Unregistered User
If he has any sense he won't put it to his party.
PR is not the same as political/electoral reform.
Regional Assemblies had constitutions that let minority groupings have Executive/Cabinet representation when they had less than 5% of the vote/cllrs. That is an example of how minority groups get power without a public mandate.
Watty
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
paul
cleggy will never swallow "political/electoral reform", sounds like something out of "yes minister".
set up a series of committees and working groups to prepare reports that are never read, then the idea is dropped.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
It's a matter of perspective, Paul. Yes, of course you're right in so far as we shall all pay the price for a hung parliament, but had Conservative Central Office actually paid heed to the significant minority of their own supporters with very real qualms over the EU, then DC would actually be the Prime Minister by now without having to ally himself with a party that is not a natural supporter of the Tories.
True friends stab you in the front.
DC just had to say what he was going to do about the financial crisis at the right moment and he would have been swept by a landslide into No 10. He would have been seen as the one brave enough to tell the truth as he saw it. Only a few still think the EU is an issue. Finance and immigration were this elections majors, only one of them didn't figure.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
Sid
Whilst I agree that if DC had spelled out what the Tories would have done to start putting the economy right, more would have voted for him, the same cannot be true of your "Only a few still think the EU is an issue" comment. At the general election 917,832 people voted UKIP and 563,743 voted BNP; by any standards 1.48 million people isn't "only a few" and whilst I accept that not all of these would have voted Tory if the EU issue hadn't been ignored, many would have.
I can't help but feel that if DC had simply pledged a referendum on continued UK membership of the EU, he'd have received many thousands more votes, many of them in constituencies where the UKIP vote alone would have made the difference between 306 Tory seats and the 326 he needed.
I just don't see why none of the 'big three' won't pledge such a referendum. Every time the subject comes up, some Europhile will say that a 'No' vote wouldn't win anyway. If that's the case, why doesn't DC put an end to the rumblings by pledging such a referendum? Or is the 'No' vote faction considerably larger than people make out?
True friends stab you in the front.
Whatever happens in the ongoing horse trading it will never end up with as strange a result as seeing Martin McGuinness as deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland!
On the other hand we can never say that Martin is not a conviction politician, even if some of his convictions relate to carrying explosives and 5000 rounds of ammunition!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
you're on form today.
i remember martin being made education minister, i understand the curriculum included gems such as;-
how many "k"s in kalashnikov?
if you have 5 hand grenades and throw 3 into a protestant chip shop etc etc.
Bob/Howard, I think those types of comment are unwarranted. Martin McGuinnes may have been a convicted IRA terrorist/freedom fighter (depends on your point of view), but so was Robert Mugabe, Jomo Kenyatta, Nelson Mandela, Raymon De Valera, Fidel Castro, Lech Walensa, maybe even our very own Oliver Cromwell, and many others I suspect.
When the fighting stops and the talking starts we have to view the protagonists differently if any progress is to be made. To their perpetual credit, both John Major and Tony Blair understood this, and many lives have been saved and peace brought to a troubled land.
Once they deal with the religious bigotry, Northern Ireland may just make some real progress. My hope is for a reunification with Eire.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I think Robert Mugabe was a terrorist to start with Sid and he still is.
Mandela was a terrorist in as muich as he was caught trying to blow up the Government offices in Pretoria and put in prison for 26 or so years.
I do believe that he has probably been the greatest African from the whole continent.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
sid
nothing i have seen from mr mcguiness since convinces me that he is a bona fide politician.