Nadine will love that headline but it is true. Yesterday Nick Clegg decided that enough was enough and he had to make a stand against the Tories for not pushing through with Lords reform. The Prime Minister couldn’t control his party and therefore the dreams of a more democratic way forward. Most Lib Dems agree this isn’t the worst thing ever but there is one thing that has got people foaming at the mouth…
Nadine Dorries’ seat of Mid Bedfordshire will still exist.
Now we all know that a parliament without Nadine Dorries is probably a good thing. However is this really that important in the grand scheme of things? I sat here yesterday and saw Lib Dems on twitter bitch and moan about Dorries and how she’d survive and that it pissed them off. It pisses us all off but some were actually saying that we should carry on with the boundary changes just to get Dorries out.
Surely that is going a bit too far? Dorries would be delighted that she is despised so much that a section of Lib Dems (a not insignificant section) would actually want boundary changes to go through just to get her out. Of course it would also mean tat many Lib Dems would also lose their seat but that is just acceptable collateral damage to get Nadine out.
The other thing is of course that Nadine could possibly stand in another seat. Now I’m no rocket scientist but I’m pretty sure people can be selected to represent another ward. No doubt there would be several local Conservative Party associations who’d love to have such an outspoken Member of Parliament. Some of these might even have been safe Tory seats in the boundary review with incumbants retiring.
The boundary changes would not have meant the end of Nadine Dorries’ career as an MP. It would have made it less plain sailing but if she wanted to carry on she could have easily found a way. I’m as much of a Nadine dissenter as most of my fellow Lib Dems but in the grand schemes of things who really gives a stuff about what she says? She is an insignificant Tory backbench MP who gets more airtime than most because she’s controversial.
Boundary changes are a good idea but as presently constituted they weren’t ideal. Although I suppose getting them ideal would be a thankless nay impossible task. However having another voting system – maybe STV or maybe even PR would make everything a whole lot fairer but that isn’t happening. It is sad that we haven’t been able to deliver fairer votes but the country decided they didn’t want them because they were in a strop with the Lib Dems for not just being an ‘anti-Tory’ party. Shit happens.
However having a policy that is basically ‘Do watever to piss off Nadine Dorries’ whilst it sounds a lot of fun, isn’t exactly the sign of a grown-up party…
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