INTRODUCTION

This can be thought of as a follow-up to my “Open Letter to Tim Farron”. Yesterday and today have seen some further developments that I believe warrant commenting on.

THE WIDENING REALITY GAP

Both Tim Farron and Sir Vince Cable have spoken of large scale defections from Labour to the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, IRL the first defection has happened – Councillor Jennifer Churchill switching allegiance from the Liberal Democrats to Labour. I have two versions of the story for you to check out:

1. The original story in the Richmond & Twickenham Times
2. This, courtesy of Huffington Post

Meanwhile, also IRL, the number of people who have joined the Labour Party since the result of their leadership election was confirmed now exceeds the total membership of the Liberal Democrats. For more on this and other numbers associated with the Labour leadership election check out this piece from labourlist.

I also note, courtesy of Politics Home, that Mr Farron, who previously awarded the Liberal Democrats 2 out of 10 for their performance in the coalition (a mark that to me seemed generous) has backtracked on that. I also note, courtesy of The Guardian, that Mr Farron would apparently go back into coalition with the Tories in 2020 should that possibility arise. This latter practically beggars belief given that being in coalition with them from 2010-15 well-nigh destroyed the Liberal democrats as a party. In the 2015 General Election people who actually wanted Tory policies voted for the real thing rather than a poor imitation, and people who did not want Tory policies were not going to trust the Liberal Democrats, so voted for other parties. To even be considering another Con-Dem coalition as a possibility in these circumstances seems to me to allow only two possibilities:

1. Mr Farron has taken leave of his senses.
2. Mr Farron is in actuality a saboteur trying to complete the job of destroying the Liberal Democrat party that five years of being handmaidens to the Tories started.

What is emerging from the Liberal Democrat conference is proof positive, from the horses mouth, that they cannot be considered in any sense of the word to represent any sort of opposition to the Tories. For that people must look elsewhere.

AN IMPORTANT PETITION

Jeremy Corbyn has been under constant fire from the right, including supposed party colleagues of his for some time. It is time that the media, and more especially right-wing Labour politicians recognised the triumph of a man who garnered more than three times as many votes as any of their chosen candidates could muster and stopped seeking to do him down. Please sign and share the petition.

I conclude thIS part of this post by sharing this, just in from politicalsift.

PHOTOGRAPHS

For those who have read this post through, here are some pictures from the last couple of days to enjoy…