OPINION: LABOUR’S LIB DEM PLEA SMACKS OF DESPERATION

By Adam Evans
In an election campaign which could play a pivotal role in the fates of Messrs Brown and Cameron it isn’t surprising that when the going gets tough New Labour gets panicking. After all it appears that the once popular Mayor of London, Red Ken, is going to face his stiffest test yet in the Mayoral election next month and London politics’ great survivor may find himself defeated against Boris Johnson a man known more for his clownish antics on TV shows than his real political agenda. With the London electorate firmly split between these two huge personalities it is little wonder that the third party is facing a characteristic squeeze in London opinion polls, but don’t underestimate the importance and quantity of London Lib Dem voters for in such situations they could be the powerbrokers and decide who will wear the chains of office come May 1st.

From reading the Guardian this week it appears that Labour hasn’t underestimated the significance of Lib Dems in this election as can be seen by an open letter from the General Secretary of the Fabian Society to Nick Clegg and his eight strong team of London MPs. This letter shows how nervous Labour insiders are at what could happen, they are on the run and know that Ken is losing ground to Boris. The significance of the Mayoral election is obvious to many, if Labour lose such a powerful position to the Conservatives, to a candidate they have denounced as a clown then Brown will be weakened and Cameron emboldened as these adversaries set out the battle lines for what could be the most fascinating General Election campaign in decades with much at stake for both leaders namely, their survival as leaders of their respective political parties. Labour will be worried that many Liberal Democrat voters in London are seriously considering giving their second preference to Boris and have calculated that such overtures are a risk worth taking, the Tories will have already been planning such moves themselves though probably in a much subtler way.

You may think from what I have written so far that I think that the next General election will be a squabble between the usual suspects, you would be wrong. There is much for the Lib Dems to gain as well from the May elections this year, they already run, either in a minority administration or as the leading partner in coalitions, four of the biggest councils in Wales providing services to one third of the Principalities population and they can take great heart in the fact that their main opponent in all four councils, Labour, suffered its worst electoral performance since 1918 in last years Assembly election. In England they run many councils that will be elected next month and success in holding those councils and taking target wards and councils from both Labour and the Tories will be essential to Nick Clegg’s leadership of the Party. There is much room for a third party at the moment in British politics, it appears that the electorate have grown tired of the same old Labour-Tory bickering and narrow partisan politics, they are tired of centralising Governments eroding liberties and they want politics to be reformed with sleaze cast aside for politicians delivering the services they want and need.

Britain is witnessing the slow but sure stagnation of a meddling, archaic and centralising Government and the time is right for radical ideas to capture the hearts and minds of the British public and make a new politics based on people not petty partisan interests. Lib Dems should reject Labour’s advances and condemn them as a disgusting act of hubris by a party that fails to realise that people can decide for themselves how to live and to vote and that the Labour Party doesn’t have a natural right to rule, safe in the knowledge that if they can seize the right message and agenda they can revive themselves and make the next General Election more than a straight two party fight.