In them, Nick wrote:
Of course, being in Coalition Government brings challenges, but our party is used to setbacks and brickbats and our values remain steadfast. We’re implementing those values in Government: fairness, freedom and concern for the environment.
And we will make it crystal clear that we are fighting for those every step of the way in Government.
That’s why we have cut taxes for millions of ordinary working people, introduced the Youth Contract and Pupil Premium and are putting into place the Green Investment Bank and Green Deal.I am not sure I share this analysis, The policies mentioned are fine, but Thursday's results outside the Lib Dems' areas of strength suggest to me that the public has no clear idea of our values.
In London, for instance, 98,913 people gave the Green candidate their first preference. They knew Jenny Jones had no chance of winning, but they had a clear picture of what she stood for and wanted to be identified with it.
If we Liberal Democrats want a significant proportion of voters to feel like this about us even if they don't get a new Focus every few days, we need to make our values more explicit.
I also received two e-mails from Nick Clegg, 25 minutes apart.
ReplyDeleteThe first was addressed to "Dear –name--". The second was addressed to "Dear Friend". (For a defeated councillor, the first salutation must have added insult to injury).
These otherwise identical e-mails were headed "Our values remain strong" but the text gave no indication of what Clegg thinks these values are or why they are stronger.
Perhaps we should be told?