There\nis a re-colonization of UK politics taking place before our eyes. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nthe more \u201cone-nation\u201d Tories leave the zealots behind and, like\nan alien life force, take over the Lib Dems. Think Heidi Allen, Sam\nGyimah or Philip Lee. What they all have in common is a policy\nagenda and approach to politics which is shared by the new LibDem\n\u201dleader\u201d Jo Swinson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They\nare all supporters of the broad thrust of anti-social policies so\nenthusiastically pursued by not only David Cameron\u2019s Tories but by\nNick Clegg\u2019s LibDems through the five horrendous years of the\ncoalition. Little wonder that people who still think of themselves as\npart of the broad church of the Conservative Party find little\ndifficulty in assimilating into their new party. From the rape clause\nto student fees they have voted together, they have argued together\nwhy we needed to have years of austerity imposed as a political\nchoice. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nor\ndo they have any qualms about adopting the very familiar policy of\nlie, lie and lie again. Knowing that they will not be challenged by\nthe tame media which disgraces the concept of having a free press. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just\nthink of the LibDem lie that they are the biggest anti no-deal party.\nWe hear this lie persistently peddled but never challenged. Simple\nfacts; The Lib Dems have 19 MPs, the SNP have 35. The LibDems have\n120,845, the SNP have 125,482. (both figures from 10\/10\/2019) This is\nexactly the kind of background detail we expect a knowledgeable\npolitical journalist to have to hand, the difference between someone\nwho just asks the vanilla questions and someone who knows who wants\nto speak to truth to power and have power speak truth to the people. \nOr the offensive claim that the Nationalism of the SNP and Scotland\nis the same as that of Brexit. I do truly hope that Swinson does know\nthe difference but like everyone else I have to take her at face\nvalue. This from the \u201cleader\u201d of the party which kept the Home\nRule flames alive while the SNP were considered part of the lunatic\nfringe of politics. She either knows nothing about the history and\nheritage of her party or she cares nothing about them. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nLibDems have decided to unilaterally cancel the result of the 2016\nreferendum with their policy of revoking article 50 without\nconsulting the public. They will seek to justify this piece of\npolitical chicanery by saying that it applies if they win a majority\nof seats, that gives them a mandate. Small problem is that they have\nless chance of winning a general election than the Brexit Party.\nAnother is that unlike a referendum a General Election is not fought\non just one issue. Think student fees and Nick Clegg. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How\ncan it be acceptable to have a policy which says that if you wing an\nelection, you have a mandate to implement your policies and\nsimultaneously say that they would never accede to grant another\nIndependence referendum no matter how many votes and seats the SNP\nwon. This is a stance with which the LibDems betray everything in\ntheir name and history. Truly the Party of Jo Grimmond, Russell\nJohnston etc has been consigned to history by Jo Swinson and Silly\nRennie, two of the most illiberal and undemocratic leaders of modern\ntimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As\nthe Tories throw out anyone who is not a \u201cswivel eyed zealot\u201d the\nrefugees are steadily re-colonizing the LibDems where their austerity\nagenda finds ready acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFor the Scottish Tories there\nis little to say. They have abandoned any pretence of speaking for\ntheir constituency or country. They mouth about respecting how people\nvoted but will not and can not put their money where there mouth is\nand do just that! Each and every Council area of Scotland, each and\nevery constituency in Scotland voted to Remain but we have this bunch\nof political pygmies who would not know what to do with a political\nand democratic principle even if they could find one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nHighlands and the Borders are ripe to be regained but we need to\noffer more to voters than just being the only sensible party on\nBrexit. Let\u2019s not forget that roughly 1 in 3 of those who identify\nas SNP supporters voted to Leave. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brexit\nis doing a grand job of destroying the myth of Britain as a beacon of\ndecency and honour, it\u2019s eating away at the concept of what being\n\u201cBritish\u201d actually means. As we watch the daily hypocrisy of\nTories both front and back bench, tell us that the only way to avoid\na No Deal Brexit is to vote for \u201cThe Deal\u201d, it\u2019s worth\nrecalling the fact that if it were not for the current cabinet voting\nagainst Theresa May\u2019s deal, time and again, it would have been\napproved in the Commons. Certainly at the third attempt. When it\ncomes to \u201cElites who are determined to force through their own\nnarrow agenda\u201d, this Cabinet takes some beating!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nformer colleague and friend of mine refers to Rangers and Celtic as\n\u201cthe twa cheeks o\u2019 the same erse\u201d. That seems increasingly like\na fair description of the Lib Dems and the Tories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a re-colonization of UK politics taking place before our eyes. As the more \u201cone-nation\u201d Tories leave the zealots behind and, like an alien life force, take over the Lib Dems. Think Heidi Allen, Sam Gyimah or Philip Lee. What they all have in common is a policy agenda and approach to politics which is shared by the new LibDem \u201dleader\u201d Jo Swinson. They are all supporters of the broad thrust of anti-social policies so enthusiastically pursued by not only David Cameron\u2019s Tories but by Nick Clegg\u2019s LibDems through the five horrendous years of the coalition. Little wonder that people who still think ofRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2629,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions\/2629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotsindependent.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}