David Willetts’ pledge that the Tories no longer support Grammar Schools, combined with Cameron’s pledge to oppose health insurance-style reforms of the NHS, means that the prospect of a Grand Coalition after the next General Election is looking increasingly possible, and the idea that the Lib Dems should some how try rush into increasingly small gap between the other two parties seem increasingly fruity.
UPDATE: Whoops, there goes another one! Blink and you miss it.
The whole Left-Right-Centre distinction is utterly bankrupt now. The Tories are left doing an impression of Blair doing an impression of Thatcher, who herself borrowed from a whole range of political though (including a few half-baked interpretations of perfectly good liberal ideas).
The idea that either Labour or the Conservatives reflect some kind of long-standing political tradition is fast losing any basis in reality. They both clearly stand for only one thing: election.
As Liberal Democrats, we need to put down our policies without reference to either of the other major parties. If we happen to be in the centre, great. If not, then perhaps the centre is simply wrong.
I’ve always been against the idea that we should try and position ourself between the other two parties, or even anywhere in relation to them. Especially in terms of left and right which have little meaning today beyond the old class division definition, which Liberals never subscribed to and never will.
This also goes for characterising splits in the party as left/right, or even social vs economic liberal, its a nonsense.
We should set out Liberal policies with no regard to left or right wing, we should criticize the other parties where they are wrong and try to help them make better choices. This is the path Charles Kennedy was leading us down, and the next leader should continue this.
And we need a concerted, sustained effort to get this across to people. I still hear journalists asking where we can go if the Tories and Labour are so close, assuming that politics is some sort of left/right spectrum. /We/ know it isn’t, /we/ know the Liberal Democrats is different and has a political philosophy different from that of Labour or the Tories (whose philosophies right now seem to be gain power and as much of it as possible). I even get told we have no philosophy, and this by someone who was a LibDem member for a bit (although mainly to get back at the local Labour Party).
Indeed, it took me about 8 years from first developing some of the ideas of Liberalism to actually discovering that they were part of a long standing political philosophy.
I think that The Orange Book was in part an attempt to put this across, especially in the face of the increasing use of Liberal in the US sense, its a pity some took it as an attack on social liberalism (whatever is meant by that because my reading of the book was that the authors are very concerned with it and wish to promote it, just through different means than the last 50 years).
With me the book had that effect anyway; I don’t agree with all of the book, but it pursuaded me to join the party because its a sign of debate and thinking in the party and a committment to Liberalism.