Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Chris Huhne's memory seems to inhabit a different space-time continuum from mine ....

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » Places » United Kingdom Donate to DU
 
non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-01-10 06:22 PM
Original message
Chris Huhne's memory seems to inhabit a different space-time continuum from mine ....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/lib-dem-poll-rating-halves-to-12-per-cent-2041219.html

... or can anyone else remember when the Liberals' poll rating was just "an asterisk"?

Not convinced that his prophecy is likely to be any more accurate.

The Skin
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-02-10 02:08 AM
Response to Original message
1. It's not his memory that is a concern...
It's more his rose-tinted view of how things will pan out for them in the future.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-02-10 02:41 AM
Response to Original message
2. Chris Huhne is whistling to keep up his spirits
He knows that he would lose his seat even with a relatively small swing against the LibDems, let alone the sort of swing that will happen if this mess continues. Clegg is leading his party like the captain of the Titanic, with the Tories playing the role of iceberg.

If the current decline continues, they will reach a point when, even if they get the PR for which they agreed to the coalition, they will *still* get fewer seats than if they'd never entered the coalition.

As regards Liberal polling having been just an asterisk: there were indeed times in the 1950s when they were polling under 3%, though I doubt that Huhne literally remembers back that far.


Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-02-10 05:04 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. He won't. I have four years on him and don't remember that.
Under Grimond - the first Lib leader in my memory - the Libs were doing better than that and were certainly seen as players.

The Skin
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
T_i_B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-03-10 06:14 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Well, if they get PR...
...then even if their support collapses at the next election they will still have a good chance of holding the balance of power, and that appears to be all the Lib Dems really want.

It's a shame that what has been a party with a wide range of priorities has allowed itself to become virtually a single issue party playing second fiddle to the Tories.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
non sociopath skin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-03-10 07:57 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. You begin to wonder how much appeal that can have with voters ...
Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 07:58 AM by non sociopath skin
... "Vote for the Party that's Proud To Be Everyone's Second Choice".

The Skin
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Nihil Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-10 05:04 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. Ouch.
> "Vote for the Party that's Proud To Be Everyone's Second Choice"

Harsh but fair.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
fedsron2us Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-03-10 06:29 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. I dont think they will get PR
Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 06:30 PM by fedsron2us
Clegg's very act of joining a coalition with a Tory government determined to force through spending cuts that will crucify the poor is going to be the factor which kills it. Many people will think that if the current set up is the best that PR has to offer then we may as well stick with first past the post. In addition there are other reforms of the voting system such as making proportion of the House Of Commons come up for re-election every two years like local Councillors which might have a far better effect on restraining an overweening Prime Minister than the rather ropey AV proposals. The Lib Dems will gain nothing and then get annihilated at the next election which is what the Tories have been planning all along.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
miscsoc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Aug-03-10 10:01 AM
Response to Original message
6. They seem to be doing everything possible to bring back those old glory days.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-10 06:53 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. Maybe if they had the guy with the Jeremy Thorpe mask from the Monty Python episode come back
it might help them.

Can't think of anything else that would.

Nick Clegg is going to go down in history as the man who caused the Second Strange Death of Liberal England(and Britain).
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-10 02:53 PM
Response to Original message
9. Perhaps not an asterisk, but in 1970
They were reduced to a pathetic six seats, and just over 7% of the vote.

They might never have recovered if only Labour had done the sensible thing and dumped Harold Wilson after the 1970 defeat, thus allowing Jeremy Thorpe to paint the next campaign as a race between TWO failed leaders(Wilson and Edward Heath)with himself and the Liberals as a breath of fresh air.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-10 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. One of my early political memories...
is of the February 1974 General Election, which was the only other election since the war that has resulted in a hung parliament. I remember that Ted Heath tried to get Thorpe and the Liberals to go into coalition with the Tories, but they wouldn't. Harold Wilson became PM in charge of a Labour minority government and called an election, which he won with a narrow, but absolute, majority in 1974. After a few years, and some by-elections, the same government, now headed by Callaghan, no longer had an absolute majority, and the Liberals propped it up by an informal 'Lib-Lab pact'.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Ken Burch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Aug-04-10 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Which, of course, was how the first Labour government came to power, in 1924
n/t.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun Dec 22nd 2024, 07:00 PM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » Places » United Kingdom Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC