Tuesday, May 11, 2010
POLITICS OF THE PORK BARREL
There he stood, announcing his intention to leave office if the Liberal Democrats could only bring themselves to join the Le Grande (left-wing) Alliance with Labour and a few nationalists who will expect the English tax payer to cough up to seal the deal - the Welsh Nationalist have already said they expect an extra £300 million for the principality. How much Scottish Nationalists will demand remains to be seen.
It was an outrageous display by Gordon Brown that, had the roles been reversed and it had been David Cameron standing there saying what our disreputable 'leader' had said; I cannot imagine our Guardianistas being so sanguine as they now expect those 10 million voters who voted for the Conservatives to be.
If Glegg jumps into bed with this lot, I believe his party will pay a heavy price. He said he wanted stable government working for the national interest. He will get this if he comes to some kind of agreement with David Cameron - playing the PR card is not part of the national interest, even if Polly Toynbee thinks it is.
What the last five days have shown is exactly what can be expected from the Lib Dem's system of PR. It is as if we have seen a vision of the future, and if what we have seen is pleasing to the eye, then I would prefer politicians shouting at each other across the floor of the house - at least we know what they are saying.
Under PR, party manifestos will become as phony as a six pound note. What will happen, through the type of 'negotiations' we are currently witnessing, is that promises made to the electorate will be torn up as the politicians hide themselves away and decide on our behalf how we should be governed and what they believe (through their nefarious dealings) is best for us in terms of the laws we will have to obey.
It will be government by cabal; nothing will be out in the open for us, the voters, to form an opinion about. It will be the great and the good standing over us like later day Bourbons, deciding on our behalf what policies from what manifestos they deem are in our interests.
At least with the first past the post system the manifestos kept their integrity, even if, in some cases, the politicians lost theirs when they tried to ignore manifesto pledges once in government.
Nick Clegg should either join with the Tories or let David Cameron form a minority government, and, if he is the honest politician he says he is, then vote against the Queens Speech and have another election, which will happen anyway. This would be a far more honourable road to take, than joining a bunch of electorally discredited politicians in order to maneuver you party into an alliance with a David Milliband led Labour Party.
What the past five days should have taught us, is that a hung parliament has been like living in the twilight zone, and this is exactly what we have to look forward to with Clegg's PR. Those 'progressives' who are pleading for their right to govern to be written in PR stone, are now trying to convince us that the electorate voted consciously for a hung parliament, so that such an alliance could come about.
We should know sometime today what the king maker has decided; we all sit in awe of his powers, waiting for him to pronounce his decision - God help us all.
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