Some may remember a rather amusing advertising campaign in favour of a fictitional political party in the spring of 2010 - the Labservatives:
It was of course the Lib Dems - making the point that whoever won the election nothing really changed. And the upshot of the inconclusive result in 2010 was a coalition that was supposed to be the embodiment of this new politics - a real change in the way goverment was conducted.
But sadly as Lib Dem ministers have got their feet comfortably under their desks the old politics crept back. And two statements from senior Lib Dems over the Christmas and New Year break show how indistinguishable Lib Dems in government are now from either Labour or Conservatives.
Jeremy Browne's fatuous call in the Telegraph for the party to grow up in government and his rewriting of the history of the tuition fee pledge was the first. For Browne's information the tuition fee debacle wasn't a failure of policy making (or costing) it was a failure of delivery by Lib Dem ministers.
The second is Clegg's refusal to meet with his own party members campaigning against secret courts. It is a long standing liberal principle that justice needs to be seen to be done as well as be done. The Clegg who pledged not to cooperate with ID cards and the identity database would surely embrace the campaign against secret courts not snub them.
It was of course the Lib Dems - making the point that whoever won the election nothing really changed. And the upshot of the inconclusive result in 2010 was a coalition that was supposed to be the embodiment of this new politics - a real change in the way goverment was conducted.
But sadly as Lib Dem ministers have got their feet comfortably under their desks the old politics crept back. And two statements from senior Lib Dems over the Christmas and New Year break show how indistinguishable Lib Dems in government are now from either Labour or Conservatives.
Jeremy Browne's fatuous call in the Telegraph for the party to grow up in government and his rewriting of the history of the tuition fee pledge was the first. For Browne's information the tuition fee debacle wasn't a failure of policy making (or costing) it was a failure of delivery by Lib Dem ministers.
The second is Clegg's refusal to meet with his own party members campaigning against secret courts. It is a long standing liberal principle that justice needs to be seen to be done as well as be done. The Clegg who pledged not to cooperate with ID cards and the identity database would surely embrace the campaign against secret courts not snub them.
Can we have the real Nick Clegg back please?
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