Wednesday, 26 September 2012

Conference Contradiction

Lib Dem Conference is over. Clegg has delivered his speech and no credible leadership challenge has materialised. The messages from the Lib Dem Conference have been not been unclear but they have been contradictory.

Lib Dems go on about how fair they have made tax while they have been in government. But the gap between rich and poor is increasing. There is empty rhetoric about fairness coming from the same people who voted for unfair cuts to benefits paid to families with disabled children.

The most striking contradiction however is this: When apologising for making, rather than breaking promises, they emphasise that they are not in power, then in the next sentence claim to be influencing government. They are taking voters for fools.

Clegg put on a good act in Brighton, trying to hide the fact that party are like an entire colony of rabbits in the headlights of a 20 tonne truck on the road to electoral oblivion.

3 comments:

Malcolm Clarke said...

It was an exercise in denial. I think Jo Swinson is riding a momentum surge right now and is probably the obvious "new ticket" but at 32 it's too soon for her. One for the future I'm sure. However, polling at under 10% suggests a difficult future for the Lib Dems. They are propping up the most right wing government in recent memory, this more than negates any small gains they can claim. They are toxic, becoming more so each week.

Syzygy said...

I was amazed by the reframing of a double-dip recession and a 22% increase in public borrowing into the LDs having 'rescued' the economy.

I must confess to having felt increasingly nauseous as the speech continued. They really are portraying themselves as brave and courageous for taking the flak from supporting the most extreme right wing government of my lifetime who are running the economy into the ground.

Unknown said...

The coalition agreement allowed the Tories to rip up the manifesto on which they were elected and replace it with a set of policies that that target the young, the old the sick and the disabled for cuts. One Tory MP even boasts that they "are inflicting cuts that Thatcher could only have dreamt of"