Tag Archives: matt dahan

Caron Lindsay

On Farron’s lurch to the left…

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 22nd July 2015 - 4:28 pm

If you read some commentators, you’d think that in less than a week of leadership, Tim Farron had virtually turned us all into revolutionary socialists.

Matt Dahan wrote a story for the Independent which suggested that Nick Clegg would be “shaking his head” in “uncomfortable dismay” at Tim Farron’s bid to “form a Lib/Lab pact” to oppose welfare cuts.

The former deputy prime minister has been left sitting on the backbenches in the House of Commons, where he is forced to choose between toeing the party line or causing what would be a major rebellion in a party of just eight MPs.

It seems Mr Farron is leading the Lib Dems further to the left than Labour, even sending a letter to interim Labour leader Harriet Harman telling her to form a Lib-Lab alliance to fight the Government’s spending cuts.

Except Tim’s stance on the Welfare Reform and Work Bill is entirely consistent with the stance Nick Clegg took in Government. He stopped all this nonsense about taking Housing Benefit off young people and limiting tax credits to two children and further reducing the benefits cap. If Tim had supported them, it would have been a massive story.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 66 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Matt (Bristol)
    Oops, Richard Cripps not Roger Billins....
  • Matt (Bristol)
    Oh, and Roger Billins, I no longer see the party as a party of consensus, certainly not democratically derived negotiated consensus. Maybe the party of a consen...
  • Matt (Bristol)
    I don't think the Lib Dem problem is a lack of zippy slogans. I think, if anything, its a prioritisation of zippy slogans. Neither Badenoch or Burnham seem to h...
  • Graham Jeffs
    The point made by Roger Billins is extremely worrying. I, too, am part of this brigade. The reality is that the party leaders don't seem to have any concern ...
  • Big Tall Tim
    Mick Taylor has it spot on....