Wednesday 15 December 2010

Broken Promises:Lib Dems in need of some good PR


With all the political events of the past month, the Liberal Democrats have alienated a large majority of their supporters and are in need of some crisis management and some all around good PR.



This was the Lib Dems official campaign video released prior to the 2010 General Elections and was titled 'Say goodbye to broken promises'. At the time Nick Clegg seemed exactly what was needed; a charismatic and confident leader to rally supporters and convince the undecided.

After the formation of the Coalition Government, Clegg and the Lib Dems stood by their promise to fight any rise in tuition fees. But now all hope for the party has vanished, and the encouraging messages portrayed in the campaign video have been extinguished in a sea of irony and broken promises.

As a student and a supporter of the Liberal Democrats I was appalled to see the sudden U-turn in their point of view and change of values, as were thousands of other students all over the country. Clegg claimed that he had not previously understood the plight of the UKs economy to its full extent. If that’s the truth then why on earth had he been running for PM?


I’m not saying I will never vote Lib Dem again, but I will need a lot of convincing. If the Liberal Democrats want a future then Clegg must resign as leader and someone must step up to the plate to re-establish the party’s traditional values which attracted their supporters in the first place. They must once again distance themselves from the Conservatives, and now also from Clegg.

Are the Lib Dems finished as a political party, or is there still hope for them? All I know right now is that there is a dog flap on the back door of number 10 Downing Street, and it has Nick Clegg’s name hanging above it.

4 comments:

Ray Lapena said...

Hey Tom! Thanks for your comment. My apologies for lack of content on my side. I had neglected it for too long, but just posted about my most recent conference. Your blog is great - good writing and insightful views. Look forward to following along - looks like you're on track for a successful career!

Ray

Anonymous said...

It’s highly annoying to see this, especially watching the video back :/ grrrr... but I feel it’s hard to blame Nick Clegg because at the end of the day you’ve got to blame the coalition government and the tricky situation it has put the Lib Dem MPs in. At least some Lib Dems decided to vote against and abstain the fee vote, the MPs were put in such a sticky situation whereby they had to go against their previous beliefs. If you look at it another way, the conservatives got away lightly with this leaving the Lib Dems looking like “the bad guys”. I don’t look at the coalition government as being two parties, merely one... David Cameron’s Government.

I don’t think Lib Dems are finished as a political party but I don’t ever think they will be strong enough to overall win a general election and control the country. It’s too competitive between Labour and Conservative. You need to vote tactically these days, where I'm from the majority of the votes are Conservative therefore if you want anyone else but the Conservatives to get the seat you've got to vote second best, Lib Dem. However, if I was to vote tomorrow on general beliefs of who I think is the better party, it would be labour. Lib Dems don’t “have it in them” and I hate the conservatives. It really doesn’t come down to politics in my mind. Just a voting game.

On a side note lets count our chickens that our fees are £3000ish! *waheyyy!* - but I do feel very sorry for those who will pay the higher rates, on a cheeky note though – less people might go to university so our degrees might mean more... – raising tuition fees is just a fine example that the Conservatives are only interested in looking after the wealthier community and sod the poor.

Tom Westgate said...

My anger at this is partly my fault. After the formation of the Coalition I really let myself believe that the Lib Dems would have some influence in policy. Well that was a huge mistake.

The tuition fees policy was so important for the Lib Dems and their supporters that it surprised me to see so many of them sell out like that, just to keep their position. I have a lot of respect for 21 Lib Dem MPs who voted rebelled, and possibly even more so for 6 Conservatives who did likewise.

I dont think they will ever come as close to taking the majority as they did this year.

ines16 said...

Well this video is SO bad that it looks like a spoof done after the tuition fees increase to take the piss.

It's so enraging to see lies as blatant as these grrrr. I think the video is way too commercial...if I had seen this before the elections I would have thought wtf is he running for prime minister or for Miss World! Seriously play the vid again but don't watch it, listen to it as if it was radio and then you'll hear how they've just put everything they've ever heard British people moaning about and promised it would get changed. Why after all these years and after a major economic crisis would he be able to wave his magic wand and make it all a peaceful place?

Maybe he should have added in the video that in order for tuition fees to stay the same, they would have got every single MP to pay back the tax payers money they spent to cater their rich lifestyles WITH INTEREST...because seriously who gives a toss if they've resigned!

Sorry about the rant Tom lol I was inspired in the moment

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Tom Westgate
I am 21 and currently in my second year of a Public Relations and Communications degree at Southampton Solent University and it is awesome. I love hanging out with my friends and I enjoy playing football and rugby and I go surfing with my friends every year! I know when I'm older I definitely want to work in a big city, preferably somewhere hot and on the coast! But before I think about getting a job I want to go travelling. I just want to make the most of my life and see the world! In short...it's allll goood!
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