1. I’m angry with the left.
I can’t abide the revisionism that sees many of my peers state that:
- This was a victory for ‘the left’ over ‘the right’. It wasn’t. Three largely similar and largely centrist parties competed. One of the got almost as many seats as the other two put together. One of them made their biggest electoral gains for almost a century (bigger than Churchill or Thatcher) whilst the other two went backwards. Yes it’s true that they failed to get an overall majority, but then Labour and the Lib Dems failed to get that even when combined! And had Labour got the same share of the vote, they’d have increased their majority of 2005 (see below).
- The left have the force of moral good. There’s been a markedly quasi-religious zeal to all online pronouncements about the need to keep out the evil Tories in order to pursue compassionate, progressive Labour policies. What nonsense. Did anyone else live through the past two terms? Yes, New Labour were once New (much of what was new was their embracing of the market, privatisation and the middle class) and showed that in pursuing devolution, revamping schools/hospitals etc. But that was a long time ago. For a long time they’ve been the party of war, banker bailouts (necessary? If so, the lack of accompanying conditions or reforming legislation wasn’t…) and an increasing gap between rich and poor. They had no interest in electoral reform, tried to scrap the preferential lowest tax bracket, put up NI and racked up a debt mountain to ensure misery (sure to hit the poorest hardest) for years to come. Quite aside from whether I believe the state itself to be inherently a force for good (I don’t), this Labour party long ago deemed ‘socialism’ a dirty word.
- The Tories are evil. No they’re not. What they mean is that Thatcher was evil. Thatcherism isn’t mainstream conservatism; it was new, radical and ultimately combined right wing nationalism, social conservatism and hard-edged market liberalism. That’s not Tory tradition nor the Tory present. A hundred years ago, politicians could move comfortably between the Tory and the Liberal Party. The Conservatives had a One Nation tradition of social justice, as viewed, for example, in the many reforms of the 1820s and upheld in the likes of the Tory Reform Group or ResPublica. Yes I know Cameron isn’t the greatest advocate of this – his ‘hug-a-hoody’ or cycle to work seem contrived. But neither is he Thatcher, and much of the assumption otherwise is just good old class hatred towards him as an old Etonian.
- The Tories should be cut out of a ruling coalition. It’s astonishing what lengths people will go to in order to cut out ‘the enemy’. It would be enough of an issue if the Lib-Labs did have enough seats to do it. But to rope in various Scots/Welsh nationalists and start dishing out funding-protection promises and all sorts… Never mind that clinging on to discredited power under an unelected leader would be the very worst thing for Labour themselves.
2. I’m angry with the right.
The good news as I write, that Lib-Tory talks have resumed and the Labour coup may have failed, takes something of the edge off this section. Nevertheless, it has been exasperating to see the Old Fogey Tories stamping their feet and protesting bitterly at any Liberal role largely because a) Europe is evil b) Immigrants are evil c) Electoral reform is evil and d)Lib Dems don’t understand the above. Various grass-root dinosaurs have threatened to hand in their membership and the right-wing press have been as noxious as ever. If there’s to be any chance of me sustaining my Tory dalliance it will be very much in the ‘Red Tory’ camp – basically positive on immigration, open to reform, even-handed in international relations (US/Europe, Israel/Palestine), prioritising social welfare – but looking to community institutions, Christian values and seeking a framework of fiscal responsibility; not entrusting everything to the wasteful, paranoid state. If reactionary factions out-manoeuvre Cameron and force him to become more like his horrible European allies… well then this was a one-night stand.
3. I’m angry with the middle.
The Liberal Democrats are a strange breed. Spurning all goodwill with their endless vacillations; putting everyone off electoral reform for evermore as the turgid behind-closed-doors wheeler-dealing drags endlessly on. They seem as uncomfortable as they should with playing kingmaker following a performance of disastrous underachievement and anticlimax.
Politically, they seem to have become a one-trick pony, pinning everything on attaining some sort of proportional representation. However, they must realise that the chances of them actually winning a referendum on bringing it about are fast receding, as the country begins wishing for the strong and decisive government they once bemoaned. They must also accept that reform includes equalising constituency sizes… as ridiculous as their own low number of seats is that an opposite vote share of 36% for Labour and 29% for Conservatives would have seen a three-figure majority for the former. Above all, this was the Lib Dems’ time; they blew it and they’re blowing it still (and this written as someone who has long supported electoral reform).
Incidentally, I know my politics are basically centrist on most things… but in a way this is the party I could least comfortably join; as has become clear online it’s the haven for the modern atheistic, politically correct, eco-warrior…
Grrrrrr!!! It’s frustrating because I don’t want to be an endless floating voter (I’ve voted for all three in general elections now!). I want someone I can campaign for (or maybe even one day stand for?!). How long the Littlest Political Hobo?!
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