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From Sarah Montague:
It鈥檚 a picture of Charles Kennedy morphed into Maggie Thatcher that鈥檚 causing such hilarity among the three Liberal Democrat frontbenchers. The Mirror newspaper is having a dig at what it sees as the Lib-Dem leader鈥檚 increasingly right wing views. But also being passed around the lobby of the Marriot Highcliffe Hotel in Bournemouth is a copy of the Sun. Its front page is given over to a picture of Charles Kennedy alongside a snake under the headline 鈥淪ssspot the difference. One is a spineless, reptile that spits venom, the other is a poisonous snake.鈥 But the venom of this classic, tabloid trick is directed at his LEFT wing views.
No wonder the Liberal Democrats are laughing: the newspapers are at last taking them seriously.
They have of course overturned large Labour majorities to win two by-elections in the past couple of years. But it鈥檚 more than that. The party itself seems to have grown up. Just look at the way they鈥檙e handling this conference. Gone are the harebrained debates about winning goldfish at fairs, pornography for sixteen year olds, sex education for seven year olds and legalising cannabis. Instead they鈥檝e turned their ever, earnest attention to weightier matters: terrorism, world poverty and even tax.
LISTEN to Tuesday's item about "What happened to the Lib-Dems?"
Watching the delegates gather in the hotel lobby, I can鈥檛 help comparing it with the same scene three years before when I was last here covering one of their conferences.
They look different: they鈥檙e smarter; the suit quota is up; and to use Andrew Marr鈥檚 description they鈥檝e acquired that self-important stride of the other two parties.
Consider the rising stars of the party: Nick Clegg, David Laws, Mark Oaten - all clean-cut young men in smart suits. Perhaps they鈥檝e been taking sartorial advice from the ever elegant Sir Menzies Campbell. He was interviewed by Andrew Rawnsley for an Observer fringe event. The first question was, 鈥淲here do you get your suits?鈥
Apart from being one of the best dressed men in politics, Sir Menzies is a fascinating man. A former Olympic athlete, he was once the fastest white man on earth. Although such is his style that when Andrew Rawnsley referred to it, he dismissed it saying, 鈥渙nly for three weeks!鈥 That was how long his record lasted fifty years ago. In a world of spin, how refreshing to hear such candour. He is that rare creature in politics someone admired in all parties and as became clear in the interview someone who, over the years, has been wooed by both rival parties. He鈥檚 such a regular on the Today programme that he has an ISDN line fitted at his home so he can do interviews from there.
It was interesting to hear him on the subject that鈥檚 got all the delegates going this week 鈥 the orange book. For those who don鈥檛 know, this was a series of essays published a couple of weeks ago by one of the rising stars of the libdem treasury team, David Laws. It claimed the party had been guilty of too much 鈥渟oggy socialism鈥 and argued for a return to old-style liberalism.
Most of it was broadly Libdem policy but it included a chapter by David Laws suggesting the NHS should be funded by a social insurance scheme. Senior members of the party said that chapter should not have been included as it was an idea that had been considered but ruled out. The Lib-Dems have always claimed that unlike other parties they鈥檙e not afraid of debate. Well there was no sign of that here. If it鈥檚 further evidence of their transformation into a more conventional party, what a shame.
They cancelled the launch of the Orange Book and when we tried to interview David Laws about it, no-one returned our calls. Sir Menzies played to his gallery describing the authors of the Orange Book as 鈥測oung Turks who were a bit thin on top鈥 but then he went on to describe David Laws as 鈥渙ne of the brightest men in the party since the war鈥 and said that as a party they must be inclusive 鈥渘ot some sort of sect鈥. The Liberal Democrat鈥檚 challenge is to win votes from both Labour and Conservative which is why they fight shy of left-right descriptions. But when they do face up to the debate they鈥檒l find many of their members don鈥檛 think if the future is bright, the future is orange.
With me in Bournemouth chasing Orange Books, Conference Agendas, early morning coffees, and Bentu Boxes from room service were Dominic Groves, Gerry Williams, Yuan Potts and Iain Watson.
Next week John Humphrys will be at the Labour conference in Brighton.
SARAH.
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