The Independent was absolutely right to criticise Clegg for his
"lamentable" handling of the complaints against Lord Rennard, but it does beg
the question: why has it taken so long? Cameron and
Osborne frequently resort to U-turns, as we`ve seen recently over the minimum
wage, when they know they face a real possibility of election defeat,but they
can`t hold a candle to Clegg in his efforts to stave off electoral humiliation.
Not content in digging a hole for himself with his attempts, last year, to
defend the honour of politicians in the wake of criticism from Paxman, he then
had the temerity to front the coalition`s attack on Boris Johnson for his
"greed is good" speech; Cameron`s patsy to the last. He attacked Johnson
for suggesting "we should give up on a whole swath of fellow citizens", without
seeming to realise that is exactly what he and his coalition colleagues did by
giving their support to Gove`s examination changes, which in the long term
will lead to a two-tier system of education! It`s hard to believe the Deputy
Prime Minister seems unaware of the hurt his government`s austerity policies
have caused, but this is the same man who, after three years of being in
government, declared it was time to "hardwire fairness" into policies! He
continues to talk as if the inequality this government has increased and
encouraged has nothing to do with him; supporting the living wage is all very
well but has he instigated any policy to make it compulsory, and why not two
years ago? "Greed", he says, "brought a banking collapse and misery and
hardship", yet for three and a half years he`s joined in with the Tory
propaganda blaming the Labour government`s spending and borrowing for causing
the problems.
Now, we have him passing the buck, lacking not
only principles, but leadership too, over the Rennard affair! How anyone could even think of voting for
his party, with him at the helm, is amazing; how Labour could be thinking of a
coalition with him, fifteen months before the election, is beyond
understanding! Even Harriet Harman has said that talks of a deal with them, over 15 months away from the election, is nonsense; in my opinion, it would be equally nonsensical 15 hours after the election. Just because the Lib Dems have sacrificed their principles to the power-gods doesn`t mean Labour should not hold on to theirs!
Labour does indeed need to focus on forming a majority government. And, though the poll lead is weak at the moment, it still has the chance of doing it. We can talk about coalition partners after the election, if we have to. And even then, it certainly can't be with Clegg.
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