According to the Gloucestershire Echo, Oliver Cooper was the deputy chair of the Cotswold Conservative Association, chair of the Cotswold branch of Conservative Future and a council candidate. He has given up all those rôles to join the Liberal Democrats and is backing our candidate Paul Hodgkinson (pictured) for the Cotswold seat. Oliver said:
It didn’t take long after the 2010 election for the intellectuals of the centre right such as Steve Hilton, Philip Blonde and Jesse Norman to be dropped from the centre stage and be replaced by the ruthless Lynton Crosby.
Since then the Tories have ditched any attempt to live up to the tag lines of the Big Society, ‘Vote Blue, Go Green’ and Compassionate Conservatism; they have replaced them with a suite of policies that pits the ‘shirker’ against the ‘striver’, proposes to isolate Britain from our closest neighbours and pursues economic growth without any regard for ballooning disparity between the wealth of the richest and the poorest in our country.
Paul Hodgkinson welcomes him warmly:
Oli has made a thoughtful decision – he is like a breath of fresh air. He has seen what we’re doing locally and like many others is backing us and wants to see change.
He is an incredible asset to the team and I hope his move will enable others who feel the same way to come and join us as we seek to make history in May.
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7 Comments
The wonder is that he didn’t see through the smokescreen of so-called compassionate Conservatism before. It didn’t convince anyone much outside the party. And now it’s been thoroughly trashed as Cameron has tried to stem the flood of votes to UKIP.
Since then the Tories have ditched any attempt to live up to the tag lines of the Big Society, ‘Vote Blue, Go Green’ and Compassionate Conservatism;
Anyone who believed they had any of this in 2010 is a fool. These were just empty lines uttered by them – there was nothing whatsoever in their policy that supported these lines. The shift of the Conservatives towards hard-right free-market economic policy long ago destroyed all the old paternalistic small-c conservatism that was once a streak in the Conservative Party. Thatcher denounced it all as “wet”, and underneath Cameron is part of the continuing shift to the hard right, a hardline Thatcherite, and so the destruction of the old conservative values. Just because he said he wasn’t doesn’t mean he wasn’t. He stands for not the teeniest weeniest bit of what would really turn back the destruction of decent small-c conservative values started by Thatcher.
This sounds good. There seems to be plenty of disillusioned Conservatives becoming attracted to the Lib Dems. We also need more Labour joiners. Public sector workers should be easy pickings for Lib Dems. A strong economy and a fair society is what they want too.
The low poll ratings for the Lib Dems will make the party less attractive, but the foundations of the party are still better than any of the other mainstream parties.
I have some natural sympathy with those who believe the Conservative Party is redeemable, although I gave up on this idea in 2002!
If Labour form a government we will get Labour joiners as the grandiose promise of opposition gives way to the realities of power. Another reason to lean towards a Labour victor in May!
I’m delighted that he has seen the light and is willing to say so publicly.
We need to hear from a lot more like him.
Has the media picked up on this defection from the conservatives or are they only interested in the one that go to UKIP
One swallow does not a summer make