The Only LibDem In Broadland?

I wouldn't want to be savaged for failing to mention the selection of Dan Roper as the new LibDem candidate in the "key seat" of Broadland for the next election, so I thought I'd blog something to make him feel important. As it happens I like Dan, who frequently comments on this blog, and I am sure he will put up a good fight.

However this effort from his website did make me laugh - even for the LibDems this is a bit of spin too far!

"It had been rumoured that the national party would "parachute" a big name into this key seat. However it soon became clear that Mr Roper had such overwhelming support from the local party that he was selected unopposed."

Are they honestly expecting us to believe that hundreds of LibDem hopefuls wanted to be selected for this top target marginal seat and were put off because the entire membership rallied around Dan? Surely there was ONE LibDem, somewhere, who would have made a contest of this?

Ridiculous - they know what we all know which is that the LibDems stand no chance whatsoever here. As good a candidate as I am sure Dan Roper is, the fact is that nobody else wanted to put their time and effort into this one. The lack of LibDem effort speaks volumes about their hopes here.

Come on, Dan, you're a decent guy so lose the spin and fight a positive campaign. This sort of stuff makes us laugh but the public must despair with statement like that; it's almost like you're taking them for fools. Either that, or you are desperate to convince yourself that you stand a chance ... which is it?

SOS for the LibDems

Poor LibDem candidate April Pond must be fuming, with all this negative publicity blowing her NHS Survey out of the water. All that money and glossy paper wasted on a survey nobody will bother looking at. Mind you, no LibDem survey is ever really taken seriously!

Anyway, the serious point is this. The survey has the phrase "SOS for the NHS" emblazened across the top. I find this a serious miscalculation. The parties may disagree on health policies but this headline suggests that the NHS is in imminent danger of collapse. How many people will be scared by this ridiculous over exaggeration? If I were an elderly person or somebody totally dependent on the NHS it would concern me. All parties have the right to have their say on the health service but shouldn't we ought to campaign responsibly and with the impact on local people at the forefront of our minds? This headline is just irresponsible from Mrs Pond and serves as a good reason why she isn't fit to be one of our Norfolk MPs.

And besides which, should she be worrying about breathing life back into her own party rather than scaremongering over the NHS? SOS for the LibDems would be a more accurate headline...