My post election introspective

On the 7th May as we all sat down to the count in the usual venue I hurriedly began sorting out a problem I had forgotten about - my membership to the Liberal Democrats had lapsed a couple of weeks previously. I'd been meaning to renew but the election had eaten up so much of my time I forgot.

At 11PM all seemed right with the world and none of us believed the exit poll and although expecting losses never in our darkest moments imagined the levels that were to pass. The Local election just added to the woe as we were wiped out.

After 19 years of service Cllr Geoff Juby fell and 21 years Diana Smith. Even in Gillingham South a ward where a Conservative vote was considered a wasted vote the blues scored high, not as high as UKIP and Labour but higher than us.

I looked at my rosette and began to wonder if my renewal was a little premature.

Though I pride myself on a near Teutonic rigidness to follow orders mixed with the Pullen stubbornness and Sams pigheadedness of not admitting I'm wrong I, like rational human beings have to question my course from time to time.

Maybe signing up was a little premature and the party was dead. Suddenly the family motto of Dum Sperro Spirro (Whilst I breathe I hope.) wasn't enough.

Whilst at the Local count I was offered a Labour membership form twice which I politely turned down, mainly because of who asked me, had it been someone else I may not have been so polite(!). There are many things that could attract me to Labour but the parliamentary group really put me off, they had no policies, no direction and no charisma and failed to provide a credible opposition.

As for locally... Well what really got under my skin was a leaflet put through my door the night before the election calling on people to oust Clegg and his acolytes who had voted for tuition and bedroom tax before urging them to vote for the Gillingham South team. That poisoned the well for me. Geoff, Tony and I had absolutely bugger and all to do with those issues and neither did Medway Council. If anything I almost quit the party in the wake of tuition but after much soul searching I thought I should invest in our work locally.

Then I looked right. As the saying goes; If you can't beat 'em...

It is true that I am a big fan of Tracey Crouch's work and the idea of a new caring Liberal Tory party was quite alluring. The grey lines of the Coalition had got very confusing...

Problem was that as I looked around the room there was a lot of smugness and self congratulation and if there is one thing worse than a bad loser it is a bad winner (this includes you Cllr Bowler (Lab) strutting onto the stage and air punching is a tad undignified). It is enough to put me off, I can be quite shallow sometimes, but ultimately though with the direction this new Conservative government is taking... It is probably a "nah, you're alright" from me.

My beliefs and membership is not up for grabs sand despite the pros (and cons) of the other parties I cannot abandon my principles, there are more important things than being elected.

The Liberal Democrats are where my heart lies and where my beliefs are strong. I have been a member for six years through quite literally the best of times and worst of times and will still be knocking on doors and delivering Focuses for years to come even if I'm the last LibDem standing in Gillingham. 

The LibDems' Titanic revival

Five years ago I made a prediction about the fate of the party in the General election in 2015.

Sadly, I was right.

Early last week I made a prediction about the fate of the Medway LibDems in the local elections which drew heavily on a metaphor of von Spee's fleet with the two Councillors leading the three candidates and despite wild inaccuracies from our opponants we were out gunned despite a valiant show went down with all hands.

Sadly I was right again.

Last Friday night as we sat waiting for the Local vote mulling over the General election the Titanic soundtrack came onto my I-pod and I pictured the scene where Thomas Andrews, Titanic's

designer  was explaining to Captain Smith, Bruce Ismay and collected deck officers how the vessel would sink.

She would go down by the head with water flowing over the water tight bulkheads - There would be no stopping it.

This got me thinking about the National party. Clearly we have hit a big 'burg and after the loss of a swathe of very talented MPs we were going down by the head and it would only be a matter of time before people were abandoning ship enmasse and only a few loyal members would go down with the ship still tirelessly working in the Engine room.

This prediction is looking, thankfully, to be unfounded.

Greg Mulholland MP - Fighting back

Over the weekend whilst I was mulling things over and having these dark thoughts the strangest thing happened.

Out of nowhere thousands of supporters rose up and joined the party, including my friend Caz and I'm working on my wife still. These people are angry at the treatment of a party who had given so much in government and was being punished for Tuition fees and for putting party before country and joining the Tories in a Coalition to reverse a horrendous financial deficit. They were also the compassionate side of the Coalition for the most part having passed many reforms and measures (such as 20 free nursery hours, free school dinners, income tax threshold etc) to help working families.

The big question of who to lead us is also hanging over us. With so much talent lost to the parliamentary
party there was an inherent fear that there would be a vacuum but this is not the case. Tim Farron, former president and one of the leading lights is being touted as a serious leadership challenger as is Norman Lamb who has worked closely with Nick Clegg over the years. Behind the scenes as well is Greg Mulholland who is tweeting frantically about change within the party and getting leaner, keener and meaner as well as getting up out of the dust immediately and pushing forward with all its might - a sentiment shared by many of us!

This party is not deceased, nor is it mortally wounded. It has escaped the fate of Titanic and is looking like the engineering crew will get her back afloat and going again and I am very excited to be a part of this!

Bye-Bye Liberal Democrat dreams

I reworded Don McLean's "American Pie" a few years ago so that it would be about the possible dissolution of the party in the 2015 election.

Last week I tweaked it in case of... Well... What happened on Thursday night.

Any way, here it is...

A long long time ago

I can still remember how Nick Clegg made me feel,

An' I knew that if I had my chance,

That He could make a difference 

An' maybe we'd be happy for a while.

But 2015 made me shiver

With every Focus I deliver

Bad news on the doorstep

I couldn't take one more step

I can't remember if I cried 

When I read of the rise of Nige,

But something touched me deep inside,

The day our party died.

So bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This will be the die that you'll die.

Did you read the Orange book?

And do you have faith in Clegg and co?

If Libdemvoice tells you so.

And do you believe in liberalism

Can Gladstone save the country's soul?

And do you still lament Lloyd George?

Well I know that we all agreed with Nick,

Because I saw it on your Twitter feed,

We wanted him to win,

Cos' we're not sure of Cameron's blues!

I was a lonely Liberal Democrat

With a yellow rosette and orange book,

But I know I was outta luck in May in 2015,

I started singing,

So bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This'll be the day that you'll die.

Now for five years we've been on our own,

And Labour have been throwing lots of stones

But that's not how it used to be,

When Nick Clegg was on our TV

With a speech he borrowed from Paddy

And a voice which came from you and me,

And while Gordon Brown was left to frown,

Nick Clegg stole Cameron's thorny crown,

The country was adjourned,

No Government was returned!

And while Liam Bryne wrote that note

The Tories gave us a ruling part

We started cheering for Clegg

The day, the Coal'tion came

But they were singing

So bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This'll be the day that they die.

Helter-skelter 

in that summer swelter 

Some of us fled to a fall out shelter

The deficit was high and raising fast

We pulled unemployment to the grass

The Tories tried for a tuition rise

With Nick Clegg on the sidelines in a gag

The outside world held its breath

Surely we'd uphold our pledge?

We all got up to shout

But the MPs never threw it out

As the students tried to take the field

The Tories & Clegg refused to yield,

Do you recall how you felt,

The day that Cleggo lied?

Labour were singing;

bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This'll be the day that they die

And there we all were in one place

Liberal Democrats lost in space,

With no time left to start again,

So come on Clegg be nimble,

Clegg be quick,

Nick Clegg lost out to Nige's UKIP

'Coz of the whole student thing

An' as I watched Nige on the stage,

My fists were clenched in balls of rage,

No angel forged in hell,

Could break Farrage's spell,

An' as their polls rose high on the night,

Our party was a sacrificial lamb,

I saw Labour laughing with delight,

The day, our party died

They were singing;

bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This'll be the day that they die

I met a girl who ran for the Blues,

And I asked her for some happy news,

But she just smiled and turned away,

I went down to the Gunwharf count,

Where we would see if we'd got in,

But the council result was already out,

In the street the children played

Whilst the Liberals cried and tried to dream,

Not a word was spoken,

They say our pledge was broken,

And the three men I admire the most,

Clegg, Danny and Doctor Vince

They found themselves outta luck

The day, the party died,

And they were singing

So bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.

This'll be the day that they die

And we were singing;

So bye-bye Liberal Democrat dreams

Got the party into power 

But it all got messed up

And Labour lords were drinking whiskey and rye

Singing this will be the day that you'll die.