Guardian Newspaper Backs Liberal Democrats

[Turborama]

Source: Sky News

The Liberal Democrats have won the support of the traditionally Labour-backing Guardian newspaper.

In an editorial entitled The Liberal Moment Has Come The Guardian said if it had a vote it would opt "enthusiastically" for Nick Clegg's party.

But it said "under our discredited electoral system" readers in marginal constituencies should consider voting tactically for Labour if they wish to keep the Conservatives out.

Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100430/tuk-guardian-newspaper-backs-liberal-dem-45dbed5.html

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General election 2010: The liberal moment has come

Source: The Guardian

If the Guardian had a vote it would be cast enthusiastically for the Liberal Democrats. But under our discredited electoral system some people may – hopefully for the last time – be forced to vote tactically.

Citizens have votes. Newspapers do not. However, if the Guardian had a vote in the 2010 general election it would be cast enthusiastically for the Liberal Democrats. It would be cast in the knowledge that not all the consequences are predictable, and that some in particular should be avoided. The vote would be cast with some important reservations and frustrations. Yet it would be cast for one great reason of principle above all.

After the campaign that the Liberal Democrats have waged over this past month, for which considerable personal credit goes to Nick Clegg, the election presents the British people with a huge opportunity: the reform of the electoral system itself. Though Labour has enjoyed a deathbed conversion to aspects of the cause of reform, it is the Liberal Democrats who have most consistently argued that cause in the round and who, after the exhaustion of the old politics, reflect and lead an overwhelming national mood for real change.

Proportional representation – while not a panacea – would at last give this country what it has lacked for so long: a parliament that is a true mirror of this pluralist nation, not an increasingly unrepresentative two-party distortion of it. The Guardian has supported proportional representation for more than a century. In all that time there has never been a better opportunity than now to put this subject firmly among the nation's priorities. Only the Liberal Democrats grasp this fully, and only they can be trusted to keep up the pressure to deliver, though others in all parties, large and small, do and should support the cause. That has been true in past elections too, of course. But this time is different. The conjuncture in 2010 of a Labour party that has lost so much public confidence and a Conservative party that has not yet won it has enabled Mr Clegg to take his party close to the threshold of real influence for the first time in nearly 90 years.

This time – with the important caveat set out below – the more people who vote Liberal Democrat on 6 May, the greater the chance that this will be Britain's last general election under a first-past-the-post electoral system which is wholly unsuited to the political needs of a grown-up 21st-century democracy.

Full editorial: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/30/the-liberal-moment-has-come

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Nick Clegg: we have taken Labour's place in UK politics

Source: The Guardian

Exclusive: Liberal Democrat leader rejects tactical voting, and says the race for PM is between him and Cameron.

Patrick Wintour, Allegra Stratton and Aida Edemariam

Nick Clegg today makes a bold pitch to Labour voters, claiming that the Liberal Democrats have supplanted Gordon Brown's party to become the natural home of progressive politics in Britain.

In a Guardian interview, Clegg accuses David Cameron of having no agenda for progressive reform of the country, and says the Lib Dems and Labour come from the same historical tradition. He says he is rejecting all talk of tactical voting and is instead "going for broke" to maximise his party's share of the vote.

Clegg insists that the tectonic plates of politics are shifting, and the choice has distilled down to a vote for his party or a Conservative party that will "cast the country adrift".

The Lib Dem leader appears to suggest that any post-election arrangement with the Tories would be a coalition of convenience rather than principle when he asserts: "There is a gulf in values between myself and David Cameron," adding: "They have no progressive reform agenda at all – only an unbearable sense of entitlement that it's just their time to govern."

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/30/nick-clegg-lib-dem-labour

(My emphasis at the end, couldn't agree more with his "unbearable sense of entitlement" comment)

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[tomm2thumbs]

1. glad to hear it

I need to go watch the last two debates - thanks for the reminder

[SnakeEyes]

2. I'm honestly not surprised

While, yes, The Guardian has backed Labour but if you've followed them for some time as I have, and those that like in the UK have told me, you'd see they have been further to the left of Labour. They want a progressive agenda and the LibDems are strong this time around so they are backing them rather than liberal light that Labour has been. IMO, this isn't really that big of news. Call me if the Telegraph doesn't back the tories.

[depakid]

3. Blair did to Labor what Clinton and the DLC did to traditionl Democratic values

The new "third way" is the Liberal Democrats.

[harmonicon]

4. the difference of course is that people loved Clinton to the end - he had/has mass appeal

Blair was loathed by the time he left, and Brown has been saddled with that loathing (not that he had no hand it creating it). Labour could have decided to change, but they didn't - they just stayed on the tracks with the train coming and argued about why it wouldn't stop.

While he wasn't campaigning to completely change congressional representation, Howard Dean's call for instant run off voting was the single most appealing position he held when running for president. That would be as much a positive change for our democracy as proportional representation would be to Britain's.

[T_i_B]

5. "Liberal Democrat leader rejects tactical voting"

Oh come off it. The Lib Dems are notorious for encouraging "tactical" voting, epecially with their use of misleading barcharts.

I'm lucky that where I live I've only see them try the "tactical" bullshit once.

[Bert]

6. Wouldnt you like some electoral reform

The difference seems to me that if lib dems are the kingmakers they will insist on reforms that you will have truly representational elections. I could deal with a republican administration if it meant the end of the electoral college, something we did not get after the last coup here.

[daleo]

7. I wonder if the Liberal Democrats will stick to their guns on electoral reform

When they become competitive, third parties sometimes start supporting first past the post, thinking that they will soon supplant one of the leaders and benefit from it themselves.