No, not that one. Nick Thornsby has concluded that there is no progressive majority in Britain.
As a party we have spent years becoming diligent on local issues, helpful on personal problems and brilliant on targetting tactics but we have not changed minds. Like every other party we have abandoned ideology and when our leadership makes strategic errors, our fair-weather voters melt away leaving us with that small core which always agreed with us from the beginning.
Now is the time to learn from our mistakes. In the long run we cannot change and keep votes unless we first change minds. We have lost our reputation for being honest. We have lost our radicalism (if not our disgruntlement). Working hard will not be enough. Now we have to persuade people that we are also right.
2 comments:
I don`t know about `fair-weather voters` - the Lib Dems will get my vote again as and when I feel they`ve earned it.
Admittedly there is a never a Lib Dem candidate at council elections where I live in any case.
I agree with Nick Wotsit that Labour is not a progressive party but a left-leaning conservative party. That won`t worry voters in the Midlands and the North who only voted for them as a tactical anti-Coalition vote in any case.
If you want the Lib Dems to be a progressive party again, that`s something you`ll have to fight for, and I see you`ve already made a start.
Whether there is a progressive majority in the UK today is just a question for the over-educated and empty-headed. The truth is that progressive people are split between a number of parties and none. That`s why 38 Degrees, with no party affiliation, can be such an effective campaigning body on occasion.
If you were looking for a key issue to focus on to give your party back it`s progressive identity, I`d suggest a quick trip to Birkdale Focus and have a look at the articles About Time... (27 Apr) and When the Workers...(3 May).
Thanks, Hoonaloon. "Fair-weather" was not intended as a criticism of the voters, although I can see it sounds like that. My main point was to criticise the party for not promoting a set of beliefs rather than relying on hard work and clever tactics. You'll be pleased to know that Birkdale Focus and I have often discussed Industrial Democracy and would like to see the Liberal Democrats promote it again. I raised it at our Spring Conference in Sheffield.
Post a Comment