Liberty Alone

I am glad that the Grauniad is now reporting that Ming has ruled out LibDems in Brown’s cabinet.

I do wonder what this has all been about. The mess with his spring conference speech and now this. Is this just poor handling or does someone have an agenda?
As far as I can see, those who’d benefit most would be the Tories, it would cause even more anti-Labour votes to go to them, but I don’t see how they could push this story. Perhaps there are some in the LibDems and Labour who’d like to see this sort of thing and they’re floating the idea, or it could be there’s people opposed to it who are leaking the idea in an attempt to halt any discussions.
Both these are unlikely as they both carry great risks and given the party’s apparent ineptitude in dealing with the media I’m tempted to say this was just a fuck up.

It will probably come as no surprise that such a deal would be a resigning matter for me. I am implacably opposed to the Labour party and its whole ideology, what is needed in British politics is not another centre-left party or Labour-lite, what is needed is a liberal party. Getting into bed with Labour (or for that matter the Tories) will not deliver this, it will just make us look like an attachment of the other party (particularly in the case of Labour).

Wow, so much has been happening recently, and typically all when I have personal things to occupy myself with.

I havn’t had time to digest the news from Harrogate, except Ming’s speech, which whilst I see what he meant was rather stupid (its obvious what Tories and the press would make of it…)

Trident: I kept out of the debate as I couldn’t make up my mind (on principle I’m for unilateral disarmament, on practicalities I see the leadership’s point… I waver between the two positions frequently). On balance, I think the right decision was made by conference though (I would like to see a sustained and reasoned attempt to pursuade the general population of the case to disarm though).

The big news of course is the police investigation into the cash for honours scandal and possible coverups by those in power. At some point I will get round to voicing my view on the issue, but for now I shall briefly comment on the injunction and its lifting:

There is one case where I am sympathetic to censorship. That is where disclosure of information could compromise an ongoing police investigation or an ongoing prosecution (actually, there is another- protecting personal information). I am concerned that the publishing of the information could jeopordise the police investigation, if it does then the Guardian has behaved incredibly irresponsibly as the prosecution for the alleged crimes should be fair and thorough.
Of course, if charges are not brought, all information should be available, but until such an event I do worry about revelations.

There’s been much debate in Tory circles about the possibility of a Tory/LibDem coalition in the event of a hung parliament. Rather predictably the hard Tories are opposed to any thought of a deal, often due to what I see as misunderstandings of what the LibDems stand for (I fail to see this radically left wing party we’re told we are for example).

Looking at this from the other side, I doubt the LibDem membership would be happy with joining the Tories in a coalition, I certainly would have misgivings (and I’m not as rabidly anti-Tory as some members are).
The other side is a deal with Labour, which is something I would have serious problems with. The view that the LibDems and Labour are similar is wrong and deals with Labour have never gone well for Liberals in national politics. Like Cameron, Brown is no liberal.

To enter a full coalition we’d require things which neither party looks likely to give. PR for the Commons is necessary (either full STV or STV in cities and AV in large rural constituencies seem most likely, we should never settle for closed list systems or systems engineered to give any party an advantage). We would require the abolition of ID Cards and the database and many other laws (such as the limitations on protest) and a major reassessment of things like the DNA database.

The most likely situation, if a hung parliament does occur (it is not certain at all) is to vote on each issue singly, unless Tabman’s idea of a coalition of liberalscould come to fruition (and given the nature of party politics this doesn’t seem likely unfortunately)