It’s not often we feature a single tweet but this classic blast of high octane Paddy deserves its own post!:
We see clearly now who the ERG playgroup really are. Bad judgement, poor timing, over-grown egos, fantasy politics, prep-school tactics – they are less a political movement – more a Beano comic strip about Lord Snooty's little rag-tag gang throwing ink-balls at the headmistress.
— Paddy Ashdown (@paddyashdown) November 22, 2018
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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6 Comments
Well said Paddy could not agree more with those comments, hope you are feeling better.
As a Beano reader in the 50s I can match some of them up to the actual characters in my mind although I can’t remember all the names now.
I have a suggestion for Theresa May, which is about a Japanese Prime Minister in the conservative LDP.
Wikipedia states that: “On August 8, 2005, Koizumi, as promised, dissolved the House of Representatives and called for snap elections. He expelled rebel LDP members … .”
I recall reading in a quality magazine (probably Time or The Economist) how this was done. Some electable candidates were chosen to stand as independent conservatives against some of the oddballs that the LDP contained. There was then an early general election for the lower house of parliament. Where the independent conservatives were elected they joined the LDP.
In the UK PM John Major was not so tough against those he called “bastards” (a microphone had been left on.) John Redwood MP has since explained that he is not literally a “bastard” because of the date of his parents’ wedding and the date of his birth. Some others are now peers. The Conservative party whip was withdrawn from eight MPs, who were joined by a ninth. Richard Body described himself as a Gladstonian Liberal and used to attend meetings of the Gladstone Club at the NLC. He has since died.
He refused to discuss the 1983 boundary changes. John Major provided a unique accolade “Every time I hear the name Body I hear the sound of white coats flapping”
http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/oral-history/member/body-richard-1927. John Major remained Prime Minister while resigning as Conservative Party leader, winning re-election and restoring the whip to the nine rebels. He called a vote of confidence, threatening a general election if defeated and won by 39 votes.
ISBN 0 00 653074 5.
Much as we love Paddy’s ideas and much as we dislike Jacob’s, I fear that this silly name-calling gets us nowhere. Lib Dems need to focus on the task in hand, to eliminate the possibility of a No Deal and get a vote (better in Parliament than in the country as a whole IMHO) between the PM/EU Deal and Remain. Can we please change our holier-than-thou smug culture and deal with the issues?
Paddy so true. Rees-Mogg thought he was about to trigger the leadership election and we saw the true extent of his influence ….. only a rag tag bunch no more. He truly is a legend in his own mind
Michael Gove is Plug.