Thursday 18 March 2010

Corporal Clegg


Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Corporal Clegg, as I like to think of him, is on a charm offensive. Clearly keeping his eye on those wobbly opinion polls, he is praying for a hung parliament; for that is the only way that he will get the scent of power, as king-maker for a day. Hoping to appeal to wavering Tories, he is donning the garb of the German Free Democrats, calling for tax cuts and smaller government. He even says that Margaret Thatcher is an inspiration to him

All I can say is that Corporal Clegg is no inspiration to me, and that I would trust Greeks bearing gifts more than I would trust him bearing blue roses. Keep politics out of politics, that really should be the motto of the Liberal Democrats, who stand for nothing, so far as I am concerned, but the shabbiest and shallowest forms of opportunism. In The Spectator Bruce Anderson quotes from a handbook for party workers: “You can secure support from voters who normally vote Tory by being effectively anti-Labour and similarly in a Tory area secure Labour votes by being anti-Tory.”

Oh, they do stand for one thing, Clegg stands for one thing – Europe. This was the party brought the Europe show to these islands, a melodrama in one-act which will run and run. Clegg himself does not like to bark too loudly about this, because he knows how unpopular it is with the voters, but he is in favour of going the whole way to a federal Europe. I personally find it difficult to imagine anything worse. Europe may be his country; it most certainly is not mine; it will never be mine.

When it comes to Europe, when it came to the question of the Lisbon Treaty the Corporal and his party proved just hypocritical as Labour. In their 2005 Manifesto they made clear their support for the proposed Constitution, with the caveat that ratification must be subject to a referendum. But when Constitution became the Treaty, as treacherous a piece of political chicanery as is possible to conceive, they supported its passage through Parliament, something worth remembering when their canvassers come calling.

I suppose I am the worst person to offer any comment on the Liberal Democrats for the simple reason that I have never made the effort to get beneath the surface of the party. To me it’s all surface and no substance. I hate Labour; I’m indifferent to the Liberal Democrats. It’s not a party; it’s a kind glee club for all sorts of woolly-minded people, neither one thing nor the other; bloodless, insipid, worthless. Sorry, that’s wrong-they are the European Party. That surely counts for something.

7 comments:

  1. Or not at all, as the case may be. :-)

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  2. this guy sucks huh.. i totally agree with the idea of dont vote at all. earlier i used to believe that you should vote. cause otherwise you don't have any say in anything. no rights to whine an complain if you didn't. but then the fact is that most of the jack asses in the position to be elected don't really have any quality to actually put em in place. and now i feel that i should only vote for a person i think who deserves it. and if there are no candidates. i wont vote at all. simple enough huh??

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  3. Nice to see you on MyT - hello Ana

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  4. Yea, Nitin, there was a point last year, during a major scandal over Expenses being claimed by the members of the British Parliament, when I thought that I might not vote for any party. But I'm a natural Conservative and the present Labour government has done so much harm to the country.

    And it's nice to see you here, Gideon. :-)

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  5. When did Clegg say Thatcher was an inspiration for him? I haven't heard that.

    All I've heard so far is that he said Thatcher's victores against the TUs were "immensely significant". After all he has launched some quite outspoken attacks against Thatcher. For example in March last year he launched a huge attack on her, saying she had created a "brutal" and "soulless" Britain.

    Could you post a link to where you heard about his saying Thatcher was an inspiration?

    Thanks,
    Rob (www.thebigqs.co.uk)

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  6. The Spectator, I think, Rob. Anyway, Google, Nick Clegg, Thatcher and inspiration, that should get you there.

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