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September 24th, 2010

‘Red Ed’ is tipped for victory, ‘Red Vince’ ruffles a few feathers and Nick Clegg converts to Thatcherism – round up of political blogs for 18-24 September

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Blog Admin

September 24th, 2010

‘Red Ed’ is tipped for victory, ‘Red Vince’ ruffles a few feathers and Nick Clegg converts to Thatcherism – round up of political blogs for 18-24 September

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Chris Gilson, Paul Rainford and Amy Mollett take a look at the week in political blogging.

Weekend

As Nick Clegg declares there is “no future” for the Liberal Democrats as a left-wing alternative to Labour, 52% of Lib Dem voters believe he has “sold out” on core party values.

Meanwhile, Left Foot Forward comments on the “welcoming hand” of Caroline Lucas extended to disaffected Labour and Lib Dem supporters, noting that the Green Party are “better positioned than ever to forge a real campaign to reignite the lost British left.”

Dave Hill’s London Blog at The Guardian discusses the juxtaposition of dire poverty with ultimate extravagance in Tower Hamlets, and how this is reflected in divisions among voters.

Laurie Penny at The Staggers notes the “damaging and dangerous” effects that the coalition’s welfare cuts may have on the most vulnerable in society including the disabled.

Monday

Mark Pack blogs on Danny Alexander’s appearance at the Liberal Democrats’ party conference and his plans to fight tax avoidance, while Guido Fawkes recalls Nick Clegg talking about the harsh reality of spending cuts this time last year.

Nick Robinson reviews the conference, with Hopi Sen providing some good additional analysisPolitical Scrapbook blogs on a potential snub of Nick Clegg by former leader Charles Kennedy.

Iain Dale is reasonably impressed by Clegg’s speech – saying he was channelling David Cameron. Will Straw at Left Foot Forward sees it as confirmation that Clegg’s conversion to Thatcherite economic policies is now complete.

Jeff at Better Nation says that their support for the free schools programme may well cost the Liberal Democrat leadership.

John Redwood has an in-depth look at defence spending cuts, while Tim Montgomerie at ConservativeHome looks at calls to cut middle-class benefits to save funding for science and technology investment.

Mark Pack examines electoral and House of Lords reform.

Sunny Hundal is critical of Peter Mandelson’s recent attacks on Ed Miliband and the manifesto he authored for Labour at the last election.

Tuesday

Malc at Better Nation outlines why he will probably vote ‘no’ in next year’s AV referendum, while Iain Martin at the Wall Street Journal looks at Brown’s election that never was.

Luke Akehurst at Luke’s Blog reckons that Ed Miliband may still come out of the Labour leadership contest the winner.

Zoe Gannon at Left Foot Forward says that the Coalition is taking a gamble that private sector growth will fill the gap left by public sector expenditure cuts, and Tim Horton critiques the regressive budget measures.

According to Iain Martin at the FT’s Westminster Blog, Simon Hughes has ‘broken ranks’ with the coalition over nuclear power, though Sunny Hundal at Liberal Conspiracy says that some Liberal Democrats ‘misunderstand’ the government’s policies.

Toby Thomas at Left Foot Forward reflects on the Liberal Democrats’ conference and finds a rigorous amount of dissent

Wednesday

Guido Fawkes is excited at the prospect of Ed Miliband winning the Labour leadership, as he will be an easier target for the Tories than his brother David. Iain Dale reckons that the Tory blogosphere needs new blood.

Richard Murphy at Liberal Conspiracy unpacks Nick Clegg’s arguments on the deficit and finds them wanting, though Wat Tyler at Burning our Money is very concerned at our rising levels of debt interest repayments.

Paul Goodman at ConservativeHome examines the Coalition tensions that the Liberal Democrats’ conference illustrate.

George Eaton at The Staggers says that Vince Cable’s conference speech owes more to Adam Smith than to Karl Marx, but CityUnslicker is convinced of Cable’s socialist tendencies, as is Guido Fawkes.

Iain Martin at the Wall Street Journal says that Cable denies that he is an anti-business business secretary. Paul Goodman at ConservativeHome says that Cable’s views on tax, not banks, is the problem.

The Adam Smith Institute Blog suggest he has misunderstood the lessons of their revered mentor.

The Staggers argues that cuts wont do the arts any good.

Thursday

David Marquand discusses the post-election political terrain at openDemocracy

Tribune notes that Liberal Democrat activists are putting pressure on their ministers to make the coming cuts more fair, and suggests that there is a three way split in the party.

Liberal Conspiracy suggests that the UK is heading the way of Ireland – namely into a double dip recession – with Iain Martin suggesting that this will play into the hands of Labour. Next Left takes a look at the policy choices for Labour regarding the deficit.

At Left Foot Forward, Gregg McClymont, Labour MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, claims that Labour’s approach to reducing child poverty was ‘ambitious, radical and innovative’.

Jim Pickard at Westminster Blog comments on George Osbourne’s gilt windfall, while The Coffee House argues that the Coalition is out of touch on crime and thetorydiary suggests that elected police commissioners must have a local mandate if they are to work

The Staggers looks at whether the Tories have gained a poll boost from the Liberal Democrats conference. ResPublica suggest that the real divide in British politics is within rather than between the parties, with libertarians on one side and communitarians on the other.

Peter Tatchell is hopeful of the tide turning in favour of same sex marriage in the UK.

Liberal Bureaucracy takes a sceptical look at the new proposal for a ‘virtual council’ in Suffolk

Friday

Vince Cable’s popularity rating has risen following his withering critique of free market capitalism according to Liberal ConspiracyWestminster Blog, and The Coffee House.

Liberal Conspiracy reports that 177 quangos are to be abolished, as thetorydiary celebrates additional Tory assaults on New Labour’s legacy. Conor’s Commentary questions the wisdom of some of these moves, as does Michael White at the Guardian’s politics blog.

Keith Ewing at openDemocracy argues that the Coalition faces a challenge to restore trade union rights.

Guido suggests that David Miliband is preparing for defeat, as Left Foot Forward crunches the numbers and projects Ed Miliband to ‘win the Labour crown’.

Left Foot Forward takes a look at claims that Labour must establish a credible strategy for winning back voters in the south of England if it is to return to power.

Westminster Blog reports that Ken Livingstone will be the Labour candidate in the London mayoral election and Tom Harris makes the case as to why he might just win.

The Adam Smith Blog makes the case for higher interest rates.


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This work by British Politics and Policy at LSE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.