Clegg…washing hands of proportional representation?
Daily Telegraph the first after The Slog to spot that the LibDem manifesto
seems reluctant to use the words ‘proportional’ representation
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LibDem press office response pure, unconvincing spin
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In a damning critique of the Party’s manifesto this morning, the Daily Telegraph noted:
‘…their demand for “fair votes”, as they insist on calling proportional representation, is specifically designed to give them, the least popular of the three main parties, a whip hand in the formation of governments..’
Actually Telegraphers, they’ve only just begun insisting on that usage. And in his interview with Paxman earlier this week – as only The Slog spotted – Nick Clegg omitted PR as part of his ‘price’ for dealing with a minority Government after the election.
The Slog put the remarkable absence of the policy from its manifesto to LibDem HQ this morning. A rather hair-splitting discussion ensued with Simon Waddington of their press office. When asked why PR wasn’t one of Clegg’s bargaining chips as listed for Paxo, Mr Waddington asserted that his leader had never used the words ‘bargaining chips’. This is the exact transcript of the interview at that point:
“Pax: So then, in the event of an indecisive election result, what would be your price for supporting another Party in Government?
Clegg: Well, there are basically four key principles….”
PR, I pointed out to Simon, wasn’t among those principles – why not?
After five minutes of back and forth and round the houses, I asked if the PR principle so dear to the LibDems had been ditched in order to do business with a Labour Party which wasn’t keen on real PR – adding that two Westminster sources had told me, in the last 24 hours, that this was in fact the case.
“Where do they get these stories?” laughed Simon Waddington, “That’s absolute nonsense”.
Where indeed? Let’s delve into the 109-page Manifesto and see where those sources might have found support for their ‘absolute nonsense’.
1. Of the four summary principles, ‘cleaning up Westminster’ comes last, using the woolly phrase ‘sorting out the rotten political system’. The phrase used in relation to the electoral system (last item of the last principle) was ‘fair votes’. Why not ‘STV proportional representation’?
2. After this, there is no mention at all of ‘political reform’ until page 87….once again ‘introducing fair votes’. Why not say PR?
3. On Page 88, however, after all those Clegg anti-Brown jibes about “we’re not going to go for some half-hearted version of PR”, comes the bombshell: STV is now the ‘preferred’ system. So then…not a deal-breaker in negotiations about power?
4. The two words ‘proportional’ and ‘representation’ do not appear together ANYWHERE in the manifesto.
5. The term ‘proportional representation’ does not appear ANYWHERE in the index.
Well Libbydem folks, I’d hazard a guess that this is why the Westminster gossips (most of whom are either on the campaign trail or going home to retire) think your Manifesto is the precursor to a sellout – one offering support to that desperate Labour Party described to The Slog last month by a senior LibDem source as ‘a rotting corpse’. (It wouldn’t be for the Tories’ benefit, because they’re not interested in any form of PR….although having said that, just watch those blue-blooded minds change if push comes to shove).
How does The Slog view the words ‘absolutely ridiculous’ in relation to the motive for dropping the biggest, oldest policy the Libdems have? Er, absolutely ridiculous? Pull the other one it’s got bells on? Or – in the great tradition of our mother site – I wasn’t born yesterday.
The Slog 