Very struck by the Observer's piece on Nick Clegg yesterday and its implications for Sarah Teather in Brent Central. The great one more or less says sod off to those voters who have backed the Liberal Democrats since the Iraq War as being a "left wing" alternative to Labour. The piece quotes him:
"I am not denying that there is a chunk of people who turned to the Liberal Democrats at the height of Blair's authoritarism and his fascination with Bush and Cheney and said "Ha, these Liberal Democrats, they're the leftwing party I want. They're the leftwing conscience of the Labour Party." That was always going to unwind at some point."
The problem for Sarah Teather is that that is what her entire parliamentary career has been based on, positioning herself to the left of Labour. Now she finds herself implementing a Tory programme of savage cuts that goes completely against the more Keynesian approach that the Lib Dems had during the campaign, and a Leader who is explicitly rejecting the core beliefs of virtually all the Brent Central voters who supported her.
I wonder what she will do next?
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