Sunday 22 December 2013

PRINCIPLE-LIGHT LIBERAL DEMOCRAT

Spin on it; I'm a minister and I'll go to the Lords @ £300+ a day!
I used to think that Simon Hughes was a Liberal Democrat.  I’ve come to the conclusion that he isn’t. Political Scrapbook has been keeping track of the man and his hypocrisy.

Here is their list:

He called stealth privatisation in the Health Bill “unacceptable” … then voted for it at every stage of its passage.

He lied about abstaining on parliamentary votes affecting housing rights for thousands of his constituents.

He applauded gay marriage at Lib Dem conference … after abstaining during third reading citing his religious views.

He said that the benefit cap should be dropped … after voting with the Tories for it.

He told the Commons that councils should have planning powers to restrict betting shops … then voted with the Tories against such a measure.
Keep back though, I'm not THAT much on your side
He claimed difficulties during the London riots “demonstrated the case against cuts” to the police … then voted to cut the police.

He called for the NHS Risk Register to be published, then said that “governments are entitled to resist requests for information”

And, of course, he said that he wouldn’t take a government job … and then he took one!

He said of the bedroom tax: “it is not practical to insist that people move if there is nowhere for them to move to” … and then he voted with the Tories to keep it.

He repeatedly voted to reduce local authority budgets … then he claimed that councils’ cuts were “politically motivated”

As a bisexual man, being elected to parliament on the most notoriously homophobic campaign in British political history against Labour’s gay candidate.

Is there anything about this bloke that is anyway half decent?

8 comments:

  1. tris

    he will most likely be voted out at the next election
    seems more than half decent to me .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I think most Liberals will probably go at the next election, Niko.

    In Scotland ( whether fro the year or 5 years) they reckon that only Chic Kennedy and Alistair Carmichael will survive, the other 9 losing their seats...

    There must be about 40 of them in England, I reckon they will be lucky if 10 survive.

    Half decent? I suppose by comparison to McVey and Duncan Smith, Hammond, Fox, he appears that way.

    Compared to the likes of Dennis Skinner, he's a pretty miserable figure...

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Lib-Dems ditched federalism as soon as they formed and that was the only defining principle the Liberals had which made them more than sandal wearing Tories.

    Charlie boy originally got elected to his seat standing for the pre-Blair blairites of the SDP. He then morphed into a Lib-Dem and is now effectively a Tory. If he'd any principles he'd have resigned from the Lib-Dems when they went into coalition with the Tories.

    The only thing he's got is that as a local boy he can rely on a local loyalty rather than party loyalty.

    I've never worked out why the Shetlanders and Orcadians have such a love affair with the Lib-Dems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, I agree. I'll never forgive kennedy for being no opposition to Blair when Labour was starting to become Tory.

      And yes, we heard he had no time for the coalition, so why is he still a member of a party that has inflicted misery on so many, and made life better for so few.

      Delete
  4. The LibDems have shown that they have no principles whatsoever and have relied on the mystical 'but we are different than the other two' to dupe their supporters for decades just like Labour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Very mystical, because they have proved themselves to be Tories and their Scottish counterparts have been so consumed with hatred for the SNP that they seemed to have adopted the Bain principle of opposition.

      Delete
    2. Hmm...

      I used to vote Liberal.

      What I voted for back then was nothing like what we see now.

      It is the problem with a political party on the, ahem, small side. It strives and strives to get noticed - as the Cleggathon did - and it was not short of a genuine breakthrough - the 40% plus was not beyond them, which was a potential majority. They hovered around the 34% mark for a while, and then fell back.

      What they did after that was enough to make them unelectable, unvoteable for, ever again.

      I kind of new a Liberal Party that believed in a non-nuclear state, and further devolution. That thought capitalism ought to have a more human face.

      That is not the Liberal Party we see today.

      What we see are Little Englanders attempting to play games over Orkney and Shetland, cowards that are unable to arrest a single banker, cowards when it comes to a statement on devo-max - have they been scared off?

      I am bored with the reasons that Westminster hasn't a clue, I am bored with Westminster alternatives that turn out to be exactly the same lies and self-serving gain that it always was.

      Our claim of right is not perfect.

      But it is a hellova lot better that the shit we have to put up with right now. For all we see is the advertising that says, buy Coke or Pepsi 'cause they're different, when they aren't.

      Neither has a message to send us. They are both a bit yough!

      Delete
    3. I always feel that I should be a liberal. There is an essential liberalness about my feelings.

      Maybe the Liberals that pushed for free care and free education in Scotland; Liberals that believe in local income tax and proportional representation; Liberals that don't believe in an unelected house of parliament; Liberals that believe in Home Rule.


      But we have Liberals that believe in £9,000 a year education, and are happy for the Lords to go on with their churchmen and aristocrats, placement and old codgers rejected by the electorate.

      They are a travesty of a Liberal party. They tell us that they have been able to get the Tories to water down some of their more ridiculously right wing crap, but they could have done that by leaving the Tories to rule alone, and voted with them for decent stuff, and against all the crap.

      But that wouldn't have got them big salaries and red boxes...

      Bedroom tax and Liberals is .... inexplicable

      Delete