Is Nick Clegg a Lib Dem?

That's the difficult question I asked myself this morning on reading of Nick's overheard comments to David Cameron yesterday. "If we keep doing this we won't find anything to bloody disagree on in the bloody leadership debates" It may have been said in jest, but like many jokes it perhaps comes closer to the truth than we would like to believe.

Despite my feelings about the Coalition I have not changed my personal regard for Nick, just as I have Tory and Labour pals I am really fond of, I still regard him as a good, brave and liberal person, with whom I still agree on many things...........however............(how did you know there would be a however?!) his overheard comments yesterday disturbed me more than anything that has happened since the Coalition was formed. If he honestly cannot think of any differences with Cameron it gives the lie to the leadership argument that what we have landed up with in terms of Coalition policy is a compromise and the inevitable consequence of not being in power on our own - yeah right!

I understand from someone who was there at the time, that Nick allegedly decided to join the Lib Dems only because he didn't like the Tory position on Europe and LGBT issues. OK, there are many in our party who may quite comfortable in a more liberal Tory party, but they are not the majority. The preample to our constitution which sets out our values clearly, the fact that 2/3rds of our party see themselves as on the left, just a cursory glance at our manifesto and our reams of policy papers - demonstrates that we are not a right wing party. Do we really believe that had Paddy or Charles or Simon Hughes been leader at the moment they could have made such a comment - even in jest? I don't think so.

So, my question is a genuine one, yes Nick is a liberal to his fingertips - that's why I supported him - but is he a liberal democrat one?

Paddy Ashdown - Please NO!!!!!!!

I am up uncharacteristically early since I woke to the news of Paddy Ashdown's clandestine chats with potential "Blairite defectors" from Labour. Apparently there is concern that some local parties are becoming "too left wing". Deja vu - except that the Labour Party of the early eighties - when Derek Hatton roamed the land - is quite a different animal from the Labour Party of today. I left the Labour Party then to join the SDP because I was uncomfortable about the direction the party was taking - yes - too left wing even for me! I was probably one of Richard Hussey's "stranded liberals" who actually has ended up feeling far more at home in the Liberal Democrats, despite some of my disagreements at the margins. Richard has given a thoughtful, thought provoking analysis of the prospect of us sweeping up a load of Labour discontents. However..............

I have to confess I am not really an "evangelist" for the party - I actually don't believe everyone should join. Whenever I talk to people about joining or defecting I will always make the point that they need to consider first whether or not they share our values. For too long we have been happy to welcome anyone regardless of their values - and it often ends in tears. What really worries me is that it is the Blairites that want to join our party. The Blairites - the architects of the Tory Party reincarnate, the warmongering, civil liberty denying, anti public service characters for whom frankly, I have little time.

Funnily enough yesterday I met with a Labour Party member to discuss tackling the BNP in the European elections, but also debated the possibility of a realignment of the left. In the evening I chatted to a friend from STWC about the vacuum on the left of British politics and his view that as Lib Dems we were in danger of missing an open goal.

If those who are considering defecting from the Labour Party are doing so because, as the Telegraph article suggests, the 50p rate is a drift to the left - I would remind them that this was a Lib Dem policy - and frankly I wouldn't mind betting will be again. At a time when cynicism about politics and politicians has never been so pronounced, when the plaintiff cry on the doorstep is invariably "you're all the same" - the time has surely come for us to put clear blue water between us and the other two Tory parties. If the Blairites are going to defect anywhere I would suggest that their natural habitat would be with the Cameronites.