Today's Scotsman news article on the Inverclyde by-election highlights a split in the Lib Dem camp following the disastrous performance of candidate Sophie Bridger, who polled a mere 2.2% share of the votes, as compared to the party's 13.3% in 2010.
In the interests of not kicking a party when it's down, it's probably not a good idea to say too much about the private and public grief that is the Lib Dems, but in a nutshell some are blaming the party's Westminster coalition with the Tories generally and Nick Clegg in particular, while in turn the Lib Dem leader's camp thinks they would have done better in Inverclyde if his role in the coalition had been emphasised on the doorsteps rather than being discreetly ignored like some sort of embarrassing relative.
But whatever the reasons for the Lib Dems' performance - the ongoing coalition/Clegg factor, the classic two horse race by-election squeeze etc - what's abundantly clear is that these factors can't wholly account for Ms Bridger's woeful poll figures.
However, surely the elephant in the room in this regard was that Ms Bridger basically came across as not even meriting the pejorative jibe of 'student politics', with perhaps the term Head Girl being more appropriate to the image she projected.
Thus with the public fed up with out of touch politicians and the otherworldliness of the whole process, Sophie Bridger was basically unelectable as regards any voter outwith the hardcore Lib Dem vote.
However, that's not to criticise her substantive performance, if only because the essential irrelevance of the contest nationally and my lack of interest in matters pertaining to Inverclyde meant I didn't really pay much attention to the debate, which would of course have been well below the media radar screen in a general election.
But a local Lib Dem constituency member made it clear in a television interview that for obvious reasons no experienced politician was interested in fighting the seat for them, thus to that extent the result should hardly come as a total surprise, even accounting for the not unexpected steep decline in the party's vote share presaged by May's Holyrood poll. And to that extent Ms Bridger should also be admired for stepping into the breach.
Of course, the obvious comparison regarding Ms Bridger is the still youthful but effective former "Baby of the House" Jo Swinson MP, and indeed it might only be a few years until the former is elected to parliament herself.
But in the meantime the public seem unlikely to choose as their representative in parliament someone who seems more like the jumped up school prefect than someone with gravitas and experience, irrespective of whether appearances can be deceiving.
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5 comments:
Er... I kind of agree with Nick.
Sure the coalition is not popular, you would have thought that the Scottish Lib Dems would have made a concious effort to either talk up their part in the coalition or to talk up their policies. Both failed to happen either here or in the Holyrood elections.
It seems to me that the Scotttish Lib Dems are quite happy to hide behind the unpopularity of the coalition, as both a coded protest at it, and also because it hides the lack of policy ideas coming from them.
The Lib Dems are finished as a major political force - not that they really were one - and are at least maintaining the cosistency that has been apparent for almsot 100 years.
As to youthful politicians, we also have a 26 year old council leader. Now, how on earth can someone with relatively little experience possibly be in charge of a multi million pound budget?
All politicians should be required by law to have a minimum o 5 years working experience outside of politics. Unfortunately, since we are a democracy that is never going to happen.
You only need to look at Ed Milliband to see how detached politicians are these days.
Allan
You are certainly correct about the lack of policy ideas - but then again that's hardly confined to the Lib Dems in Scotland - but I suppose in the Clegg/coalition context they're damned if they do, damned if they don't, sort of thing.
Anonymous
Yes, I'd wondered about Mr McCaig in Aberdeen. Is he really worthy of the position despite his tender years, or is the SNP group so devoid of talent or anyone who wants to take on the job that he's been selected almost by default?
Thus a bit like Sophie Bridger becoming the Lib Dem candidate in Inverclyde?
Hi Stuart
On the subject of Callum McCaig, I have heard both him and Ms Bridger being interviewed, and McCaig does seem to have a good deal more 'gravitas' than Sophie Bridger. I actually felt embarrassed for her when she was being interviewed on last week's Politics Show.
As far as 'experience' is concerned, Aberdeen City Council have had numerous leaders with vast amounts of experience who have not really made a fist of it. McCaig will have experience around him and may even offer a fresh approach to tackling the problems in the city. We shall see.
Thanks Andrew. Callum McCaig seemed plausible enough when 'interviewed' on STV News last week, but unfortunately he was only asked one question and it seemed a bit rehearsed rather than Paxmanesque!
But from what you say perhaps the post is regarded as something of a poisoned chalice and the fact that he wanted it perhaps demonstrates a degree of naivety, a la Sophie Bridger.
Good luck to him though.
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