Like it or not, who leads the Lib Dems matters: Labour can’t win without them | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian

Although nobody is talking about coalition, the two parties – and their leaders – sink or swim togetherDon’t turn away, but the UK’s most boring leadership election ends on 26 August. Few but their closest coteries will be waiting with bated breath to learn which of two similars has won the dubious prize to lead a group of 11 straggling Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons. (Wait, apologies: the non-election, last week, of the only candidate to lead the beleaguered Tories in Scotland is possibly an even duller event.)You can hear Labour people, between gritted teeth, asking loudly why the Lib Dems don’t just do the decent thing – go away and expire. Leave the stage. What is their point, after a hundred years of failure? Like loose horses in the Grand National, they’re an annoyance in a two-party race. Lib Dem politics is for hobbyists who love elections but lack purpose. They sweep up ditherers’ wasted votes and lack the nerve to be red or blue in a blood-feud political battleground. Besides, let them never be called progressive again after the abominations they enabled in the austerity coalition. The bedroom tax, anyone? Continue reading…

Although nobody is talking about coalition, the two parties – and their leaders – sink or swim together

Don’t turn away, but the UK’s most boring leadership election ends on 26 August. Few but their closest coteries will be waiting with bated breath to learn which of two similars has won the dubious prize to lead a group of 11 straggling Liberal Democrat MPs in the House of Commons. (Wait, apologies: the non-election, last week, of the only candidate to lead the beleaguered Tories in Scotland is possibly an even duller event.)

You can hear Labour people, between gritted teeth, asking loudly why the Lib Dems don’t just do the decent thing – go away and expire. Leave the stage. What is their point, after a hundred years of failure? Like loose horses in the Grand National, they’re an annoyance in a two-party race. Lib Dem politics is for hobbyists who love elections but lack purpose. They sweep up ditherers’ wasted votes and lack the nerve to be red or blue in a blood-feud political battleground. Besides, let them never be called progressive again after the abominations they enabled in the austerity coalition. The bedroom tax, anyone?

Continue reading…