SaturdayOurs has long been a party of powerful women. I think of John Stuart Mill’s muse and collaborator Harriet Taylor and, of course, the first Lady Bonkers (Harlequins and England); of Margot Asquith, Megan Lloyd George and Nancy Seear; and, to bring the list up to the minute, of Liz Lynne, Jo Swinson and Hazel Grove. Thus it was no surprise to me to when my fellow peer Ros Scott was elected as our President.
Yet her victory was by no means a walkover, for she had for an opponent none other than Lembit Öpik. The Member for Montgomery had cannily hit upon the idea of basing his campaign upon replicating the popularity that Po, the noted TellyTubby, enjoyed some years ago. (Po’s subsequent decline into a tabloid hell of drink and drugs need not concern us here, sad though it is.) Thus it was that Öpik rode the country upon his scooter, waving to Liberal Democrat members as he passed. In the event, this strategy fell a little short of success.
Lord Bonkers was Liberal MP for Rutland South-West 1906-10.
The week so far
Tuesday: Giving Jonathan Ross both barrels
Wednesday: Nick Clegg gets a haircut
Thursday: Titter
On a day when it appears our tax shillings may have been used to fund the basest of sleaze, your writings cheered me up no end.
ReplyDeleteBonkers, I salute you !!