Only hope is now the Liberal Democrats!

This post was first published on "Orphans of Liberty" yesterday, under the title "A telling moment of truth for Lord Paddy Ashdown," it is repeated here today, because of what its author considers is its relative importance for the restoration of some standards in public life in Britain!

   In the fraught days of two years ago, when the general election delivered a hung parliament to Britain, the crucial role played by former Liberal Democrat Party Leader, Lord Paddy Ashdown, became evident through his frquent media appearences and statements. An even more critical turning point now presents itself to this senior party grandée, and self-appointed representative of decency within Britain's system of governance.

   To understand why this blogger believes that such is the case it would be helpful to reflect on a cermony that took place at Pointe de Grave in France just over one year ago on 31st March 2011, when a memorial was unveiled in honour of a WWII commando raid, at which Lord Ashdown undertook to represent our country, read here. Only two of the commandoes survived, many of their comrades were shot, upon the direct orders of Hitler, but with the connivance, processing, transportation and full reponsibility of the supposedly once honourable German armed forces. Ordinary combatants they were, shot in cold blood for pursuing the very hostilities that the German Army had itself instigated and was in the process of perpetrating while occupying the sovereign soil of France by armed brute force. Paddy Ashdown has thus accepted a leading role in representing the moral beliefs of our nation, beliefs that have rarely been so comprehensively challenged as they were in the five hours of evidence provided by Rebekah Brooks at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday.

   Every Prime Minister since Thatcher, and it would appear almost the entire cabinet members of all administrations since Tony Blair, seem to be potentially implicated in this seeming subversion. The Liberal Democrats have so far emerged largely unscathed from the sordid details of political power plays and manipulations of our main party politicians by the tawdry journals that are/were The Sun and the News of the World and those who controlled them. We have yet to even arrive at the part played by Trevor Kavanagh - clearly Coulson and Brooks were but cockily conceited mere pawns in this dark game. Nick Clegg, as was warned on my blog Ironies Too several times, made himself a party to this scandal by accepting Coulson as the Coalition's press spokesman.

   There are of course others in the Liberal Democrat hierarchy to be looked to, along with Ashdown, to now do the right thing, namely withdraw their support from the coalition with the Conservative Party and possibly in the process of the probable resulting general election, regain an opportunity of re-establishing some credentials for decency, as extolled by Lord Ashdown and exemplified by all the marine commandos involved in Operation Frankton, not least the fortitude in the escape as shown by Hessler and Sparks, which seems hardly comprehensible to those of us so pampered to live in 2012, not seventy years earlier!

   Other Liberal Democrats whom might also be scrupulousy examing their consciences this weekend among senior Lib/Dem figures are (in no particular order) Simon Hughes, Charles Kennedy, David Laws, Menzies Campbell, David Owen and David Steel

Cogitatively Castrated Conservatives

Louise Mensch and her three  conservative party MP colleagues on the Parliamentary Media Committee has really done for the Tory Party as far as a thinking properly functioning organisation is concerned. A commentator to the Conservative Home web site discussion on the farce of the Murdoch report said it far better than I am able last evening as follows:

Nigel Rathbone

So the Murdochs, a toxic family who have debased our press and poisoned our politics for over 40 years, have been finally exposed publicly as liars and manipulators, unfit to run a company. They have had their placemen in both main political parties, they have trashed the reputations of innocent victims of crime, invaded the privacy of thousands of individuals, and have now been clearly shown to be breaking the law of this country. So much is clear.

And what do we learn from Louise Mensch? That the Tories support the Murdochs and think they are proper people to run a company, but the Lib Dems and Labour disagree.

I'm sure Labour and the Lib Dems will be happy to be on the side of the vast majority of right-thinking people in this country. The mystery is why on earth some of the more intelligent and decent folk on the Tory side have been prepared to cede this ground to their political opponents

Perhaps the answer for Mr Rathbone will only arrive, when he, like so many other former supporters of the older Conservative Party, concludes that the more intelligent and decent folk have long since given up on the party - few such may now be found within their ranks and certainly none in the parliamentary party, that is why no votes should be given to any supporting that party tomorrow, even if the office being sought seems a million miles from Westminster, the tentacles and lack of principle of Cameron and Osborne permeates throughout the entire party - stands to reason really! Same goes for Labour, after all Ed Balls remains at its heart, would one look for a decent Nazi while Hitler was in charge?