Liberal by name, illiberal by nature
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 
After Ming, who ... cares? Unless, that is, the new leader can finally persuade the 'Liberal' Democrats to live up to their name. I'm not holding my breath. Listening to Ming's former PPS on Five Live yesterday was to hear an old school socialist in full flow.
It is being suggested that Nick Clegg is the candidate most likely to revive the party's long dormant interest in free trade, free markets and "traditional liberal values". We'll see. The problem is the grassroots, what Simon Heffer - in today's Telegraph - calls "the men in sandals". (Full article HERE.)
The Lib Dems (the membership not the MPs) were the first to vote for a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places. Now is not the time to list all the party's other offences against social and economic liberalism, but it will take a massive change of direction to turn things around.
There are without doubt some genuinely liberal Lib Dem MPs - but do they have the courage (or the patience) to rebrand the party and thereby lose the support of the socialists and cranks who litter the ranks? Britain is crying out for a party that can offer a sensible, libertarian vision of Britain. Wouldn't it be nice if, for once, the Liberals lived up to their name?
Reader Comments (5)
I'm in total accord with you on this one, Simon.
The LDs are just another prissy middle class nanny state party. What a pity though, that in many ways David Cameron and the Tories appear to share many of these traits too.
I thought that Ming was diety in bygone China. However, with him and other politicians,they would be better going back to their own roots. Perhaps, we would then have politicians who have not lost the plot.
I always thought that the Liberal party was the party that fought for civil and human rights, but now they vote to take those rights away.
Don't be fooled by the name 'liberal democrat'. From my experience, and yes I have the experience of meeting a lot of them, they are the most illiberal, undemocratic bunch who have strong pc values and opinions and prop up this NuLab government. Some MPs (eg. Lembit Opik) voted against a blanket ban but the vast majority of them are in favour of banning things and altering people's traditional ways of life. Even Charles Kennedy voted in favour of the blanket smoking ban. They are in favour of the Human Rights Act, but not the rights of ordinary people. Beware!!
JEREMY CLARKSON'S VIEW OF THE LIBDEMS
In Saturday 20th October's copy of The Sun, my hero, Jeremy Clarkson wrote the following:
"The Liberal Democrats hate success, cars, mobile phones, foreign tomatoes, smoking, ownership, power stations, coal, free speech, hard work, fields, dogs and now, having forced their leader out of office, it seems they hate each other as well."
So it bears out I was right re: their attitude towards smoking and the 'free speech' (pc attitudes) aspects. Somebody else, far cleverer than me, has already picked this out!!