The vindication of a former Lib Dem

By Graeme Smith / @graemesmith1978

I was the Lib Dem’s parliamentary candidate for Loughborough in 2005, but I left the party in 2006 for 3 reasons.

1 – During the election campaign, I found that I could not argue against the record of the Labour Party in terms of the improvements to the country since 1997.

2 – The manner in which the party dealt with Charles Kennedy’s alcohol problem left a bitter taste in my mouth (not very liberal I thought) and I was concerned about the direction that Nick Clegg might take the party (I was never a fan of the orange book brigade).

3 – My local MP was someone worth fighting for and someone for whom I wanted to campaign. So, I decided to join the Labour party early 2006, and I know this was the right decision.

Events of the last few weeks have vindicated my decision. The Liberal Democrat party I was part of would never have sold out in the manner that has happened. The way in which the Lib Dems seem to have changed their views on such key policy areas as immediate cuts in government spending mystifies me and raises questions about how “democratic” the party actually is – how much of a say do the members actually have on the upper echelons and the direction they go in. Their flip-flop approach to policies such as VAT and tuition fees is appalling and without principle. The orange bookers that lead the party seem to have been given carte-blanche to do what they like. If I hadn’t left the party in 2006, then I can safely say that without a shadow of a doubt I would have done so this month for this reason alone.

It seems, that the Lib Dems aren’t that different to the “other” parties. I remember Nick Clegg’s “Holier Than Thou” attitude during the final TV debate. I’m not defending or trying to big up Labour here, but to portray yourself as whiter than white when principle seems to matter so little to you is strange at best.

During the election, I had to deal with people telling me they were voting for the “new politics” of the Lib Dems. I’m angry with the Lib Dems because they were prepared to convince people this was true. However, what it really meant, was they were voting for a party prepared to sacrifice any scrap of Social Democratic principle to get a seat for their “liberal conservative” leader on the front bench. They were voting for a party that were prepared to portray themselves as the unscathed decent flag bearers of “new politics” whereas they have consistently demonstrated since the election they are prepared to say what they like to get elected and then sacrifice it all in favour of power.

I am proud to be a member of the Labour party and will be proud to campaign under the new leader for the only decent, progressive, mainstream party that has a realistic chance of winning the next election. This is the agenda we need to embrace as a party in order to win back seats like Loughborough where I live (a real swing seat won by Labour in 1997 and lost in 2010). We need to work on “liberal” agendas like civil liberties, equality of opportunity, redistribution of wealth and highlight the weaknesses of the coalition these areas. By doing this, we can reclaim the centre left, progressive ground from the chancers who have abandoned the voters who thought that’s what they were voting for in the first place.