Teather Going

The announced departure of Sarah Teather from Parliament has not been greeted with universal dismay to say the least.  She has always been unpopular on the Labour side of course, but many Tories and Liberal Democrats also seem to dislike her.  As well as basic dishonesty, she has been disloyal to her colleagues and thoroughly sanctimonious to boot.

There is widespread speculation that she stood down as she knew she would lose in Brent Central.  That seems likely.  Her departure makes it even more likely that Labour will win Brent Central easily, as the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP will not be fully committed.  Her announcement follows tumbling Liberal Democrat membership and a succession of poor election results in the GLA and Council by elections.

Teather is currently saying that she will be campaigning for the Liberal Democrats.  Quite how you campaign for a party by telling a national newspaper you find it "catastrophically depressing" I am not sure.  It is clear that she didn't believe in the present government even when she was a minister voting through the policies she now claims are repugnant.  Of course in the past, she has put out literature of highly dubious honesty (part of a long standing tradition for Brent Liberal Democrats).

Nonetheless, I don't see how anyone can announce that they are standing down as a Liberal Democrat MP because they find their party's performance so repugnant, but still ask other people to vote for the Liberal Democrats.  Indeed, I don't see how Teather can still keep the Liberal Democrat whip with any credibility as she is now claiming to be fundamentally opposed to major aspects of their programme.