Simon Hughes: The Attention Seeking "Rebel"
Probably not news to anyone, but I really cannot stomach Simon Hughes. To me, he's a lisping, attention seeking failure of the very highest order. The fact that he has been a part of Lib Dem politics for so long and still not really managed to get anywhere is a striking testament to his complete lack of ability. Sure, he may be Deputy Leader now, but that is only because Vince Cable practically handed it to him on a plate. Besides, Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems... if being US Vice-President isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss, then being Lib Dem leader isn't worth a pitcher of warm cow's piss - and a cow with a certain disease that can be easily passed on to humans to boot.
Anyhoo, let's look at what the Straight Choice has been saying most recently*; he wants a veto for the Lib Dems on coalition policies:
"If the coalition wants to deliver [parliamentary] votes, neither party on its own has a majority, so we have to make sure everyone is brought into that.
"As a matter of practical politics... the parliamentary party on behalf of the wider party on big issues has to be able to say 'No, we can't go down this road'."
Ermm, I don't know how to put this without sounding patronising, Simon, but the Lib Dems do have a veto to use against coalition policy if they so wish - they simply don't vote for a policy. They are representatives, not lobby fodder.
And that's the same for all MPs from all parties. Don't like something your party is doing? Don't vote for it. You don't have to follow the party line, y'know. You can (whisper it) think for yourselves and act accordingly.
But then again Hughes doesn't want Lib Dems to think for themselves. He wants them to blindly follow his anti-Tory crusade for two reasons - firstly, because it will help him achieve his objective of a Lib-Lab coalition at some point in the future, but also - and, I suspect, more importantly, because it helps to make him centre of attention.
posted by The Nameless Libertarian @ 9:06 am
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Isn't the problem he's alluding to the payroll vote? Even if the LibDem back benchers don't like something so many LibDem MPs are on the Govt payroll, and therefore obliged to take the whip, that if the Tory backbench votes for it then it will pass.b
Yeah, that's the way it works in reality, and why politicians cease to be thinking representatives and instead become unthinking lobby fodder when they enter the House of Commons. My point is, though, it shouldn't be like that, and that Lib Dems (as well as MPs from other parties) should act more like Representatives and Senators in the US - in other words, be less focussed on party loyalty and more in what is in the best interests of their constituents.
Besides, I'm fairly sure that what Hughes is really doing is trying to undermine the coalition because he personally prefers Labour to the Tories, and hopes that if the Lib Dems do leave partnership with the Tories and head in the direction of Labour, then he'll get some of the glory for it. Basically, Simon Hughes is an attention seeking, stirring little shit.
TNL
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