Yesteday I blogged why the line being spun - 'it's what happens to parties in government in mid term elections' - was nonsense. Today a new front has been opened. I don't like today's approach much either...
The new line is, basically, 'everything that happened to the Lib Dems on Thursday was the Tories fault, they're a disgrace'. This is best summarised by Vince's attack this morning - he calls the Tories 'ruthless, calculating and very Tribal'. And various others have taken their cue from this and joined the bandwagon, notably Jenny Tonge.
Now while this line seems to be being pursued in a rather more informal way than yesterdays approach, I think people should stop going down this road too - for 3 reasons.
1. Very few of our electoral votes went to the Tories. They went to Labour in England and Wales and the SNP in Scotland.Yes they hammered us on AV but we (and everyone else) knew this was going to happen. No good moaning about it now.
2. Blaming the Tories for not looking after Lib Dem interests is a bit pathetic. We should be capable of looking after ourselves.
3. Calling the Tories ruthless, calculating and tribal is a bit like accusing the Pope of being Catholic. Of course they are! In fact many of their supporters see those as admirable qualities! No news there.
Let's stop trying to blame the Tories. No one's buying if for a second. These problems are our own problems and we need to sort them out ourselves.
This piece by David Green in The New Statesman is an excellent starting point for us all to ponder.
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