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| The only fate that should befall me... |
How are you? I hope you're having a good weekend, I'm sorry to disturb you but I thought someone should know this important news.
Yesterday I had a Sally Bercow moment on Twitter. I admitted to a Tory Councillor ( Chris Irvine) that... well, this is difficult to say...
Well in answer to the comment that Libdems (me on this occasion) were gold on the outside but red in the middle - I said that in reality I'm more blue than red
Local Labour tweeter and PPC for Chatham & Aylesford Cllr Tris Osborne retweeted it and pointed out that
This particular Golden nugget suddenly all fell into place - It is all my fault and the only thing left for me to do is to resign. Then I thought on this further and the depth of my betrayal and failure means I should be taken from this place and shot. Clearly I'm too dangerous to the party to be left roaming the streets of Medway.
I thought I should explain my actions though before hand so you can understand my true inner evil and the depth of my betrayal.
I was a confused youth with a certain penchant for right-wing politics, deeply indoctrinated by my Republican Churchill adoring Grandfather with strong feelings on crime and punishment. At university I drifted left as I became disgusted by the way I perceived the company I worked for treated its staff across departments.
However I always voted and supported the Libdems. I'd spent a semester working on a module on the evolution of Political thought from Hobbes to Marx including Locke and Mills. I was struck with an epiphany - this was is what I agreed with.
I joined the party late, some point in March 2009 after a long chat at work with my Tory friend, Caroline who told me that if I believed in something strongly enough I should join the party. It was then that I really noticed the rise of Nick Clegg. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a fan boy, I respect his work, think he's deeply underrated and unnecessarily derided in the national press.
I think if you were looking for a word to define me with one word, especially my online persona, it is Liberal or Cleggite.
I must admit though that I have had disagreements with party position over the last two years. Tuition fees were a bitter pill to take and there have been times when my heart broke at the decisions we were making Nationally, so much so that I joined the left leaning Soclibdem forum in the hope of balancing the party. I've stood fast though, I ran paperless in the local elections and since January this year I've served as secretary of the Medway association. In this role and as one of the vocal supporters of campaigning against City status it fell to me to draft the, now, infamous letter to Nick asking him as Deputy Prime Minister to ignore Medway's bid and why.
In our recent AGM and despite my unfortunate decision to stand down I was talked into re-standing. Former Councillor Stephen Kearney was exceptionally vocal in his support and on what a good job I had done through 2012.
Yet at the same time, like an insidious tumour, I have apparently caused the fall of the Medway Liberal Democrats, untold damage to the regional and possibly the National party. I am more Blue than Red.
It is true, I make no apologies for it. I have serious Ideological problems with the Labour party and it's policies (or lack of). I disagreed vehemently with the war in Iraq, the ID cards, the rail price index RPI+3, the way Gordon Brown failed to act decisively over the Economy and Expenses. Since they have left power I have become even more disillusioned with their constant spin, the untruths that their activists and ministers were willing to spout. The fact that, without any real policy they've won support for simply not being the Coalition and that in retrospect their 13 years in Government seem to have been the light in an otherwise dark Tory period. Of course the Ginger rodent comment by Harriet Harman was the final nail for me. It grates upon my very soul.
On the other hand you have our partners the Conservatives. The Force knows I disagree with the Nadine Dorries and Peter Bone wing of the party on so many fronts, nor am I fan of the Tory run Medway council's works. Yet at the same time this is not the Tory party of old, there are voices and leanings that whisper seductively like the darkside of the Force. They have mellowed a lot. I admit I am a fan of Tracey Crouch, it would be ludicrous to deny it. As the link shows, I think that she does a good job as MP. Is it wrong to state such a thing? If I was ten years younger, in my pre-Mills days, I would be so inspired by her and this new Tory party that I'd have joined. However I am 32 (as of last Sunday) not the love sick, computer game playing, right wing 22 year old listening to Evanesence in my bedroom and plotting world domination. I'm a 32 year old man, with a wife and two beautiful kids who has been about the block and really thought about things and my ideology a hell of a lot. I am proud to say; I whole heartedly agree with Nick.
However, if Councillor Osborne is correct and this part of me, this sympathy and burning hatred for the other parties, is causing the party I hold so dear to my heart harm to the scale he suggests then I must stand down and resign my party membership immediately! I await the Firing squad with quiet acceptance.
Yours faithfully & with tongue in cheek
Chris Sams
Medway Secretary and arch-traitor
Stephen Kearney knows better than most on matters of character and whether one is doing any good or not. Ask him what he thinks of me if you want to cross-check this regarding someone else, not just his view on you.
ReplyDeleteI'd go with Stephen's appraisal: it's certainly good enough for me, and should be sufficient for you – tongue-in-cheek or not(!)