Lib Dem Leadership Debate
Having just watched the Lib Dem Leadership Debate on BBC One's Question Time Programme, I must confess to feeling slightly disheartened. It wasn't a shining display of liberal vision and there were few memorable highlights.
Two things were abundantly clear from the Question Time debate. One that the public still hasn't forgiven the Liberal Democrats for what they see as the "Kennedy Assassination", and two, the liberal vision of a radically different political system is beyond the grasp of a public so accustomed to a two-party system, or at least beyond both candidate's ability to articulate.
As for the Question Time programme itself, I'd give the debate to Chris Huhne, I think he made is points with greater clarity but neither could be accused of being succinct. Nick Clegg seemed to take a long time to recover from David Dimbleby's initial suggestion that he’d accused his opponent of making popularist remarks (during the previous leadership election) and floundered for the first half of the show, only finding his stride during the second half.
For my own part, when the leadership election was announced I was leaning towards Nick Clegg, over the last few weeks I'd moved to undecided and now I'm leaning towards Chris Huhne. I guess I can attribute this swing to several factors. First that under the glare of the media, Nick Clegg still looks a little green, whereas Chris Huhne looks more relaxed. Chris is also showing himself to more radical and it's the issues he campaigned on at during the last leadership election which are driving party policy today.
Many though will be asking does it really matter which candidate wins. The allegation which has been running through this leadership contest is that you can't get a cigarette paper between the candidates, but that's not wholly unexpected; remember that it is the Liberal Democrat membership which decides policy at conference, not the leader of the day. Now whilst the leader has a strong role to play in shaping policy to be voted on at conference, there aren’t going to be many Lib Dem leadership candidates who are going to put themselves at odds with the membership over policies voted on and approved just 6 weeks earlier.
The exception to this is Chris Huhne on Trident, which to be honest is a very smart move, the membership backed Ming's plans (shared by Nick Clegg) on Trident after a passionate appeal by Party President Simon Hughes. Chris Huhne is banking on the notion that the membership responded to this appeal more for the sake of backing an embattled party leader than backing the policy.
I'm not sure that Chris Huhne's policy on trident is entirely thought through in full detail at this stage, but it certainly has the moral high-ground which is something that has always appealed to Lib Dem voters. I have similar concerns about the green tax switch as no-one has been able to explain to me how the budget shortfall will be met once green taxes actually start to work and people's behaviour changes. This isn't to say Chris doesn't have answers, he's clearly a much more experienced economist than I am, only that I haven't yet had my concerns addressed and this is the real reason why I haven’t been converted to the Chris Huhne camp. Whilst I have faith in his ability to attract the votes, to be radical, innovative and persuasive, I have a nagging concern that Nick Clegg's comments in the last leadership election, that he’s a little too popularist have some resonance.
The undecided...
Permalink | Email to a friend | Add/View Comments
Comments
Add your comments to this article and read other people's comments on this piece below.
Posted by:
Betty Harris
17/11/2007 15:44:43
Chris Huhne comes across as the better communicator; he puts his ideas across more clearly than Nick Clegg. He would cope better at Prime Minister's Questions. Not knowing either candidate personally I wonder why the M.P.'s and party grandees are backing Nick Clegg in such numbers.
Posted by:
David
17/11/2007 15:54:48
What I see as worrying is that if Nick wins, then he's going to be referred to as "David Cameron's Stunt Double" and if Chris wins, questions are going to be asked about the level of support for him amongst his own MPs. The Media will kick the Lib Dems on one of these points which ever way it goes.
Posted by:
flats
12/03/2008 10:50:55
And in your opinion, who has won? regards
Posted by:
Nelson - global issues
15/07/2008 22:13:16
great post " Lil Dem leadership debate".. thanks very much for sharing!
Add a Comment
To add a comment just complete the form below. Fields marked in bold are required. Try to keep your comments brief and to the point.
