Britannia Radio

April 16, 2010

politicalpromise

Nick Clegg emerged the supposed winner of the first election debate of the

2010 General Election.

Whilst not all together surprising that he won – being the bookies favourite – there is a question of why he won.

In truth, he only won because he was the only leader who could say what he liked. The Liberal Democrats have always had the ability to say whatever they liked, because they just will not have to put their ideas in practice.

The New Labour Era has also been the Liberal Democrat era, but I honestly believe that Lib Dem support peaked in 2005. Their position in the polls would suggest that they would return a very poor set of election results in the upcoming election, whilst UKIP and the Greens are on an unnerving rise of support.

The time has come to choose between a Labour government and a Conservative government, and a vote for Clegg and the Liberal Democrats is a waste and a joke.

So why does his victory mean nothing?

Well his victory was won on a poll of 4000 voters.

Considering that millions of people are eligible to vote in the UK – 4000 isn’t a convincing number.

In addition, his victory was taken regardless of party preference.

This is similar to the US political climate. Republicans have rigid support for their party, however not even the most right-wing Americans can deny that President Barack Obama is a much better public speaker and debater than John McCain ever was. In addition,

Clegg’s ONLY victory was the performance. Conservative Leader David Cameron came top of the polls on all questions asked about the CONTENT of the debate.

This includes immigration, crime, education and bureaucracy. As a final thought, all polls taken since the debate still put David Cameron and the Conservative Party as favourites to govern the country – with Clegg and the Liberal Democrats still trailing in third place.

This victory does not mean we are going to have a shock Liberal Democrat government.

The Liberal Democrats continue to delude themselves of their chances in the general election. Many are calling Clegg even now, a one trick pony.

This was only one of three debates, and I sincerely doubt Clegg will win another. He doesn’t even have the full backing of his party. Tory, Labour and Lib Dem supporters followed the debate, and Clegg’s own supporters believe he performed worse than Cameron and even Brown.

This is not surprising however. It is not a secret that the Lib Dems are a divided party – torn between the leadership of Nick Clegg and Vince Cable.

The Liberal Democrat manifesto is a farce.

After reading all the manifestos, it is clear the Liberal Democrats don’t have any confidence in their own policies and would fall apart if put in a position of governance. They are liars, cheats and name droppers – relying on opponent blunders to improve their own position and have ideas above their station. This victory means nothing – it is being hyped because Nick Clegg is the leader of the ‘third party’.

No doubt the Lib Dems will use this rare victory to hype their own campaign, as it is the only thing they have going for them.

The Lib Dem position can be summed up by some well-chosen words of Margaret Thatcher’s, “This is an X parrot”.

Elliot Colburn