tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post113831171148122229..comments2024-03-27T16:39:43.522+00:00Comments on Liberal England: The Man in the White SuitJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138484676764080522006-01-28T21:44:00.000+00:002006-01-28T21:44:00.000+00:00I very much agree with "pissed-off" on this. Hughe...I very much agree with "pissed-off" on this. Hughes is very careless with the repuration of our party.<BR/><BR/>On the O'Grady campaign, they were actually the main challengers to Labour at the beginning of the campaign. We only overtook them toward the end (revealed by the second or th¡ird constituency poll). This was - I assume - the moment at which the controversial leaflet was released.Peter Pigeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10741462448758919750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138452466591224562006-01-28T12:47:00.000+00:002006-01-28T12:47:00.000+00:00My recollection of the Bermondsey campaign is the ...My recollection of the Bermondsey campaign is the same as Peter's (above). I also remember that the Labour Party was doing everything to keep the question of sexuality off the agenda: this was not a "gay rights" election. And let's not forget, this was when Militant was running wild in the Labour Party, and I certainly remember being followed around by a group of their would-be heavies: every time someone answered the door in one of those 1930s council estates, they would crowd around and say to the person who answered "Everything all right? You're voting Labour aren't you" and such like. <BR/><BR/>But what really bothers me is that, after years in which I've defended the campaign against allegations that we were running a homophobic campaign against Tatchell, Simon Hughes suddenly makes all that look a lie, and one that he willingly connived at.<BR/><BR/>That is not leadership potential. That is not 'clearing the decks so we can all move on'. That is treating the door-knocking activist as the PBI, or worse still mushrooms (to revive an old joke).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138391491862929012006-01-27T19:51:00.000+00:002006-01-27T19:51:00.000+00:00A prominent worker in Liberal by-election campaign...A prominent worker in Liberal by-election campaigns once told me he had helped run the O'Grady campaign. This was some years after the event and I can imagine the said person might have been trying to "boost" his image as tough guy election fighter. Not that his image needed boosting.cymrumarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03669732438904553308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138368379553933452006-01-27T13:26:00.000+00:002006-01-27T13:26:00.000+00:00I spent a long time working on that campaign and d...I spent a long time working on that campaign and don't recall anything overtly anti-gay. The leaflet seems just an unfortunate double entendre.<BR/><BR/>There were a few Gay Liberals wearing the badge on the Saturday before polling day. Their initiative and I don't believe they were sent canvassing with them on.Peter Pigeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10741462448758919750noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138365312716440112006-01-27T12:35:00.000+00:002006-01-27T12:35:00.000+00:00Helping the O'Grady campaign would have made some ...Helping the O'Grady campaign would have made some sense I suppose...<BR/>You have the Labour vote split between Labour and the Militant Tendancy 'Real Labour' with the latter deliberately campaigning on Tatchell's sexuality.<BR/><BR/>It would have been a matter of divide and conquer. If it did happen though it was a gross misjudgement, and Simon Hughes quite possibly did not know of it or sanction it.Tristanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15395992764678278326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138355414743295212006-01-27T09:50:00.000+00:002006-01-27T09:50:00.000+00:00The question Simon really needs to answer is wheth...The question Simon really needs to answer is whether he feels he has the political judgement to be leader of the party, not about his sexuality. <BR/><BR/>It's hard to believe after this week's acutely awful story management that the answer could be yes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138345729745580412006-01-27T07:08:00.000+00:002006-01-27T07:08:00.000+00:00You (and Iain Dale) miss the truly shocking thing ...You (and Iain Dale) miss the truly shocking thing on the leaflet, namely the aberrant apostrophe after Simon Hughes' name. I despair sometimes at some Liberal artworkers' lack of command of basic grammar and it is sad to see it has been the case always.<BR/><BR/>As regards whether Young Liberals helped the O'Grady camaign why would they have done so? I wasn't a member back then. I suppose that it is possible that in those days there were so many Liberal activists that we had spare ones to lend to other parties but somehow it seems unlikely.Iain Sharpehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07249331216466329232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-1138317318562729712006-01-26T23:15:00.000+00:002006-01-26T23:15:00.000+00:00I see no reason why Thursday's events should stop ...I see no reason why Thursday's events should stop Simon becoming leader. In fact, I think it should make him - and the party - even more determined to achieve that.<BR/><BR/>As you so apositely point out, his case is very different to Mark Oaten's. <BR/><BR/>He will come through this with dignity, and if "God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform", perhaps Simon's current plight might be just the event needed, if you will forgive a badly crafted pun, to truly put the ghost of sexual-preference-bias to bed, once and for all.<BR/><BR/>Personally, I feel that what someone does in their private life, so long as it doesn't involve minors or would anger the RSPCA, couldn't be less relevant to their ability to inspire and lead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com