restoration of rights to non-violent protest.
* The review of libel laws to protect freedom of speech.
* Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.
* Further regulation of CCTV.
* Ending of storage of internet and email records without good reason.
* A new mechanism to prevent the proliferation of unnecessary new criminal offences.


__________________



Until the NeoCons are removed from Labour they are NOT a progressive choice, not in the future or in the election just gone. The only brothers in the Labour Party who are likely to take the leadership are related and the one who is most likely to win lied about torture.

Will I ever join a Conservative government?

No.

Will I ever join a Labour government?

No.

I will never allow the Liberal Democrats to be a mere annex to another party's agenda.

But am I interested in building a new type of government? Yes.

Based on pluralism instead of one party rule? Yes.

A new system, that empowers people not parties? Yes.

We want a new, more liberal Britain.

And the Liberal Democrats will be the gathering point for everyone who wants that liberal Britain too – no matter their background, no matter their party.

So for anyone who shares our ambitions I have two words: join us.

...that speech looks doubly dishonest now.

P.S. Did you know that every time a politician uses the phrase "new politics" God kills a kitten?