Vince Cable was on the BBC News Channel’s Ask This last night talking about how the Lib Dems would have liked to have been part of a Remain Alliance but it didn’t work out. He said we were best placed to stop Farage’s Brexit Party from winning the election. Watch here:
It's time for Remainers to unite behind the biggest, strongest party of Remain.
A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to stop Brexit. pic.twitter.com/cBL8BKU0kN— Vince Cable (@vincecable) May 20, 2019



4 Comments
If this is the right message in a PR election, and it is, then it is the right message in a FPTP election.
There is a chance that the next general election is a fight, and I usually resist that vocabulary, between Us and Farage.
Those doubting what we are headed for in politics everywhere need to read a guardian article on the lessons Farage has learnt from The Five Star Movement.
Will post a link later.
Farage wants to replace representative democracy with something very dangerous : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/may/21/brexit-party-nigel-farage-italy-digital-populists-five-star-movement
Bill, the question is how do we counter such a movement ? Maybe a few very simple clear messages like the one we have for the EU elections, plus expansion of our registered supporters scheme and an attitude of anti-establishment (or at least aiming to completely change the establishment) including proportional representation. Among our clear contrasts with Farage would be localism, dealing with inequality and acceptance of diversity and internationalism. Farage wants to run a more centralised uniform state with a small ruling elite. This was confirmed for me when two people told me they left Ukip under his leadership not because they had changed their views on the EU, but because he was a dictator with no respect for localism or diversity among people.
The challenge is to draw out of Nigel Farage what he actually believes and how he intends to go about achieving it. He excels in a world of sound bites that mean whatever anyone wants them to. We need to revert to a world of clarity, transparency and accountability so politicians are held for what they say.