Buzzfeed joins Danny Alexander on the campaign trail in what he admits will be a close fight with the SNP to hang on to his seat.
But he insists his local record – “I think I’m the only MP in the country who gets attacked by his opponents for delivering too much to his constituency” – and tactical voting against the nationalists will get him over the finishing line. His campaign team are desperately trying to convince Labour and Tory supporters who don’t want another independence referendum to lend Alexander their vote. “I remain confident that I can win this constituency,” he says.
Between the commentaries on Danny’s childhood and the CDs in his car there is some significant political comment on the Tories
His disgust with the Conservatives for claiming full credit on the economy is more evident than ever. As we wait at traffic lights in Inverness town centre, he says: “It sticks in the craw. It really pisses me off that the Tories try to claim credit for everything we’ve done in government. Tax cuts – none of that would be happening if it wasn’t for the Liberal Democrats in government.” And he doesn’t hold back about his fears over the Conservatives holding power on their own. “If we allow the Tories to govern by themselves, it frightens me actually,” he says. “Because I think it’s a wrecking approach. Beyond a certain point it becomes ideology.”
The problem for Alexander is convincing voters he is serious about his attacks on the Tories. He has been stepping up the angry rhetoric against them for months now, yet has worked closely with Osborne since the coalition was formed in 2010. Even while planning attacks on the chancellor, Alexander continues to work in an office just yards away from him in the Treasury. He insists he is determined not to let Osborne use the Budget on 18 March as a Tory manifesto pitch. It will not be an “all-singing, all-dancing pre-election Budget in the way you might get in a single-party government”, he says. “The Budget is a government document so every line, every decision I have to agree.”
and on the SNP
He believes “hardcore nationalists” will never be satisfied with planned new powers for Scotland. As we drive down a road stretching alongside Loch Ness, the wind whipping up the grey waters, he lays into the SNP and casts doubt on the Lib Dems ever sharing power with them. “We’ve always said that the party that’s got the strongest mandate should have the first chance to form a government – that’s a UK-wide mandate,” he says. “What I would say about the SNP is they’ve shown no interest whatsoever in the stability of the United Kingdom. I think the idea that they would in any way be serious about ensuring the right sort of government for the whole of the UK goes against everything that they’ve demonstrated in their history.”
This is a piece of serious political journalism that I confess I didn’t expect from Buzzfeed. And just look at the magnificent views. If I didn’t have an election on here, I would be going there to help.
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51 Comments
I couldn’t agree more. I have voted Tory all my life but never again. I joined the Liberal Democrats this month.
The old Tory party is gone. It’s now the Bullingdon Club party for Cameron, Osborne, etc, or the very nasty, vicious party for Duncan-Smith, Grayling, etc
Even more disastrous would be a Labour government. Realistically what we must fight for is another Conservative Liberal coalition. This time let’s have a much more robustly argued coalition agreement to include radical reform of housing, defence and drugs policies.
A welcome and balanced report – have to hand it to Buzzfeed, they are doing some great reporting.
@Peter Reynolds
Welcome to the party. You are right about the current Tories. As you’ll find, there are many who agree with what you say and many who don’t, but we are a party of debate and the better for it.
ATF
Welcome Peter Reynolds!
Peter Reynolds, thank you for your comment.. It is always good to see politics through the eyes of a new member.
Just to be clear, are you saying you want another coalition so that the UK can go back to the good old days of the Conservative Governments you have voted for all your life?
Do you object to the present Conservatives because they are not as Liberal and Democratic as the party of Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit ? Are you yearning for the good old days of Section 28 and charges by mounted police on the residents of pit villages?
Are you objecting to the viciousness of Iain Duncan Smith in 2015 because the Tory Party today is so much nastier than when it had a leader called Iain Duncan Smith?
Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander, David Laws etc could have spared us from much of our collapse in the polls and the loss of members, councillors, MEP’s etc had they spoken up clearly about the differences between genuine Liberal Democrat values and policies and the reality of life in coalition with the Conservatives from day one.
Instead they allowed/supported us being seen as something approaching Tory-lite.
With the Rose Garden and the back-slapping still in the minds of the electorate, the leadership’s new found desire to point out the genuine differences between the two parties and their policies now comes across as little more than pre-election positioning.
Very sad but too little, too late.
Would this be the same Danny Alexander who, in the first few years of the coalition, was the voice of George Osborne……He should be reminded that he was only too eager to use the terms WE and US when announcing government cuts to those on benefits…
I remember especially Danny being asked, on the PM programme, to comment on reports that the recent budget would lead to a rise in child poverty; the first sentence of his answer “We were faced with difficult choices”…
@Peter – welcome to the Party.
Don’t worry – people like John Tilley are very much in the minority !
I don’t think ‘we’ have the power to ‘allow’ or ‘permit’ the Tories to govern by themselves or not; our leadership may (if the voters exercise THEIR power in certain ways) have to choose whether or not to ask the MPs and the membership for THEIR permission to enter an unequal partnership again with the Conservatives. That’s not the same thing. It’s not power.
And, given that the leadership of the Conservative party may wish to again try to take the country in a further rightward direction, neither may it be the same thing as ‘anchoring the country in the centre ground’. It might be slowing down the speed with which the country moves out of the centre ground in a rightward direction, but…
Nghhghghghghgh. Oh, the angst of seeing your party flirt recklessly with a variety of potentially abusive partners and constantly being asked to consider to rank outcomes by ‘least worst option’.
Hello Peter. Welcome. I share your desire for housing reform, but not sure what you mean by ‘radical’ (I hope you don’t mean giving the keys to the family silver to developers) – I hope you’d like to include some measure of devolution of power to regional or local bodies in there… As you will doubtless discover, attitudes to the Conservative party and it’s history are, um, diverse, as are attitudes to Labour and its history.
I joined this party last year as in part – as a longterm LibDem voter – I was p*ssed off with some aspects of Coalition and wished to argue for a move away from permanently being coupled to the Conservatives.
It takes all sorts – We happy few, we band of (bickering) brothers-and-or-sisters.
(is ‘neither may it be’ gramattically acceptable?)
If the leadership of the Liberal Democrats truly want to distance themselves from the Tories, they could start by leaving the coalition. It’s not as if they can do anything significant within it in less than three months, and there is no question of “triggering early elections.”
RE The SNP.Hope Danny will be reminding voters that had the vote for independence gone through Scotland would be looking at a grim future due to a huge drop in revenue from oil.What answer have the SNP to that?
Is it just me or is ‘vote for us to make the Tories less nasty’ a somewhat uninspiring message?
@Simon McGrath: “Don’t worry – people like John Tilley are very much in the minority !”
What Mr. McGrath seems to be saying here is that John Tilley’s posts should be ignored and are worthless since he is in what Mr. McGrath perceives to be a “minority”. Because the majority is always, always right. Not a very Liberal stance to take, IMHO. I see John Tilley as a classic “Preamble Liberal”, as he always seems to be fighting for the values set out in this party’s constitution and values which this party used to stand for. Sadly, now that the Lib Dems have transformed into “nice Tories”, I feel your constitution should be re-written to reflect this. Who needs all that left-wing gubbins about freeing people from the “slavery of poverty and conformity” anyway?
Beware the tyranny of the majority, I say..
@Nick Barlow
Sometimes real politics is uninspiring.
But necessary.
@Stephen – i was really not talking about John’s general ideological position, more that his idea of welcoming someone to the party is to abuse them!
Wish some of the regular posters would state their position for their constituency. In a Lab/Lib marginal is it better to demonise Nick or to say what the party did produced some results and moderated some Tory policies which was the best a 1:5 ratio could do. In a Con/Lib marginal where I live it is easy to say the council is doing well and ignore the Nick affect. But I saw students voting in 2010, we need to remind them Labour introduced fees and started the review that recommended unlimited fees. Again the 1:5 ratio limited the best we could do, a graduate tax in all but name.
Peter Reynolds, welcome to the Party! I left the Conservatives when Iain Duncan Smith became leader, so I have more than a decade’s head start, but I’m sure you can catch up easily as I’ve not done much.
I wholeheartedly agree with Danny Alexander on the dangers of a Conservative Majority Government: that is why I decided to actively help out this election- to stop the Tories. From worst to best of possible election outcomes I see it as Worst: Tory majority government. 2nd Worst Tory Minority but able to form Majority with UKIP/DUP/Both. 3rd Worst Labour/SNP coalition (or con and sup). Medium: Labour Majority government. 2nd Best Lab-LD coalition (or con and sup): Best Con-LD coalition (or con and sup). I’m far more interested in preventing the Worst than achieving the Best though.
@JohnTilley “Do you object to the present Conservatives because they are not as Liberal and Democratic as the party of Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit ?”
On the key issues I care about, (Europe and Immigration) Yes, that is my objection. Although my memories are rather the conservative party of John Major and Ken Clarke (I was not even a teenager when Thatcher fell).
Stephen Campbell 24th Feb ’15 – 6:04pm
“John Tilley as a classic “Preamble Liberal”, as he always seems to be fighting for the values set out in this party’s constitution and values which this party used to stand for.”
Stephen, John is indeed a classic “Preamble Liberal” as you state. I do however take a completely different line to you regarding the major philosophical difference between the present leaderships ideas of ‘equidistance’ and ‘anchored firmly in the centre ground’ and the inspiring ideals of our Preamble to which we all sign up. I would contend that we will not need to rewrite the constitution because these are the ideals to which we will return after the general election.
Comments in thread after thread shows our party to remain one predominantly populated and supported by Liberal Democrats of the social and economic justice variety. This represents the only politically viable path for our party.
What nasty, personal comments about John Tilley who I count as a friend. Stephen Campbell is right, but then the author of the offensive comments has a long track record of not being very Liberal and espousing views of a tiny minority.
Roger Heape
The SNP blame Westminster for not making the correct forecasts for the world price of oil.
Is anyone going to address the article itself or is this now simply a demonstration of party disunity. I haven’t worked out yet which faction is the minority one yet but I don’t think this site and its participants are representative of the party at large.
It worries me that either Tories or Labour are able to govern alone. It worries me if the next Government is Tory-UKIP-DUP because we don’t deal. Labour-Green-SNP would be a disaster too. The only result that doesn’t fill me with dread is one where this party is the moderating influence and that’s why I rejoined. This site often makes me wonder whether I did the right thing though.
Simon McGrath,
Let’s get away from the ad hominem stuff, shall we? Do you agree with Peter Reynolds that “Realistically what we must fight for is another Conservative Liberal coalition.”?
David Allen
I think the case for entering a coalition was a good one in the light of the financial crisis of which the people in Britain are not aware of its full magnitude. The coalition negotiations were far too short and there are many leesons to be learned.
The two party system has eroded so the people of Britain have to get used to the idea of coalitions whether they like it or not. The two party system has played its part in the industrial decline of Britain.
Never is there a greater need for Liberalism to bring forward an economically advanced Britain and a social just one.
Manfarang 25th Feb ’15 – 5:17am
I agree with much of what you say but the period of Nick Clegg’s leadership, and hence our time in this coalition, has coincided with a period in which those on the economic right of our party have sought to “reclaim Liberalism” from the majority of members who are happy with the Liberal Democratic view that ‘the market’ is not the best mechanism for spreading wealth and power. Concurrently with this we have had our leader attempting to turn us into an equidistant centre party.
I would suggest that should anyone here be looking for the driving forces of “party disunity” they should look no further than this along with, in Coalition, us appearing far too close to the Tories far too often.
As a result, what should have been the perfect opportunity for our party to clearly demonstrate the benefits of both coalition government and Preamble Liberal Democracy, has been significantly wasted. Not only that but they also show no acceptance of the fact that the strategy has failed and, in the process, wreaked much that the party and individual members have spent decades building.
And some here still wonder why we are unwilling to consider another (this time party-destroying) coalition until we have returned to being THE PARTY of personal, social and economic justice as set out in our Preamble.
Go for it Danny. You have one of the toughest jobs in the jobs, still delivering for the country, having to work closely with George Osbourne, and confronting a real electoral challenge. If only I could transfer my vote to your constituency!
Simon McGrath
If you look back I did not abuse anyone I asked some questions of Peter Reynolds.
Peter Reynolds, said in his comment that he had voted Tory all his life, which would suggest that he is NOT the Peter Reynolds whose website says —
” In February 2011 he was elected leader of Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), a UK political party.”
https://peterreynolds.wordpress.com/biography/
Perhaps you might like to answer the questions (as requested by David Allen) or perhaps you could even explain if he is the same Peter Reynolds?
From the photograph used he does look very similar, perhaps you could confirm?
@gareth @david
Odd that you think it appropriate to welcome a new supporter by abusing then as Tilley has done.
@John Tilley, I am the same Peter Reynolds. CLEAR has recently changed its constitution and is no longer a political party. This is, in large part, is due to the fact that in the LibDems we now have a major party which has adopted policies virtually identical to ours. We are now a lobby group and are working with the LibDems at senior level, particularly on the issue of medicinal cannabis. We bring more than 320,000 followers with us.
Realistically, the LibDems are not going to win a majority. I want to see the Tory party severely hobbled but we need the basic competence it offers on the economy, rather than the ‘Where’s Wally’ types in Labour.
I am a liberal and I am a democrat. I always have been. I know there are people in the LibDems who are far too close to socialist for my liking but politics is about pragmatism , isn’t it? That’s why I’m here.
I also admire Nick Clegg. I think his strength in the face of opposition (and backstabbers) is extraordinary. I was appalled at the tuition fees fiasco at first but now I understand the reality of coalition politics – and the present tuition fees system seems perfectly fair and reasonable to me.
Peter Reynolds 25th Feb ’15 – 8:39am
I hope you can understand why anyone might be confused when you post a comment saying that you have voted Tory all your life whilst your website still says that you are the leader of another political party. Indeed the CLEAR website says that you were re-elected as leader 12 months ago.
You presumeably were not voting Tory (nor Liberal Democrat) when you stood as a candidate in the recent parliamentary byelection in Corby when you were the candidate for your own political party?
As for your assertion that there are people in the Liberal Democrats who are “far too close to socialist” — I would be interested to know who you think they are and exactly what you know about them after your three weeks as a party member. I have only been a member of the party for 45 years and I have yet to come across any member who is “far too socialist”.
Your website contains a page devoted to saying how wonderful you think Tony Blair is.
This is unusual even for the most “pragmatic” of people who claim to have always been a liberal and a democrat, whilst also claiming that they had always voted Tory, whilst also claiming to be the leader of another political party, which you now tell us is not a political party any more (even though you have not updated all your websites to make this clear).
It interesting to know the sort of new member that Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander are attracting to this party.
You are clearly amongst their target audience.
Simon McGrath is obviously delighted to have a new friend in the party, you and he obviously have a great deal in common.
Well I could say I don’t like your tone John but I can’t be bothered. I am utterly bored by such online bickering and I won’t be joining in your game.
I hope to have some interesting, polite and productive discussions here. Your sort of poking and provoking is not what I’m here for. Have you nothing better to do?
Oh Dear !! I thought it was the marxists who went in for this “Are you the Judean People’s Front?” “Judean People’s Front!!! Oh no – we are the People’s Front of Judea” stuff. Surely we should be rejoicing that someone has rejected conservatism and opted for the Liberal Democrats because we have a policy on the law relating to cannabis that is based on evidence rather than prejudice.
John Tilley’s comment cracked me up. I was waiting for the doom mongers to come on and say how Peter Reynolds, a new “soft tory” member, now somehow represents the whole party, but Tilley does the tory bashing in a funny way.
I didn’t think there was anything wrong with Simon McGrath’s comment in response either.
I’m glad you’ve started contributing Peter. Subconsciously I still lean slightly closer to the Tories than Labour, but the only time I had a second preference vote I put it down for Labour. I don’t like to vote for people unless I could look the public in the eye and tell them what I did at the ballot box. 😀
Good interview by Buzzfeed. The collapse of the Lib Dem vote since entering coalition is worrying and for someone who fancies himself as a bit of a strategist my thinking when it comes to coalition has been befuddled.
Peter, welcome to the party.
But if you believe that the Tory party offers basic competence on the economy, or indeed that Labour offers anything much different, you should widen your reading on economics – see (e.g.) the recent article The Austerity Con by Simon Wren-Lewis.
Both Tories and Labour – and alas our current Lib Dem leadership – are stuck in the neo-classical economics that has done reasonably well for the rich over the past 30 years but badly for the rest of us. On the economic front, it’s the SNP I’d like to see having more influence: Sturgeon’s suggested mild Keynesian (?) stimulus would be a step in the right direction. [And not very different from what we campaigned for in 2010.]
Eddie Sammon
Thanks Eddie.
Actually, Mark Pack does it much better than me —
http://www.markpack.org.uk/129414/david-tredinnick-health-select-committee/
Nick Barlow: Is it just me or is ‘vote for us to make the Tories less nasty’ a somewhat uninspiring message?
YESSSSSS.
It is also in effect saying, vote for us and we’ll slow down the process by which the Tories implement their plans, but we cannot stop them forever, as they are our preferred partner and they remain electorally stronger.
… that is, Nick Barlow, if we are genuinely saying that our primary goal in entering coalitions is to soften the Tory governing agenda, and tightening the Labour governing agenda is a secondary priority. Are our leadership saying that? Are they nodding at it? I’m never sure…
@ Peter Reynolds: this is a site for vigorous debate or discussion. I don’t know about John Tilley but I find your attitude and tone deeply offensive.
……… however, as a Liberal, I defend your right to be as offensive as you want to be.
Stephen Hesketh
Whoever was in power in the last five years would have had to make cuts. An IMF bailout would be far more severe.
Sweden had its banking crisis in the early 1990s which took the shine off the Swedish model.
I have witnessed the growth of wealth in SE Asia (also the financial crisis of 1997 which took some years to recover from) Of course there is still inequality there.
There is still the need for better banking reform in the UK. The Banks in Thailand underwent complete reform.
I have always been interested in the ideas of co-ownership, giving poeple a stake in the company they work for.
The John Lewis Partnership is the kind of wealth creation and wealth sharing organisation that appeals to me.
This is beginning to sound like someone joining the Cannabis Law Reform Party but then saying they prefer the Tories views on cannabis law reform.
Manfarang25th Feb ’15 – 11:10am
I totally agree – real life and real politics are about achieving the best outcomes through honest and transparent cooperation and compromise – as opposed to opaque, dishonest and undemocratic attempts at repositioning our party.
Peter Reynolds – welcome and I hope you find both a political home in the Lib Dems, and a vibrant local party to get involved with – both matter.
I suspect we share a similar outlook on what to fight for in any further coalition and whether we should listen to our government fatigue or be too scared of what the others would do without us. But as you have seen that is a live debate!
But for now – simply welcome.
Vote LibDem get Tory? Why would I do that? It has become increasingly clear that LibDems have no intention of anything else judging the Labour bashing recently. Danny Alexander has excitedly agreed with everything the Tories have done and been their frontman. Is he irrelevant now anyway as it is unlikely he will keep his seat?
I asked Simon McGrath: “Do you agree with Peter Reynolds that “Realistically what we must fight for is another Conservative Liberal coalition.”?
Manfarang, you took it upon yourself to answer, writing over 100 words in favour of coalitions in general, but otherwise avoiding the question. So Manfarang’s answer is presumably a covert sort of a “Yes”.
Why so covert, I wonder? Is Manfarang is too ashamed of advocating alliance with the Tories to want to admit it openly? Or does Manfarang think the Lib Dems would lose votes if they openly admitted to being in alliance with the Tories?
Meanwhile, Simon McGrath responds by dodging my question altogether, by means of another misdirected one-line ad hominem. So I guess that’s one more “Lib Dem” who is ashamed of the alliance with the Tories.
David
I recently asked this question
‘If there is a coalition which of the two parties would you prefer’
I asked this after Clegg good he wanted a coalition post the election
I don’t want to hear about most votes or biggest party – I want this to be about a synergy of values!
Absolutely for me it is Labour
I received one reply – Tory!
Why are people so reticent to say?
Stuart Moran, If your question was ‘If there is a workable two-party coalition which of the two parties would you prefer?’ I would say Labour. But can Labour build a workable consensus with our party and is a two-party coalition going to be viable? I have my doubts…
On the whole and in an ideal world, I would prefer us to be the senior party in government (don’t laugh) or to be in opposition.
How many of Mr Alexander’s constituents pay £9k for tuition fees that he voted to treble for English students? And he wants to be re-elected?
Just asking.
‘If there is a coalition which of the two parties would you prefer’
I would rather be a left wing moderating influence than a right wing moderating influence. I think that works best for the party. So all else equal I would prefer coalition with the Tories.
Well done John Tilley by the way, great research. And a challenge is appropriate where someone is not merely a former Tory voter but a former candidate for another party entirely, discrediting their first sentence. I did think originally that you were being discourteous but I was wrong.
Simon McG – ad hominem? Whodathunkit?
If anyone wants to read some real Labour bashing, can I suggest 2 Labour sites – Labour Uncut with “Labours campaign is a mess. So much wrong, so little right.” & Labour List with “Is Andy Burnham at loggerheads with Local Labour Leaders ?”. Labour are routinely much ruder about Labour than we are.
“How many of Mr Alexander’s constituents pay £9k for tuition fees that he voted to treble for English students? And he wants to be re-elected?”
How many of Mr Alexander’s constituents will vote for him in two month’s time?
You can get 7/1 on him winning his seat at Corals if anyone is interested, although this might give pause for thought…
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Inverness-Nairn-Badenoch-Strathspey-Jan-15-Full-tables.pdf