Tony L
Administrator
Very likely if for no reason than helping them save their deposit. As I say it all depends on the LD’s manifesto.
Lib Dems - Tories in Disguise
- Thread starter Snufkin
- Start date
Very likely if for no reason than helping them save their deposit. As I say it all depends on the LD’s manifesto.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
LibDems are showing their true colours by voting for Jo "Tory" Swinson as their leader. She's barely got a single thing right so far, just keeps firmly on the path of enabling a tory hard brexit.
LibDems are tories and not even in disguise, they are positioned where Thatcher's lot were.
LibDems are tories and not even in disguise, they are positioned where Thatcher's lot were.
bernardhepworth
pfm Member
I think Swinson is about spot on with the positioning of the party considering where they are in the polls. Unless PM Cummings does a deal with the lovely Brexit party, there is no way the Tories are going to get a clear majority in the election and Swinson will be in pole position to make a deal and her deal is revoke Article 50..... That rules the Tories out straight away, Would Labour go for it? probably as Corbyn is desperate to have a go at being PM, would be any worse than Cameron, May and Johnson/Cummings, probably not.... That doesn't mean he will be any good, we probably will just have another crap PM who hasn't got a clue about how to lead the country.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
I think it's more likely her plan is to enter into a coalition with the tories on the compromise position of a 2nd referendum. She's doing a "Clegg", imo.
I don't see much possibility of the LibDems going into a coalition with Labour, they are simply too far apart on how to tackle the many issues that face the country.
droodzilla
pfm Member
Swinson has consistently ruled out a deal with Labour (at least under Corbyn). She has consistently refused to rule out a deal with the Conservatives. I think she will do the latter, insisting on a second referendum as the price of Lib-Dem support. Johnson will be fine with this as he's not an ideological Brexiter and it gets him out of a tight spot ("I tried my best but the Lib-Dems made me do it").
philiphifi
pfm Member
Boris/Corbyn/Swinson... LD seems to be the only moderate choice at the moment. For whatever reasons, UK politics have been getting more extreme in the last few years. Perhaps it is the inevitable consequences of global commerce.
sean99
pfm Member
Assuming no party wins a majority (which seems a safe assumption) the best outcome of an election would be a Labour / LibDem coalition. If this does not happen because of a personality clash between Swinson / Corbyn (neither of whom seem like decent PM material to me) then maybe Drood's prediction is the least bad outcome of the next election.
It puts an end to this ridiculous Brexit charade, even if it does not address the underlying causes. Perhaps during the next parliamentary term, with Brexit removed from the agenda (and Labour not being seen as having been involved in subverting the WillOfthePeople) Labour could rebuild itself for the following election. This would likely involve a new leader.
bernardhepworth
pfm Member
The BBC website has some quotes from Swinson saying that there is no chance that she would go into a coalition with either Labour or Tories. Assuming she gets anywhere between 35-50 seats then she has a choice of which way to jump. I think pragmatism will come to the fore, saying "lets have another go" would be political suicide for the LibDem's.
gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
Have we swung full circle where the outside view of the LDs has gone from idealist dreamers to craven pragmatists back to dreamers again? And you accuse them of being contradictory?
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
Nothing to stop them doing a DUP style deal providing enough people are foolish enough to vote for them.
I think it more likely they will enable a tory majority and a hard brexit.
richardg
Admonishtrator
If she said to Labour 'I will form a government with you if you get rid of Corbyn', guess what is going to happen.
glancaster
In the silicon vale
Seanm
pfm Member
The Lib Dems’ position on Brexit is becoming increasingly incoherent and unclear. So they’re lucky that Labour’s most talented communicators have defected to them.
https://twitter.com/victorialive/status/1173532230716514304?s=21
Angela Smith there, remembering not to say anything racist. A huge loss to the labour movement.
https://twitter.com/victorialive/status/1173532230716514304?s=21
Angela Smith there, remembering not to say anything racist. A huge loss to the labour movement.
The Far North
pfm Member
She's not contemplating less than 300 seats, apparently.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49717388
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
Oh well, maybe we'll find out soon but everything Swinson does just looks increasingly like it's driven solely by personal ambition.She's not contemplating less than 300 seats, apparently.
Tony L
Administrator
Please, whatever you do, keep hold of McCluskey, Milne etc!
They so easily could have done that this time had they wanted as they started out with more seats than the DUP even before the two main parties became so extreme their MPs started defecting en masse! I do find it rather amusing that the LDs can move further forward in seats without an election than either the Tories or Labour are predicted to do with one!
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
I don't think the added uncertainty and increased likelihood of a hard brexit is particulary amusing, whatever you and others may think.
gingermrkettle
Deep vein trombonist
We will revoke A50 is about as clear as it gets. Unless the saying now goes:
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Ambivalence is Clarity?
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
TBH Its a long time since I felt that the LDs were anything other than "Tories with lipstick" anyway. I only have to cast my mind back to Clegg slithering up to Camaroon rather than Brown which made it obvious. And as has been pointed out, if he hadn't done that, there wouldn't have *been* a Brexit referendum in the first place for the LDs to get purist petulant about now.
All they will do is split the vote, aiding the Tories. Then cobble together something that lets them hand round the biscuits again whilst pretending otherwise as the Tories slither on. Despight my preference for 'remain' I think the Labour policy of having a check-vote when there is a known deal makes far more sense - democratically as well as in giving us a chance to reject Brexit. And if a majority of *people* *do* want Brexit once it is clear what it means, fair enough, even though I don't want it. As it is, playing 'stop Brexit' simply looks like grandstanding so you can blame everyone else when/should you fail.
I say all this as someone whose MP was Ming Campbell, who I thought well of. But of course he and others got stabbed in the back by his nice colleages, didn't he!
All they will do is split the vote, aiding the Tories. Then cobble together something that lets them hand round the biscuits again whilst pretending otherwise as the Tories slither on. Despight my preference for 'remain' I think the Labour policy of having a check-vote when there is a known deal makes far more sense - democratically as well as in giving us a chance to reject Brexit. And if a majority of *people* *do* want Brexit once it is clear what it means, fair enough, even though I don't want it. As it is, playing 'stop Brexit' simply looks like grandstanding so you can blame everyone else when/should you fail.
I say all this as someone whose MP was Ming Campbell, who I thought well of. But of course he and others got stabbed in the back by his nice colleages, didn't he!