Monday, January 26, 2009

Nick Clegg vs. the Norwich LibDems over who is more arrogant

We're all used to the hypocrisy of the LibDems, but even this takes the biscuit; just as they are claiming to be a joined-up party!

As part of an interview with the BBC (more here) Nick Clegg came out with this line:

Asked who he might support in the event of a hung Parliament, Mr Clegg said it was "arrogant" to second guess voters.

Apparently it is, according to Mr Clegg, arrogant to assume who people will vote for. So how does he square that with the usual utterings of his local parties:

Conservatives out of the race ... its so close here ... our next MP will be LibDem Simon Wright or Labour's man Charles Clarke - no other result is possible

How arrogant does that make the Norwich LibDems? To tell local people that no other result is possible other than the choice the LibDems give them. Aren't they second-guessing the voters in a big way?

Nick Clegg may like to use that line to get out of a hole with regards to which way they would jump in a hung parliament, but when his candidates up and down the country are being as arrogant as to assume they know the way people will vote means either they are in direct conflict. So that leaves us with 2 scenarios:

Either Clegg is ignored by his local parties; or they know what they are doing and are trying to decieve the electorate. I'll let you decide.

Hat-tip to regular contributor EGL Resident for this one!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it arrogant to state the facts from the last General Election - the Tories bucked the national swing and did very badly in Norwich.

Local election results are all very well but taking one ward out of nine does not mean the Tories are necessarily prime contenders for Norwich South.

Anonymous said...

Clegg is right but that doesn't necessarily mean the local parties are wrong......

Clegg is right because in the (unlikely I think) event of an inconclusive election result the Lib Dems should support the party that has the best prospect of forming an effective stable government that will tackle the problems the country is facing. This would take into account both the overal election result and the policy platforms of the respective parties.

As for the local party statistics - as I have said before, there is nothing arrogant about quoting the results of the last general election. The fact is that in Norwich the Tories bucked the national swing and actually did rather poorly.

Of course there has been progress for the Tories in the local elections but winning one ward out of 9 (in the last 10 years!) doesn't necessarily mean they are about to take Norwich South

deepeningdemocracy said...

Yes, Nick Clegg is wrong! The Greens are doing far better than the Tories, the Liberal party and Labour in Norwich South.