The Press Association reports:
A top Liberal Democrat candidate for Holyrood has resigned from the party.
Hugh O’Donnell was Liberal Democrat MSP for Central Scotland before the start of campaigning earlier this month for the Scottish Parliament elections.
It is understood he was unhappy with the direction of the party in Scotland and the coalition in Westminster.
A Liberal Democrat spokeswoman said: “We have accepted Hugh O’Donnell’s resignation.”
Hugh O’Donnell has been pretty critical of the party for some time, so much so that seeing some of his comments made to posts of mine on Facebook I did a double-take wondering if his Facebook profile was a fake or had been hacked. So although the loss of any candidate in such circumstances is regrettable, it is not a great surprise in this case.
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22 Comments
I don’t see where you’re getting that he’s standing as an Independent Mark.
His views were the mainstream of the Liberal party when I joined. I hate to see people like him go. I sometimes feel it is the Lib Dems who have been hijacked.
That doesn’t seem to match with his own posts, though, and the fact he was out campaigning this morning – unless he’d resigned before then?
That’s just ahistorical rubbish Geoffrey.
Here’s what the Lib Dem history group say about Jo Grimond (who probably did more to shape the post war Liberal Party than anyone else):
Grimond was a long-term opponent of statism, the view that social advance could only be brought about through the action of the state. He joined fellow Liberals who agreed with his views in the Unservile State Group and contributed a chapter on the reform of Parliament to that body’s key publication, The Unservile State (1957). His opposition to state action was partly based on the belief that this enhanced the power of bureaucracies, transforming those who received state services into the passive recipients of handouts, devaluing their humanity by depriving them of the ability to take decisions which affected their everyday lives. His firm belief in the importance of participation and the need for individuals to possess freedom of choice resulted in him viewing communities as the key social unit in which individuals could intellectually develop their full potential by sharing in the pursuit of common goals.
More here – http://www.liberalhistory.org.uk/item_single.php?item_id=9&item=biography
The Lib Dems are less popular than the Tories in Scotland.
Any Lib Dems who want them to remain a national party, rather than being an English party, like the Tories, should really be making moves now. The destruction of the Tories in Scotland, and the long term ramifications of that (ie no majority for Cameron nor legitimacy north of the border) should really be making you worry. It’s not healthy for there to be only one truly national party, Labour, in UK politics.
@Dan, you are wrong. I doubt you were even a member in the 1980s when I joined.
Jo Grimond was a great leader of the Liberal party in the 1960s and was admired by everyone. William Wallace used to write some of his speeches and he tells me that Jo Grimond guided the party in a social liberal direction, which is why the founders of the free market Institute of Economic Affairs left the party. Jo Grimond wanted to “reallign the left”. You are right that he was always highly critical of the state but that was on the grounds that it was too centralised.
It is true that towards the final years of his life he became more of an economic liberal and although many of us disagreed with him on that we respected his free thinking.
If you look at the policies we passed at our Liberal assemblies they were noticably to the left of the kind of policies we advocate today. I know I was there, I am not making it up.
“Hugh O’Donnell has been pretty critical of the party for some time … So although the loss of any candidate in such circumstances is regrettable, it is not a great surprise in this case.”
You seem to have hit on a good little formula for dismissing _any_ principled resignation from the party there, because anyone who is unhappy enough to leave now will probably have been “critical of the party for some time.” Nick Clegg made his right-wing sympathies clear enough once he was elected leader, and that’s more than three years ago.
Dan – I take it that you are drawing parallels between Grimondian liberalism and the way that the coalition is, albeit surreptitiously, rolling back the state. The difference between the Liberal Party then and the Liberal Democrats now is that in Grimond’s time we also had policies which clearly empowered the individual: works councils, worker representation in the boardroom, support for co-operatives, a belief in firm action to prevent monopolies arising, measures to assist the redistribution of wealth, etc. While we still pursue some policies which have this sort of effect, the pupil premium and opposition to a reduction in inheritance tax, we don’t have a core agenda that would make capitalism work to the benefit of the individual, and hence we are seemingly unable to resist being co-opted by the Tories into supporting their agenda.
I, too, joined the Liberal Party when Jo Grimond was Leader of the Party. I respected him for what he stood for and for his totally honest manifesto, which is why I joined his Party.
Respect to Hugh for having the courage to leave the Party because it is now going against his long-held high ideals and principles which I have respected for a long time. Liberal Democrats at Westminster have seriously damages our reputation in the Scottish Liberal Democrats and in Scotland in general. Our Scottish Parliament Election will be seriously affected by the goings-on at Westminster.
I will not be far behind Hugh – I can longer support what our Party has become. Yesterday’s demonstration (not the orchestrated, planted, bussed-in violent element) should have sent a strong message to the Coalition. If it doesn’t, then they carry on with what they are doing at their peril!
Expect more of those Lib Dems who have always faced both ways to leave the sinking ship now that as a party you have been painted into a corner by the Orange bookers and have been forced to face in one direction only — the Tory direction! Especially when you lose the AV referendum and your council seats are reduced to zilch.
he has done the right thing to resign now. If you don’t agree with your party enough of the time then you should consider resigning. That doesn’t mean that I agree with him. I think we are doing a good job in government in difficult times.
The piece seems to quote quite selectively from the Press Association piece.
It also says
” He criticised the party’s Scottish leader Tavish Scott and said founding principles have been “subsumed” by a desire for position and power.
The leadership cannot be regarded as “either Liberal of Democratic”, he said, adding: “The greatest betrayal of all, of course, is the alliance formed in London between the Lib Dems and the Tories.”
Mr O’Donnell said he and his colleagues had been told not to air grievances about the Westminster coalition.
He added: “Since that fateful day, I have watched helplessly from the sidelines as this Government at Westminster has attacked every vulnerable group in Scotland, from carers to disabled students to migrants, with some of the most draconian policies I have ever seen in the name of cuts.
“Not a word of criticism from the party leadership in Scotland has been uttered – even though the contempt shown for Scotland and, indeed, the federal structure of the party knows no bounds.”
Supporters are leaving the party, and according to media sources Mr Clegg orders Liberal Democrats to completely rebrand, so are we looking at a split in the party or just a rebrand of the existing pool, of course nothing is happening until after 5th May, which may well see the Liberal Democrats party implode, and seriously if Mr Clegg and others think rebranding will change the way people view Liberal Democrats or any new name and logo you assume, if it is true… not a chance.
If people want to know the thoughts of the leading Liberal Democrats north of the Border try:
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Lib-Dems-hope-to-ride.6739379.jp
It is therefore not surprising to see Hugh ( and a lot of others) being critical.
@”g” If you had done some research you would find that it is nothing new for the Liberal Democrats to be fourth in terms of national popular support in Scottish elections. You can’t build criticism of the coalition on that particular claim. Yes, our politics would be better if support for parties was more even distributed across the country but it isn’t – for lots of reasons.
@Neil M
It’s true the Lib Dem vote has often hovered around the levels of the Tory vote, sometimes more, some times less. At the moment it is consistently less.
Like I said, it’s not good if there is only one truly national party in UK politics, unless you’re a Nat, which I’m not. The Lib Dems in Scotland have never been as ill regarded as the Tories, they’ve always had support, always had heartlands, but I think this is beginning to change. Ming Campbell and Chales Kennedy might survive, they’re admired by their constituencies independent of their party, the rest, not so sure. Without those two things might get really bad.
I watch with complete and utter amazement that as your party looks like falling to bits, it is met with such a lackadaisical attitude. When one of the leading members of your party in Scotland resigns, it’s met with “ah well, he was a long time trouble make anyway.”. Over a quarter of a million march on London and Vince Cable, in a very off putting way, just brushes it off. I am sure there will be the same not bothered reaction no matter how bad the results will be in May, and I am sure the party will spin expectation as low as possible so no matter what happens it will now be given the seemingly automatic shrug of the shoulders.
I don’t know what would upset me most if I was a Lib Dem activist, the way the party is going or the can’t be arsed reaction it keeps giving off in public to the worsening situation the party is in.
Only now facing the Tory way? In the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross (née Easter Ross) Scottish constituency, the ex-Tory Robbie Rowantree is well on the way to doing a Lembit Opik and loosing it for the LibDem after usurping Jamie Stone.
He also should take more care with his election leaflets.
~alec
@RedRag “I watch with complete and utter amazement that as your party looks like falling to bits”
Perhaps that’s because that isn’t reality. I have knocked on enough doors recently to know that everyone isn’t foaming at the mouth with anger about the Lib Dems or the coalition as many lefties think. Of course there’s some apprehension. Of course some people are angry. But that’s a tiny minority.
There’s no way we can be complacent, it varies from place to place and yes we need to do more to get across our message. But the world certainly isn’t as you seem to think it is.
@Anders Hanson “and yes we need to do more to get across our message”
What message is that though? This is your problem. What do the Lib Dems currently stand for? Reforming the voting system to make it more proportional? Nope. Free university education? Nope. Helping reduce the gap between the rich and the poor? Nope. Stopping nuclear weapons? Nope. You might disagree on some of that, but this is how the average voter now sees the Lib Dems. In Scotland, the only principle the Lib Dems can rightly claim to have stuck to is unwavering support for the union, which is no good since the Tories and Labour already offer that to unionist voters.
One of the problems is that the Lib Dem message has always seemed to change, depending on whether “only the Tories and the Lib Dems can win here” or “only Labour and the Lib Dems can win here”. The Orange Book clan have probably ruined the chances for Lib Dems who claim to support social democracy, because it just doesn’t wash now. Perhaps it’s time for the Lib Dems to split in two, with those that still have principles forming a new party that offers a genuine social democratic alternative for those who see through Labour’s attempts to pretend they are still a party of the left. Simon Hughes would make an excellent leader of such a party, and it would be good to have a mainstream UK party on the left for the first time since Clegg became Lib Dem leader (unless Miliband intends purging Labour of Blairism entirely).
@Doug Daniel – you clearly don’t actually understand the Scottish Liberal Democrats policies then.
Tuition fees – the Labour Party actually introduced these in Scotland in the period before the Scottish Parliament was set up. It was only through Lib Dem pressure that Labour agreed to change to a no-upfront fees policy, and the party voted for the complete abolition of fees in 2007/8 when there was finally a majority to do so. The policy was reiterated as recently as October, and clearly supported by the party.
Reforming the voting system to make it more proportional – again, still party policy. The Lib Dems forced Labour to introduce PR in the Scottish Parliament & Welsh Assembly elections, and also to introduce STV for Scottish local government elections. It’s still the party policy to support STV – and if the choice of electoral system was devolved to the Scottish Parliament, then this would change too.
Helping reduce the gap between the rich and poor – so raising the level at which people don’t pay tax doesn’t go at least some way to do this?
Stopping nuclear weapons – this has never actually been Liberal Democrat policy. We said we didn’t support the replacement of Trident. Still don’t. Decision on replacement now deferred until after the next General Election – but we never said, and never wanted to, get rid of our nuclear capability.
Anders is right though – we’re failing to get that message across. At least an election might allow us to do that a bit. Fortunately, here in Scotland the voters are actually quite intelligent and can understand that parties have different policies for Scotland than for England – they even manage to cope with four different electoral systems for four sets of elections (local, Holyrood, Westminster and Europe) without creating a song and dance about it.
The lib dem vote is collapsing in Scotland, they’re fighting the Greens for fifth place.
Partly it is due to them opposing tuition fees then voting them in, reforming the voting system -with a miserable little compromise, and reducing the gap between rich and poor by going into coalition with a party that believes that taxing the rich to pay for the public services of the poor is unfair.
It will be a disaster if the Lib Dems are wiped out north of the border, there will be no way back for half a century. They have long memories here, as the Tories will tell you.