[A-List] Pot: kettle black scandal

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

A party of sheer naked opportunism

Progressive causes with rightwing solutions is the new Lib Dem style

Peter Hain
Tuesday September 21, 2004
The Guardian

Nationally, the Liberal Democrats have consistently tried to present a nice
wholesome face. Locally they are renowned street fighters, opportunistically
exploiting every and any grievance to win, and seeking desperately to be all
things to all people. But now the Lib Dems are going opportunistic
nationally, too.

Last week, Charles Kennedy published 10 reasons to vote Liberal Democrat.
Much of it was calculated to reassure those left-of-centre voters who have
gravitated to the "nice party" - a mixed bag of vague, uncosted promises on
the NHS, early years education and the abolition of university tuition fees.

But the central electoral dilemma for the Liberal Democrats is that although
their appeal has traditionally been a progressive one, overwhelmingly their
target seats are held by the Conservatives. Any hope of advance therefore
depends on winning over disillusioned Tories.

The party has therefore adopted a magpie approach. Progressive measures are
bundled ill-fittingly with rightwing measures that neglect the interests of
hard-working people. A good example of Lib Dem policy contortions was
carried on these pages on Saturday, when the shadow home secretary Mark
Oaten argued against ID cards on grounds of cost rather than civil
liberties - respecting a sacred cow of his liberal wing, while defending it
in the language of the right.

To charm wavering Tories, the Lib Dems have grabbed a nestful of shiny
rightwing policies. They would scrap the New Deal, which has helped more
than one million people back into work, thus condemning thousands of young
people to long-term unemployment. They opposed the increase in the minimum
wage to £4.85 an hour, preferring to trap people in poverty pay. They ape
the Tories by promising £25bn in spending cuts, threatening vital services
on which those on low incomes most rely. They aim to save £8bn by abolishing
the Department of Trade and Industry, endangering everything from the
enforcement of employee protection to the sick miners compensation scheme
and economic assistance to our poorest regions. They would replace council
tax with a local income tax, which would cost £450 a year more for an
average working couple. They want to reintroduce the NHS internal market - a
sequel to Tory mismanagement of our hospitals. And they plan a new wave of
privatisations, including the Royal Mint.

And be clear: their pitch to the right won't stop there. Earlier this month,
Mr Kennedy wrote the foreword for the Orange Book, a collection of essays by
his party's "middle-aged Turks", many of whom hold key positions on the
party's front bench.

In one essay, David Laws, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, proposes replacing
the NHS with an insurance-based funding system. His proposals were copied
directly from the Thatcherite thinktank Politeia and were praised by Doctors
for Reform, a Tory front organisation which campaigns for the NHS to be
dismantled.

In another, Susan Kramer, lined up to be the next MP for Richmond Park,
calls for a free-market approach to the environment - progressive cause,
rightwing approach. And the Lib Dem shadow chancellor, Vincent Cable, calls
for a new wave of economic deregulation, and argues for voucher schemes in
public services - for example, in further education and care for the
disabled. Vouchers are of course the calling card of the Conservative right.

Much has been made in the press about the "struggle for control" of the
party between the middle-aged Turks and the party's old guard. But that is a
misrepresentation - it is far from an equal fight. The socially responsible
Liberals of yesteryear are a dwindling minority, while the likes of Cable,
Laws and Oaten tighten their grip on the policy agenda. The only arguments
are over tactics rather than principle. Gradualists fear that too radical a
shift would give the game away, hence the rows on their frontbench over
whether or not to privatise the Royal Mail.

Despite this lurch, some Labour voters have flirted with the Liberals in
council and byelections, often in protest over Iraq. But too few recognise
that voting for the Liberals risks letting the Tories in through the back
door. In many marginal seats, a strong showing for the Lib Dems might let an
unpopular Tory candidate squeak through the middle. It is also a question of
what Liberals now represent. As the Tories have lurched further to the
right, the Liberal Democrats have set up camp in the space they have
vacated.

Charles Kennedy says they are neither left nor right. Actually they are
seeking to be both, lurching to the right in policy, while using Iraq to
maintain a leftwing appeal. Sheer naked opportunism.

· Peter Hain is leader of the House of Commons and secretary of state for
Wales

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Hain's positioning as chief attack dog of probably the main opposition
contender to New Labour in the forthcoming election, married to his
assiduous courting of the intelligence services, is all part of his long
term strategy for the Blair succession. In this he is proving by far the
most astute of all the contenders.