When Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce were sentenced to imprisonment the other day, shockwaves ricocheted through the media establishment. Steve Richards, a political writer at the Independent, was on the frontline of reaction, describing the sentences as “crazy”. Within days, we were hearing sob stories about the pains of fame when banged up at Her […]
Posts under ‘Lib-Dems’
Did the Sunday Times want to damage Huhne (& Pryce)?
Mar 13th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Chris Huhne & Vicky Pryce would not be in prison today if the Sunday Times had not handed over information to the Police from a confidential source. Nick Cohen in an excellent piece at the Spectator rightly blames Isabel Oakeshott, its political editor, for breaking journalists’ first law and, he adds, their one moral principle […]
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Eastleigh – bad for Libs and Labs, disastrous for Tories
Mar 1st, 2013 by Jon Lansman.The result in Eastleigh may be a relief to the Lib Dems, but it is still a very bad result. How can losing more than 14% share of the vote be anything else? They may have won but, as the bleary eyed will have heard Prof John Curtice say after the announcement, it was with […]
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Eight reasons why things can only get better in Eastleigh
Feb 11th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.As the self-nominated applicants to be Labour’s candidate in Eastleigh prepare to be interviewed by Labour’s shortlisting panel, John O’Farrell, author of Things Can Only Get Better and script-writer on such tremendous TV political comedy as Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You, seems to be the favourite. Since we need a candidate who can […]
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Labour should be trashing the Lib Dem record in Eastleigh
Feb 4th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Last time Nigel Farage stood in Eastleigh at a by-election, he languished on 1.7%, with only 169 votes more than Screaming Lord Sutch. That is surely little enough to persuade him not to have another go (though if he does, it will damage the Tories most). Labour, on the other hand came second to the […]
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Those who argue for a coalition should beware of what they wish for
Jan 14th, 2013 by Jon Lansman.Decades may pass without a coalition, but when the first turns up, you’d better be prepared for another. Or so says a band of the usual Lab-Lib coalitionary suspects. And if there is another hung parliament in 2015, there might be another Cameron Clegg coalition. So we should all start campaigning now for a “progressive” Lab-Lib […]
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Clegg should say ‘sorry’ for the economy, not just tuition fees
Sep 28th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.Clegg, alias Osborne in sheep’s clothing, tries to pretend he’s sorry about tuition fees (though actually he isn’t, he’s only sorry about having made a commitment which it turned out politically inconvenient to keep to), but his speech yesterday showed not a scintilla of contrition about what he should really be apologising about, namely supporting the coalition hook, […]
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Book review: ‘Nick Clegg: the biography’ by Chris Bowers
Sep 26th, 2012 by David Osler.UNDER Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrats stood against the Iraq war, did not want a replacement for Trident, opposed tuition fees, and favoured a 50p tax band for Britain’s highest earners. I was not a Labour Party member in 2005, and while socialist principle precluded me from even considering support for a party with no […]
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If the Lib Dems bring down the Tories, then we can talk (and they can save their skins)
Sep 24th, 2012 by Jon Lansman.Most people within Labour who advocate working with the Lib Dems focus on 2015. Neal Lawson, for example, in the New Statesman last week, asks Lib Dems “who would you rather form a coalition with in less than two and half years’ time?” Most of the Left are not so keen on working with those […]
