The ballot papers are dropping through letterboxes for the Lib Dem leadership election. It's a straight fight between Tim Farron and Norman Lamb.
As an activist in East Surrey since 1999 the most common response on doorsteps I encountered up to 2010 was "...but you've never been in government". We've heard a lot less of that one recently. Unfortunately, since December 2010, it's been "...but your leader lied over tuition fees".
Of course he didn't lie about it. It was a pledge which had to be traded. Coalition Government means making massive compromises to get the bulk of your policies pushed through. The Conservatives failed to implement many of their manifesto pledges as coalition trade-offs. Did that attract any attention?
A huge swathe of the Lib Dem manifesto was implemented from 2010 to 2015, taking millions of low-paid earners out of tax, securing decent increases in pensions, free childcare and school meals for infants, protecting civil liberties... the list goes on. Yes, these were Lib Dem policies, though you'd be forgiven for thinking they were Tory ones as they hijacked one after another when it became clear the mass media liked the sound of them.
Nick Clegg did an amazing job leading the Lib Dems in coalition. He forced Cameron to moderate the right wing of the Conservative Parliamentary Party and fended off a swathe of policies which would have undermined our civil liberties and further increased the gap between rich and poor. Little of it reported by the press. Nothing new there; something Lib Dem activists have always been frustrated by.
However, despite all the good, he will always be remembered for the rise in tuition fees. Many low-income households don't have to pay the full amount, or anything at all, to send their children to Uni - but why let the facts get in the way of a good story.
So out with the old and in with the new. But which new one?
Membership of the House of Commons doesn't come close to representing the population. The leadership of political parties particularly so. The majority all middle class, white males with privileged, paid-for education. What Farage refers to as "Establishment" (and don't let him fool you into thinking he's any different!), though he was a commodity broker before politics.
What the Liberal Democrats could do with is a non-establishment figure as their next leader. Someone from a working-class background. Someone who voted against an increase in tuition fees. Someone who is clearly a passionate libertarian. Someone who clearly isn't "Establishment".
So that's Tim Farron then.
As an activist in East Surrey since 1999 the most common response on doorsteps I encountered up to 2010 was "...but you've never been in government". We've heard a lot less of that one recently. Unfortunately, since December 2010, it's been "...but your leader lied over tuition fees".
Of course he didn't lie about it. It was a pledge which had to be traded. Coalition Government means making massive compromises to get the bulk of your policies pushed through. The Conservatives failed to implement many of their manifesto pledges as coalition trade-offs. Did that attract any attention?
A huge swathe of the Lib Dem manifesto was implemented from 2010 to 2015, taking millions of low-paid earners out of tax, securing decent increases in pensions, free childcare and school meals for infants, protecting civil liberties... the list goes on. Yes, these were Lib Dem policies, though you'd be forgiven for thinking they were Tory ones as they hijacked one after another when it became clear the mass media liked the sound of them.
Nick Clegg did an amazing job leading the Lib Dems in coalition. He forced Cameron to moderate the right wing of the Conservative Parliamentary Party and fended off a swathe of policies which would have undermined our civil liberties and further increased the gap between rich and poor. Little of it reported by the press. Nothing new there; something Lib Dem activists have always been frustrated by.
However, despite all the good, he will always be remembered for the rise in tuition fees. Many low-income households don't have to pay the full amount, or anything at all, to send their children to Uni - but why let the facts get in the way of a good story.
So out with the old and in with the new. But which new one?
Membership of the House of Commons doesn't come close to representing the population. The leadership of political parties particularly so. The majority all middle class, white males with privileged, paid-for education. What Farage refers to as "Establishment" (and don't let him fool you into thinking he's any different!), though he was a commodity broker before politics.
What the Liberal Democrats could do with is a non-establishment figure as their next leader. Someone from a working-class background. Someone who voted against an increase in tuition fees. Someone who is clearly a passionate libertarian. Someone who clearly isn't "Establishment".
So that's Tim Farron then.
— Ashley Burridge (@AshleyBurridge) June 26, 2015
