Aptly enough for an event held in a sometime fetish club there was a fair bit of self flagellation happening at last night’s Mutiny event in the Resistance Gallery, Democracy on Trial. Several Liberal Democrat voters made their humiliation public. They hadn’t expected that those nice Lib Dems could do something so horrid.
Who lives may learn. But not always.
It may sound like old school Leninism but Liberalism is synonymous with vacillation and lack of principle. Have the words “utterly principled Liberal” ever been used in that order in a sentence? Of course not. You expect them to cave in, sell out, tells lies and change message. Even their in house lefty firebrand Simon Hughes has become a big fan of the “new politics”.
For a few cabinet posts the Lib Dems have locked themselves into a five year government with the Tories. Their representatives were publicly crowing over the ditching of their amnesty for migrants policy; they will be supporting Trident and immediate public sector cuts that only a few weeks ago they were arguing would cause a double dip recession
On the day that David Cameron’s and Nick Clegg’s took power unemployment in Britain rose to 2.51 million. In a lot of cultures that would be taken as an omen. It is.
The new British government has a class struggle programme against the working class, the powerless and immigrants. Within months it intends to shave £6 billion off public spending and raise VAT. The first measure will see services to the most vulnerable pared back to legal minimum requirements. The second will take extra money out of the pockets of working class people every time they go a shop. It is the most reactionary form of taxation. No wonder that bankers were shown on television toasting the “new politics” on its first day. This is a government of the rich and powerful for the rich and powerful.
New Labour had thirteen years to reshape British politics. It left behind a society which is now as unequal as the Victorian era. To emphasise the point two interchangeable public school educated Oxbridge men are now running the country.
The first time voters in the Resistance Gallery last night could be forgiven (through gritted teeth) for their misjudgement. They thought they were voting for nice things like scrapping Trident, electoral reform and subsidised muesli. Older numpties who were calling for tactical voting have no such excuse.
There is some chatter on Liberal sites about how individuals should consider joining the Labour Party to register their disapproval. So the one good thing that may come out of their coalition with the Tories is the withering away of the Liberal Democrats or better still they’ll be eaten alive. Boris Johnson wasn’t wrong when he said that the bulldog is lying down with the Chihuahua.
Eager as ever to adduce even the flimsiest of arguments in support of an earlier assertion let me point out that the closest thing last night’s audience had to a heroine was Caroline Lucas. She was featured in a well received short film and her party’s press officer got a big round of applause for her eulogy to the first Green MP. Maybe next time the flagellants might think twice about supporting the party whose colour is yellow.
Liam redux 
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