The Editor of which, David Clark, was one of those from the Compass-Fabian-Policy Network axis to join the two key figures in Liberal Left as signatories to the letter published in Wednesday's Guardian and resulting in very considerable controversy.
It opined that, "A Lib-Lab coalition
really could become the "greenest government ever". There would be no
more efforts to roll back rights and equalities legislation or divide
society by demonising people in poverty. Creating an elected second
chamber to replace the Lords would become a joint priority. Britain's
policy on Europe would be based on engagement and reform, not hostility
and the drift towards isolation. Turning that option into a realistic
possibility will require a conscious effort to build new relationships
and ideas. That is not something that can wait until after the next
election. Both parties must begin that task today."
In other words, Ecoloonery, Euroloonery, and an elected second chamber, which last is absolutely opposed in principle by the majority of Labour MPs on exactly the principle that has been stated over the decades by everyone from Michael Foot to Tony Blair, could only come to pass under a Lib-Lab Coalition Government. Or of course, under a Lib-Con Coalition Government, as at present. And perhaps, indeed probably, under a Conservative Government, plain and simple.
Those things could not happen if there were to be a Labour overall majority, since the Labour Party both in Parliament and in the county would never wear them. Arguably, they might have done at one time. But incontrovertibly, they would not now, never mind after 2015. Don't take my word for it. Ask Compass, the Fabian Society, the Policy Network and Shifting Grounds, as well as Liberal Left.
As for Liberal Left, there is already a Liberal Left party. It is called the Liberal Party. It is a bit Greeny, and it is in favour of an elected second chamber. But it is very highly critical of the EU, to the extent that it participated in the No2EU electoral formation at the time of the last European Elections. Have Linda Jack, Richard Grayson and the rest read its excoriating critique of the EU's illiberal anti-democracy? If not, why not? But if so, then how do they answer it?
And are they altogether convinced that their own party would be all that pro-EU in Government, which several of its serving or former Ministers and other high-profile figures are not terribly at all, if the Coalition were not founded on The Orange Book as the basis of a coup as much within both parties as in the country at large? Their own letter's call for "an active industrial policy to stimulate growth" is quite incompatible with Eurofederalism, as Vince Cable could tell them, having finally caught up with the Old Labour Right, for want of a better term, from which he seceded three decades ago.
Coalition with the Lib Dems, indeed! In the extremely unlikely event of a hung Parliament next time, Labour, undoubtedly the largest party, should seek to bring on board as many anti-Cameron Tories as possible. They are the ones most likely to have kept their seats. In the meantime, it should be seeking to win every seat where the only two viable options have hitherto been the two Coalition parties, or one of those parties and the SNP that by then will have lost the independence referendum. That should be among its key electoral priorities. There is no reason to rule out the possibility of no Lib Dem or SNP MPs whatever in 2015. Alas, there will be none from the Liberal Party, either.
In other words, Ecoloonery, Euroloonery, and an elected second chamber, which last is absolutely opposed in principle by the majority of Labour MPs on exactly the principle that has been stated over the decades by everyone from Michael Foot to Tony Blair, could only come to pass under a Lib-Lab Coalition Government. Or of course, under a Lib-Con Coalition Government, as at present. And perhaps, indeed probably, under a Conservative Government, plain and simple.
Those things could not happen if there were to be a Labour overall majority, since the Labour Party both in Parliament and in the county would never wear them. Arguably, they might have done at one time. But incontrovertibly, they would not now, never mind after 2015. Don't take my word for it. Ask Compass, the Fabian Society, the Policy Network and Shifting Grounds, as well as Liberal Left.
As for Liberal Left, there is already a Liberal Left party. It is called the Liberal Party. It is a bit Greeny, and it is in favour of an elected second chamber. But it is very highly critical of the EU, to the extent that it participated in the No2EU electoral formation at the time of the last European Elections. Have Linda Jack, Richard Grayson and the rest read its excoriating critique of the EU's illiberal anti-democracy? If not, why not? But if so, then how do they answer it?
And are they altogether convinced that their own party would be all that pro-EU in Government, which several of its serving or former Ministers and other high-profile figures are not terribly at all, if the Coalition were not founded on The Orange Book as the basis of a coup as much within both parties as in the country at large? Their own letter's call for "an active industrial policy to stimulate growth" is quite incompatible with Eurofederalism, as Vince Cable could tell them, having finally caught up with the Old Labour Right, for want of a better term, from which he seceded three decades ago.
Coalition with the Lib Dems, indeed! In the extremely unlikely event of a hung Parliament next time, Labour, undoubtedly the largest party, should seek to bring on board as many anti-Cameron Tories as possible. They are the ones most likely to have kept their seats. In the meantime, it should be seeking to win every seat where the only two viable options have hitherto been the two Coalition parties, or one of those parties and the SNP that by then will have lost the independence referendum. That should be among its key electoral priorities. There is no reason to rule out the possibility of no Lib Dem or SNP MPs whatever in 2015. Alas, there will be none from the Liberal Party, either.
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