Thursday, December 20, 2007

LibDem member quits when he finds out what the party stands for

Today's postbag was good. Along with a mixture of Christmas cards from party figures I have never heard of came a letter from a gentleman in Norwich who told us about his decision to resign from the Liberal Democrats.

He said he had been a member of the party since the beginning but had concluded that as a group they are now totally pointless (his words, not mine). So what had caused this resignation? A Huhne voter fed up? A disgruntled party activist?

No, for the first time in many years he looked up the LibDem policies on various issues. On top of a long list of policy errors, he says it was their decision to support Congestion Charging in Norwich that was the final straw and you could almost feel the passion of the ripped up membership card in the way he wrote.

This gentleman isn't crossing the floor to Labour or defecting to the Tories. He wants to step back from politics and says he'll look again next May to see who deserves his vote. Good on him. I always like to hear of open minded voters, and maybe one day he'll vote LibDem again.

On a similar note, of fluid politics, whilst out canvassing around Newmarket Road recently I met a couple who told me they were switching from LibDem to Green. Apparently a LibDem had tried to convince them this would mean letting a Tory in via the backdoor. They didn't care at all, because they weren't worried about electing a Conservative. That sort of change is all down to Cameron ; such an attitude would never have existed under Howard or, say, IDS.

There's a lot of churn on the doorsteps of Norwich at the moment. The next election is wide open.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nick Clegg has said the LibDems will never be a potential party of government until they have a co-ordinated approach to politics. No more saying one thing in one area, he says, and another thing in another area. They'll take a hit in the local polls with this approach but it will do them good in the long run on the national scene.

As a former LibDem member I left the party over its local stances. I wouldn't have had to if the national party was more pro-active.