Update: Do Lib Dems in Chatteris need to work harder?
You might have thought this would be a signal to end their now infamous campaigning methods. If that message has gone out, it certainly hasn't reached the Lib Dems here in Cambridgeshire. We have a Fenland District Council election in Slade Lode Ward impending. In their opening shot for this election the Lib Dems have:
- Misrepresented the events at a planning committee meeting (I know, I chaired it) as well as the reason for the non-attendance of the Town Council Chairman
- Politicised Scrutiny at County Council (which is supposed to be non-political)
- Misrepresented the Conservative position on a motion at County Council (I was there, the authors of the leaflet weren't)
That is only at first glance, and without the intimate knowledge of events at Chatteris Town Council, where most of the comments originate from. Interestingly, the leaflet includes a personal plea for people to join the Lib Dems from Ming the Mediocre; that'll work then. The strapline at the bottom of the leaflet says that "Chatteris needs more hardworking Lib Dem Councillors", admitting that their own Councillors need to work harder is something that I can't really comment on :>)
The likely Conservative Candidate is someone who has recently moved across to the Conservatives from the Lib Dems. Maybe this leaflet explains why.
I try not to focus on local issues on this blog - but I make an exception in this case because it highlights concerns that exist about the Lib Dems right across the Country. So rest assured, if the Lib Dems claim that it is "a two horse race", or that "only the Lib Dems can beat the Tories here" or they publish the expected totally misrepresentative graph, it will be mentioned here.
Update: It seems I am not the only one concerned about this leaflet and the conduct of Lib Dems in the area. Read This.
posted by Martin Curtis at 9:30 PM
4 Comments:
Sounds like they've got you rattled already....
Certainly not rattled, just an interesting local story that fits into the National context.
Does it bollocks. It's just you trying to combine Tory local spin with Tory national spin, regardless of the facts... ironic given your usual complaints against Labour spin.
For what it's worth, the Tory candidate in my ward this May put out leaflets claiming variously that "only the Tories could beat Labour here", "Labour can't win here so vote Conservative", and used a bar chart showing not local performance but Tory regional perfomance at the GE. He also put out a local leaflet attacking the councillors for the state of the roads in one area - regardless of the fact that they'd all been resurfaced. The result? Lib Dem increased majority.
Don't get on your high horse about "dirty campaigning" - remember Cheadle?
So, because a single Conservative chose to use Lib Dem tactics in some anonymous part of the country I am not allowed to highlight that misinformation tactics are usually adopted by Lib Dems (which it is? Nor am I allowed to highlight misinformation in my local area where it fits exactly the methodology that the Lib Dems have endorsed Nationally:
"be wicked, act shamelessly, stir endlessly"
(a quote from the campaigning guide which the Lib Dems refused to withdraw from sale at its party conferences). Can you quote anything endorsed by the Conservative Party that suggests such tactics? I have been around the Party for a few years and have never seen anything even close.
I have also had lots of campaigning advice and received formal training and have never been advised to adopt such tactics.
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