Nick for PM
I am supporting Nicky Willy Petey Clegg in the leadership elections. Why?
It could be the tasty wife.
It could be the tousled locks.
It could even be because he went to Cambridge.
But its actually just because he sounds like such a f***ing decent guy and is definitely who we need to lead the party TO VICTORY!!!!!!!
Update: Matthew’s comment below is of course completely valid. I meant this as a bit tongue in cheek but I will make it more serious and elaborate as to why I think Nick Clegg will make the better leader for the Lib Dems.
The choice of leader for the group you think represents you best is a big decision. The next leader of the LDs may well make or break the party. As we languish in the polls the next person has to revive the party and present us in such a way as to garner the most votes - essentially they have to start making everyone else believe in what we already believe in. They also have to guide the party in a specific direction, in unity (which is currently probably the difficult bit), as a single entity for liberalism and for democracy.
I believe in the policies of the liberal democrats (well, most of them - more about that in a later blog) - that is why I am member, and why I have chosen to espouse my views in this blog. For me, and I understand that others will think differently, the problem with the party is one of presentation. A case in point - the recent bump for the Tories was ascribed in part to their policy of IHT abolition and new-found love of green taxation, policies that Labour have also claimed in the last few weeks. Yet, they are LD policies. Whether you support them or not, how did they only become news when the other two main parties presented them. The answer is we didn’t get the message across. We have the best policies on the environment and on crime. We were on the popular side of the consensus on a deeply unpopular war. We are the only party willing to come up with workable ways forward on crime, immigration and health, the only people willing to give the British people want they constantly ask for - a change. New ideas on stale problems. Yet barely one-in-ten would vote for us today. The problem is not policy, it is presenting those policies in way that can understand how they will effect their lives for the better. Another case - an immigrant amnesty. I think this is one of the most beautiful and humane ideas that has come from politics in the last five years. I am proud to be a member of the party that espoused it. It is a tough sell. But we must sell it.
I want somebody who can get the message across. Damn it, I need somebody who can get the message across. We are a party that deserves to be listened to, but nobody does. That is what I am looking for in my leader, and for me, Nick Clegg does this job better. For others the choice will be decided by different parameters. For me, we are not lacking in policy, we are not lacking in passion, but we are lacking a voice.
Beyond the leadership, there will still be the much greater problem of unity. A leadership contest is inherently divisive. When you think that the Conservative party have had five leaders in the time that Labour had one, you can see that the internal politics of a party do a detriment to its external politics. Whether Huhne or Clegg win, it will then be up to the party to put the differences to one side and start singing in harmony. I believe a Liberal government is the best thing for Britain, but that will only come about if the party gets behind either Huhne or Clegg. To quote Mr Pacino in Any Given Sunday:
“Either we heal now as a team, or we will die, as individuals”
I hope this makes it slightly clearer why I support Nick.
This is what really worries me about Clegg.
All I ever hear about him is things like this - completely superficial. He seems to have been put forward as the most obvious candidate for leader, and has become the front runner all on little more than “he’s a really good bloke” rather than on any deeper analysis of his policies and his organisational skills.
Since when was abolition of inheritance tax a Liberal Democrat policy? It’s a Tory policy - Liberals were the party which brought in inheritance tax. Tories defend privilege and rich people getting something for nothing, Liberals attack it. Or at least, I thought that’s what we did. I’d rather see higher taxes on wealth obtained for nothing, paid for by lower taxes on income gained from work and enterprise. But I appreciate that sentimentality can make this a hard point to sell.
I think we actually have to explain and sell our policies, I don’t agree with the Clegg line that they are so obviously right that people will support them if only they know them. I actually have a feeling that the swing from LibDem to Tory following the conferences had more to do with the LibDem pro-immigrant line - one of the few things done at our conference which did receive widespread tabloid coverage -than anyone has been prepared to admit. That doesn’t mean our line was wrong, of course.
Clegg’s two big speeches for the leadership campaign have been full of feel-good stuff for Liberal Democrats, but short on actual policy to back them up. But they’ve also been short on stuff which really sells us to people who aren’t already committed, or which really strikes a chord with all the people who are disillusioned with politics. In fact I think the message “we’re really good, shame people can’t see that” is just smug and likely to get us nowehere.
Sorry, that last message was from me, didn’t mean to make it anonymous.