True in the sense they never had to fight against it.
Westminster Politics
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
The American and Indian revolutions weren’t our things, either
The last guy has me in stitches.
Cameron interview on ITV now.
Using the Magic Money Tree line...on the Tories.
If it talks like a tory, lies like a tory, and votes like a tory, then it probably is a tory.
Completely agree. Especially with the last part which I totally didn't edit in any way.
She will end that party.
She'll be giving away season tickets next.
Do I vote for Jo Swinson or an antisemite?
Big Jo Swinson, mate.
My advice is: don't take any advice from us.
Preston is pretty safely Labour to be fair.
Maidenhead is a safe Tory seat, so it doesn't matter who either of us vote for, does it?
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2938315119516316
The Lib Dems love a good sing along
Altogether now...
"Tony Blair can feck off and die"
The Lib Dems love a good sing along
Altogether now...
"Tony Blair can feck off and die"
Sadly not with FPTP!
Yeah not good. Can only imagine the outcry they would have if this were a different party
No one seemed to mind when Bang, Bang the witch is dead went to the top of the charts when Maggie passed away and the person they were trying to offend could not defend herself. Think how the family must have felt?
No need to get all holier than though over Blair.
If Blair wanted to join the Lib Dems, Swinson would snap hm up like a shot.
She's already tried to sign Neymar.
She's already tried to sign Neymar.
If anyone under the age of 100 votes for the LibDems then they’re traitors to their fellow men/women.
How safe is swinsons seat... If I recall she lost it in 2015 to the SNP...
I might stick a bet on her loosing it again as I expect the SNP will do well next election
Then I guess she has to step down as leader and then who... Chukka?
I might stick a bet on her loosing it again as I expect the SNP will do well next election
Then I guess she has to step down as leader and then who... Chukka?
10% majority or so if I recall.
Her majority is around 6,000. East Dunbartonshire was 72/28 in favour of remain.
SNP are also remain and won it in 2015...
Chuka must have some serious skeletons in his closet. Bottled running when Corbyn won and bottled it again when Owen Smith ended up running against him.
Nice to see the Lib Dems proving themselves to be the political party of moderate and rational centrism again.
Most of the people who were signing that about Thatcher generally weren't trying to promote themselves as rational moderates who despise politics of division and hatred. Which is basically the entire Lib Dem platform in a nutshell.
It's not as safe as she'd like it to be, but I'd say it's one of the safest non-SNP seats in the country. It was one of the closest run SNP seats in 2015, and the Lib Dems managed to take it back comfortably without much of a national improvement in 2017.
I'd suspect the SNP would have to be hitting 45%+ nationally to be in with a chance, and that seems unlikely. And even then, they took it barely with 50% in 2015 with a Lib Dem party performing more poorly than they will nationally this time. Swinson being leader now should also give a boost, even if she is really, really bad at leading.
So yeah, only seat safer for the Lib Dems is Orkney and Shetland I'd imagine.
So when did the LibDems become so overtly tory? Was it all Clegg's doing?
You're collapsing parties into a single dimension with your analogy, that of economic policies. Anyhow, a short history for those who don't know (not meaning you) of how Lib Dems got here...
- In 1981 the SDP (Social Democratic Party) split from Labour in pursuit of more centrist than left wing economic policies based on European (German mostly) models.
- In 1988 they joined forces with the Liberal Party (old party, since the 1850s) to form the Liberal Democrats
- In 1994 Tony Blair won the Labour leadership contest and launched the New Labour era, lasting until 2010
In the two-decade spanning period of Blair's reign, the "Social Democratic" vote slowly but surely returned to Labour. The remaining core of the Lib Dems, the ones not drawn to Labour, were in essence neoliberals. Believing in a small state, free market, internationalism and deregulation. Economic policy wise, they are not that different from the Tories. But obviously not the party of "law and order" and conservatism, since they are believers in more freedom for the citizens and internationalism.
So to answer your question, it wasn't Nick Clegg. It was a process that started with Blair and New Labour, which affected the Lib Dems, the result of which was Clegg. He was the product of this transition rather than the cause.
With Labour veering to the left under Corbyn there's scope for Lib Dems to become more like Social Democrats and less Neoliberals. But that process takes years and requires new candidates to come through the party ranks. It was a 20-year transition to get here and we're only 4 years into the vacated centrist ground.
EDIT: In an ideal world there would be a genuine Social Democratic party in the UK. Like there is in most European nations. But the FTPT system and the make up of the UK, with the existence of nation-specific parties (SNP, Plaid Cymru, DUP, Sinn Fein) barely allows for 3 national parties. Never mind 4.
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His mistake is being associated openly with a political party, rather than doing so through an opaquely funded think tank.
That way the BBC would be forced to repeatedly have him on their shows to express these opinions as facts completely unchallenged by anything resembling a presenter.
That way the BBC would be forced to repeatedly have him on their shows to express these opinions as facts completely unchallenged by anything resembling a presenter.