Nye Bevan. If we had 50 of him… Hell, if we had one of him rather than these effete, ball-free wankers…
As to the LibDems, well, there local campaigning was always underhand to say the least…
Forgive any possible inaccuracies here - it is a LONG time ago. These are stories I heard from multiple sources. I don’t know if there are cites to back them up.
Labour ran a South Asian candidate in a northeastern safe seat in a by-election. Said candidate had lived in the carea for well over a decade. The Lib Dems, in a sordid attempt to pander to latent racism, constantly referred to their candidate as the local candidate, referring to the Labour candidate as an outsider.
More blatantly, when Tower Hamlets was having its first little problem with electing British National Party (BNP - neo-Nazis), the Lib Dems pulled a couple of despicable tricks. First they issued a leaflet of their own, discussing local street crime, resplendent with a picture of a black boxer. Second, and I have no evidence for this other than memories of stories, so take it with a pinch of salt, I heard they issued a fake leaflet from the “Bangladeshi Nationalist Party” they had delivered to Bangladeshi households including a lot of poor English speakers. That one probably isn’t true - but that it was a story circulating about their campaign methods shows at least how people felt about going up against them in local campaigns.
In general, I have not seen a level the Lib Dems won’t stoop to in order to win. After campaigns we always used to have a pint or two with the Tory campaign team (vermin though they were ). There were always bad feelings against the Lib Dems.
Quick question I’ve been wondering about lately. What would happen if Labour won a majority, but Gordon Brown failed to win his seat? Actually let’s add to this hypothetical Harriet Harman also failing to be re-elected (the thought of her as PM is terrifying).
Would Labour have to hold a leadership contest before they could select an MP to become Prime Minister?
Is the Orange Book something that has been quietly forgotten about, or is unpopular among Lib Dem supporters? Nick Clegg, Vince Cable* et al were heavily involved with it, after all.
For me, the Orange Book made me actually consider the Lib Dems for the first time in years. I probably still won’t vote for them because I think half of them are not nearly as economically liberal as the ideas in that book, but it at least brought voting Lib Dem within the realms of possibility.
current Lib Dem leadership, for our overseas viewers
An unstable coalition. If the LibDems ever get the proportional-representation reform they want, I expect the LDP will split into separate social-democratic and libertarian parties not long after. Because, then, it will be possible for each party to win some seats on its own.
It really doesn’t matter how I vote, my town will go to the Tories. I’d vote Labour only if I thought they could beat the Conservatives. As it is I might as well vote for the Lib Dems while pissing in the wind.
I have a hard time convincing people it’s worth voting.
Our Conservatives stand for pretty much everything you despise in US politics threads - they’re just to the left of the US Democratic Party. Are you sure you support them? From most comments of yours elsewhere, I’d see you more as a parallel to a UKIP supporter.
Also, you seem to celebrate the English dominating the Scots and the Welsh and diminishing their autonomy - rather than commenting on the pros and cons of those parties’ policies. Why is that?
(Also, does anyone else have a mental image of Curtis as an American version of Nigel Molesworth?)
I’m a traditional Labour supporter (or rather, privately-educated-champagne-socialist-blairite ;)) who occasionally drifts to the LibDems, but I’m now living in a firmly safe Labour ward with a friend who is standing as prospective MP for the Green Party, so I may have to give her my vote just so she feels better about losing.
Which I fully realise is a really girly thing to do.
I’m deciding between Labour and Lib Dems; need to read up on the policies before I decide. I’ll probably vote Labour as our (Labour) MP seems like a decent guy and wasn’t up to dodgy expenses malarky. I’d rather Labour gets the seat than the Tories or George Galloway…
I’m fairly disillusioned with all politicians right now. They all seem to be a right set of corrupt lovechilds.
That said I will be voting Labour. Their traditional ideals are the ones closest to mine, and I just hope they can find their way back to them. May have to become a paid up member at some point.
As for me, I haven’t decided where I’m going to vote yet (I’m on 4 electroal rolls) , but whereever it is it’s going to be with whoever is most likely to get Labour out.
As for SNP or Plaid Cymru or whoever… well the Tories were the party who got the most votes in England last time, knock yourselves out
I tend to float between Labour in the Westminster Elections and LibDem in the Scottish Parliament (the PR system in the Scottish Elections mean that a vote for the LibDems actually counts for something).
My main concern is to avoid the disaster of a Tory government, so I’ll probably end up voting Labour this time round again - my MP is fairly decent (voted against Iraq, didn’t fiddle his expenses), and despite it all I think that Gordon Brown has the makings of a good Prime Minister - certainly far far better than the alternative.
Then again, it look as though with a moderate swing, Edinburgh North & Leith could go LibDem so I might be tempted to try to parictipate in an upset there.
How significant, if at all, is that in British politics? Does it impose any special obligations, or confer any special privileges?
In the U.S., any political party will be glad to take your money and have on you on a contributors’ list, but all it means is that you can be sure they’ll ask you for more money for years to come. Campaign volunteers are usually always welcome, too.
In most states, you may register with your local board of elections as a member of a particular party, in which case you’re limited to that party’s ballot during primary elections, or as an independent, in which case you’re limited to voting on nonpartisan ballot issues in primary elections. In the general election, of course, you can vote for anyone of any party, regardless of for which party you’ve registered.
I’ll find out. Apparently I get a new member’s pack, would presumably get invites to local/regional etc meetings of the Labour Party and will get tapped upo at every opportunity for cash and help with things like leafletting.
Only something like 1.3% of the electorate is an actual card carrying member of one of the 3 main parties, so I don’t think it is that significant.
). There were always bad feelings against the Lib Dems.