Return of the Cybermen?….

It gave me an absurd, almost surreal, amount of pleasure to read The Times leader this morning over a strong black coffee and learn that the current vice-president of the Lib-Dem  federal executive  is Brian Orrell, who used to play a cyberman in Dr Who.  I think Tom Harris MP, a noted Dr Who fan who  was direct and to the point on Newsnight in his opposition to a Lib-Dem pact,  may enjoy this irony.  It is also worth reading this very clear statement of why he will not support a Lib-Lab coalition. I suspect he is not the only Labour (or Liberal) MP.

Not that it is of any importance whatsoever, like so many of our votes, but I voted Labour knowing that  Labour would lose the election.  I did not vote for fudge and dithering.  If I wanted fudge and dithering, I would have voted Lib-Dem.

For my own part, I feel that the Tories have the moral right to govern; whether in a minority government or under even greater strain, perhaps – given recent Lib-Dem dithering –  with their new ‘fiends’ (sic).  I would like to see Labour in opposition, to regroup;  but more important, to re-think their attitude to the United States and Europe and a wider world, to war, to oppressive and largely unnecessary laws, to re-think their role as regulators of society and return to the primary ideals of Labour – providing a strong foundation for a fairer society.  I have been as critical of Labour over their erosion of civil liberties as I was when the Tories ruled.  Civil liberties and personal freedoms mean a lot more to most people than the minutiae of political correctness and dogma.    No fan of Mr Brown ‘qua’ prime minister, I am more than content to take him at his word and see him go on to do good things with charities and public service.  Brown has been a very unpopular prime minister, not least, I suspect, because of his simmering desire to get his hands on the top job all those years ago, not least, in the public mind, because of a suspicion that he held back on supporting the military and his handling of the economy, which some say, had good and bad elements.  I am also more than happy to separate the man from the politician and have no doubt that he is, as many portray him to be, a kind hearted man of integrity in his private life.    Those who are not privy to the Westminster bubble can only go on reports and his public words and acts while Chancellor and Prime Minister and judge accordingly – and he has been judged. This, he accepted yesterday.

I do not want to see a Rainbow coalition of Labour, the Lib-Dems and the ramshackle rag bag of celtic politicians who will only be interested in their own sectional interests and who will, inevitably , seek to push the needs of their constituents before the national interest.  There isn’t any crock of gold at the end of real rainbows and there certainly isn’t with a rainbow coalition – even if, as Ian Parker Joseph suggested on Twitter, that is because Brown sold our gold all those years ago.

Let the Tories govern – as the largest party – and see how long they survive. If politicans play vested interests with their proposals, this will be seen by the electorate – there are a lot of  journalists and political bloggers watching – and they will  enjoy the reward or pay the price at the next election – which will not be long in coming if things don’t work out.  Far better that than a fudge controlled by Lib-Dems who may now be revealing themselves as not fit to govern because of the disparity of their philosophies and lack of preparedness for government.

And so… a bit of law in my next post….