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Soft Shoe Re-Shuffle: Will Ming Cross Dance Floor?
Not surprisingly the Lib Dems are denying that any Lib Dem will serve in a Brown cabinet. Although the Guardian ran this old story again today and Iain Dale followed it is in fact not at all new.
The Spectator and LOL had the story three weeks ago and it was hardly new then. LOL also suggested that the cracks were widening between lefty W Menzies Campbell and tory Nick Clegg.
Such is the resistance from "Brutus" and the Orange Bookies that Ming now needs to change parties to have the ministerial career he could have had. How many Social Democrats will Sir Ming bring with him?
7 comments:
Shows how little you know of the Lib Dems...
Ming was a Liberal and many of the Orange Bookers were SDP.
It doesn't show anything of the sort oh brave anonymous correspondent. Ming was I think Labour at heart before he was ever a Liberal.
His fellow travellers now within the party are surely the "left" of the Lib Dems whether these map onto the former SDP chancers or the other chancers, they're almost all chancers.
Social Democrats is a rather generic term. I did not mention the SDP.
"Ming was I think Labour at heart before he was ever a Liberal."
Have you any evidence for that rather ludicrous assertion?
Ming joined the Liberal Club at University (when he would have been 19-21ish), fought elections as a Liberal in 1974 and chose to fight East Fife in 1976 when we were in 4th place and not exactly in great national shape!
If he wanted a career in the Labour party he certainly had the contacts in the Scottish Labour legal establishment to have had one.
Oh Hywel. Just look at his wiki which finds his being contemporary and in discourse with the likes of Derry Irvine, Donald Dewar and John Smith at Glasgow Uni. Recording that Smithy tried to recruit him.
I have seen elaboration on this elsewhere suggesting his was a Labour household and that the overtures were considered. I suggest you google this yourself and report back.
Personally I wish he'd made the other choice. Although he is himself a principled fella with some managerial skills if not charisma he finds himself heading up a "political" party that is at local level at least apolitical. What a waste of time.
That surely undermines your theory though.
Labour tried to recruit him - but he wasn't tempted. Hard to see how that supports the statement that he was Labour before he was Liberal.
If attempts to recruit when at University are evidence then I had past leanings towards the SWP :-)
Of course that's if you take an unsourced Wikipedia statement as authoritative.
I'm even more sceptical when people back up their claims by saying - the evidence is out there, why don't you find it!
The Orange Bookers are basically tories, and represent the soul if not the majority of the Lib Dem front bench. The Lib Dem grassroots (those who are not naively apolitical) tend to be of the left-Liberal variety. There is certainly the potential for the Lib Dems to split and implode, especially if they lose seats to the tories (and maybe a few to us) in the next General Election. Aaaaah.
No-one who accepts a knighthood should be allowed in a Labour govenrment.
It is worse than a peerage because it is just about vanity.
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