Yes I admit I may have used some poetic license in that title.
So Ed Miliband believes that the best way for the YestoAV campaign to win is if Nick Clegg does nothing, says nothing, believes nothing on the issue. The leader of the Labour party is apparently pro-AV and will be backing the Yes vote at the referendum but we’ve heard nothing from him or his party on that front until today. I haven’t heard anyone else from his party say anything on this front but if they have please point me towards it (they must have done but I’ve just missed it – it couldn’t just be Ed saying this whilst everyone else shyly looks down at their feet and starts talking about the weather, could it?)
So Ed Miliband says that the people of the country hate Nick Clegg and will automatically vote against whatever he wants at the referendum meaning that he should lead the campaign. Interesting hypothesis. However remember the people who wanted fairer votes were primarily those who followed the Lib Dems into the last election. So if they wanted fairer votes ten months ago then surely they still want them now? Or does Ed believe that everyone has now turned and after the tuition fees fo pah that all those that did want fairer votes are now perfectly happy with the old system? That doesn’t make sense unless those people now truly believe that Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems are the devil incarnate. Which you never know, they might.
The problem for Ed Miliband is he is a terrible speaker. He just is. David Miliband is good. Gordon Brown was not. Tony Blair was terrific. To lead a campaign you need a strong and charismatic voice and rightly or wrongly Nick Clegg still has that. He can hold an audience (if they give him a chance) and still attract the floating voters. Ed says he won’t share a floor with Nick Clegg believing that he’ll hurt the vote but it is more likely that Ed knows that Nick Clegg would overshadow him completely. If Ed was willing to work with Nick Clegg on this one then the YestoAV campaign would win quite convincingly. However due to Ed being scared of being outshone the vote is up in the air.
Unless Ed can bring the whole of Labour with him and very publicly state and campaign for a Yes vote then he has to let Nick Clegg front the campaign. The Lib Dems are the ones who pushed hard for this and they are the ones who need to win it. They aren’t hated all over the country despite what some people say and even now the polling is nip/tuck and changes from week to week. A good campaign for the Yes vote wins it and the best way is for both Labour and the Lib Dems to stand shoulder to shoulder on this issue. If they do then they win. If Labour don’t want to work with the Lib Dems and win it on their own then they face an uphill battle. The Lib Dems also face an uphill battle winning it on their own.
If Ed Miliband was truly Pro-AV then he would share the limelight and the stage with Nick Clegg. If he does this then they win. If he decides that he doesn’t want to do this then I question whether he is truly Pro-AV or is really Anti-whatever-the-Tories-want.
I hope you enjoyed this blog post. Please leave any comments or contact me directly via the E-Mail Me link on the Right Hand Nav. You can stay in touch with the blog following me on Twitter or by liking the blog on Facebook. Please share this content via the Social Media links below if you think anyone else would enjoy reading.
[…] it was only a few days ago that Ed Miliband said he wouldn’t share a stage with Nick Clegg on AV as Nick Clegg was too unpopul… yet the facts seem to state otherwise. Will Ed Miliband just brush this off as a statistical fluke […]
Selective? I’ve not been selective in the slightest, please detail where you think I have been.
Cat. Selective! Does you no favours!
“do you think people still recall Labour’s pledge not to introduce tuition fees? ”
Considering Labour never actually made such a pledge (Blair, Mandy & Co. were far to cunning for that) I doubt all but a few hardcore liberals imagine/remember it.
” And, don’t you think Labour’s big risk is that people do see that they really are lieing-lizards.”
Generally people are more rational than tribal party supporters like to think. They see Clegg, the bloke who was talking about keeping his promises and how bad tuition fees are a few months ago. Then they see him now having broken his big promise on tuition fees and rationally conclude he’s a liar.
“A wolf, wearing a fleece and crying wolf is still a wolf and people aren’t that stupid for that long.”
Hence, the big drop in Clegg’s approval ratings.
“Clegg was dumb for making a pledge he could never keep if he was ever to implement the most egalitarian policies seen in government since 1945.”
No, he was dumb for making a pledge that he was privately more than happy to ditch at the earliest opportunity. But that is no excuse for what he did.
” the worst criticism of Clegg is that he was a tad over optimistic.”
ROFL!!! Have you tried that one at a student union hustings yet? In reality, Mr Clegg identified (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXw7yqHfxDI ) such a scenario and specifically stated that he and the LibDems would vote and campaign against any attempt to increase fees.
Seriously, do you think people still recall Labour’s pledge not to introduce tuition fees? And, don’t you think Labour’s big risk is that people do see that they really are lieing-lizards. A wolf, wearing a fleece and crying wolf is still a wolf and people aren’t that stupid for that long.
Clegg was dumb for making a pledge he could never keep if he was ever to implement the most egalitarian policies seen in government since 1945. With both Labour and Tories supporting tuition fees and preparing for increases in the fees, and the likelihood that the Lib Dems would not get more than 9% of MP’s – the worst criticism of Clegg is that he was a tad over optimistic.
“Clegg is facing the most negative establishment campaign of right and left united ever!”
Yes and its all down to those shadowy lizards carefully implementing their fiendish scheme for one world government….
Seriously, do you really think that Clegg & Co. can break numerous pledges, including the big tuition fee one, and not suffer in the polls?
Cat, Clegg is facing the most negative establishment campaign of right and left united ever! AV will be seen as a victory for him, as it will be viewed as a defeat or him if FPTP remains. Of course Clegg’s approval ratings have fallen after his sensible views on immigration, and on Europe. He’s also been blamed by the right for putting up middle class taxes in order to help the ‘undeserving poor’, and for rolling back Labour’s detention without trial and many other Liberal policies
And, of course, Labour has blamed him for the cuts it planned to implement itself. They haven’t even got the guts to tell the truth and they treat people like muppets by talking about paying the deficit off over 25 years – ‘like a mortgage’. Both left and right are scared that people wake up form the fog of lies and “viewpaper’s” pulp fiction and remember why they liked him – for real change for the better.
@Neil
Frankly, I think you’re slightly delusional. Tipsy the cat has more chance of leading Yes2AV to victory than Nick Clegg.
“However remember the people who wanted fairer votes were primarily those who followed the Lib Dems into the last election.”
Even if you believe all the people who voted libdem at the last election were desperate for electoral reform they only made up 23% of the electorate unless there is an exceptionally low turnout that wouldn’t be enough to swing it.
“So if they wanted fairer votes ten months ago then surely they still want them now?”
Like I said you’d have to believe that all the nearly 7 million libdem voters were passionate believers in electoral reform. In reality, they weren’t many weren’t that interested in it and were more worried about letting the tories in, tuition fees and very damaging public spending cuts.
“That doesn’t make sense unless those people now truly believe that Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems are the devil incarnate. Which you never know, they might.”
Well, actually, many do. Clegg’s approval ratings have tanked and he is been personally very damaged over the his repeated lies about tuition fees. The libdem faithful are really having a hard time understanding how much credibility you’ve lost over tuition fees and deficit reduction.
“To lead a campaign you need a strong and charismatic voice and rightly or wrongly Nick Clegg still has that. He can hold an audience (if they give him a chance) and still attract the floating voters.”
Clegg never had that, he always sounded like a sanctimonious twat. After backtracking on everything from child poverty to tuition fees he still sounds sanctimonious but now has the believability of a used car salesman. If Clegg was a white Barrack Obama he would have done far better than a 1% increase in his share of the vote and losing 5 seats. Cleggmania was remarkable at the time it was very short lived once people examined more closely who Clegg was, what he believed in and who he was going to support in a hung parliament.