At last, there was a Liberal Democrat on a political programme panel on the BBC last night. It was such a welcome relief after the recent rightwash on all of these programmes. Sal Brinton did us all proud.
I lost count of the times she was cheered rapturously by the audience. This was not just polite applause, but real, vocal agreement as she gave great, clear answers on all the questions. The best, I thought, was on the daft idea of private schools wanting money to offer bursaries. Excellent comprehensive education is the answer, she said loud cheers. She said that all the evidence suggested that the most disadvantaged families wouldn’t apply for these sorts of schemes because they thought it wasn’t for them. The bit I found most moving was when she talked about her friends being separated at the age of 11, something which “really mattered to them.”
This took place in Norfolk, a place that voted Leave in massive numbers, yet the most popular person on the panel was the Remain supporter who offered a say on the final Brexit deal.
Our position on this and other issues that matter is liberal and empowering and we should not waver from it.
Tory schools minister Nick Gibb was all over the place and Labour’s Corbyn supporting Clive Lewis showed exactly why Labour is in such a mess that it is beaten into fourth place in a by-election.
You can listen to the whole thing here.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
3 Comments
Sal is such a good and persuasive speaker and communicates complicated ideas very well, and always with reason. She manages to cut through much of the party-political nonsense, and get to the point that appeals to a wider audience.
I thought Clive Lewis wasn’t too bad, and we should welcome his points in relation to the lack of clarity on Brexit. However, his attempts to defend Corbyn were embarrassing, but I won’t blame him for trying.
The business woman was a bit all over the place, but she is someone who voted Leave and appears supportive of the Tories in many issues, but who has publicly admitted she doesn’t like their assumption that Leave voters wanted immigration to be substantially reduced. Whatever does happen with Brexit, it is important that those voices are heard, and not just swept under the carpet.
Sal is excellent as President and an asset . Clive Lewis has evolved from a way back when he seemed more left no matter what and a bit angry at times or by reputation, to more reflective and constructive. There is a cross party meeting with him and Sir Vince on you tube in which Clive seems to be someone very sensible .
I guess no one listened to Any Answers where a rather different view of comprehensive schools than that presented by the establishment many of whom would rather eat grass than send their own children to one. The views of the contributors confirmed what I have heard so many times from those who had no alternative but to attend one such as bullying for anyone who tried to make any effort to study.