The Liberal Democrats are worried that they are getting all of the blame, while the Conservatives are getting all of the credit
IN THE driving rain of Saturday night, as Liberal Democrats gathered for their first conference since taking power in May, a yellow bus was parked outside the Echo Arena on Liverpool’s Albert Docks, its destination given as “The Magical Mystery Tour”.
For many of the party’s grassroots, too much of the period since then has been mysterious, and too little of it magical, as they have taken pain on the ground as the United Kingdom prepares for draconian spending cuts.
Unsure about the road ahead, the rank-and-file complained that its leaders appeared too zealous about slashing public spending, and were too visible when bad news had to be given out, all the while letting the Conservatives take the credit for some of their ideas.
Speaking for many, Paula Keaveney complained: “I wish we didn’t announce cuts with so much relish. There are ways of delivering a message. It is very hard to sound distinctive if we sound like ‘Mini-Me’ Conservatives.”
Drawing on an image from his marriage, Newbury delegate David Rendel said he and his wife did not always agree about the film they wished to see in the local cinema, “but we don’t go to different cinemas when we get there.
“We compromise. But, afterwards, I don’t have to pretend that her choice was right. Our leadership seems terrified of tabloid headlines. Supporters think we have changed our ideals, while others don’t know what we have done since we entered government,” he told the conference.
Liverpool provided the first chance for the grassroots to have a say since the Liberal Democrats entered into coalition with the Conservatives, led by David Cameron, after his party and Labour both failed to win a majority.
Since, the Liberal Democrats have suffered the fate of junior coalition partners elsewhere: 52 per cent of those who voted for the party say they believe it has “sold out”, while four in 10 say they would have voted differently if they had known it would mean a Tory-led coalition.
Leader and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg appeared before more than 1,000 members, where fears were voiced but where Clegg offered little other than tough love, insisting they had to look beyond short-term unpopularity.
Ridiculing the argument that Lib Dem ministers should openly disagree with cuts as they were announced, he said: “Imagine a press conference where a Liberal Democrat announced a policy that he said he hated.
“Why doesn’t Nick Clegg pick a fight with David Cameron? Because it would destroy what we are trying to create and that is to show that coalition politics is possible. It is the big prize. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
To calls of “hear, hear” from throughout the darkened hall, one delegate asked Clegg: “Why are the Liberal Democrats being blamed for cuts while the Conservatives are being praised for policies that we brought to the coalition?”
Wearing a suit and an open-necked shirt, Clegg looked relaxed but determined, putting the difficulties down to “the growing pains of government”.
“It is still very early days, it can’t be clearly judged yet.”
Despite the doubts of his followers, the Liberal Democrat leader is not in the mood for turning: “We can have short-term satisfaction for long-term failure. I’m not prepared to do that.”
He acknowledged the party was taking a battering in headlines, and blamed it on the “hysteria” of the Labour Party, which had acted with “spectacular bad grace” since its eviction from power.
