Friday, May 04, 2012

In which Nick Clegg does not write to us

Yesterday evening, just as the polls closed, an email arrived from Lib Dem HQ thanking members for their efforts in the campaign.

That was a nice touch, but why wasn't the email signed by Nick Clegg?

We must resist any notion that there is a contradiction between being the Deputy Prime Minister of the Coalition government and the leader of the Liberal Democrats. No Conservative leader has ever had a problem with being statesmanlike on some occasions and ruthlessly partisan on others. Nick should not have a problem with it either.

If the use of Tim Farron's name on the email arose from a suspicion that he is now more palatable to party members than Nick, then we already have a problem. We won't solve it simply by keeping Nick and the wider party at arm's length.

A month ago I suggested that Nick Clegg needs to be in better touch with Lib Dem opinion. Maybe he just needs to be in better touch with the Lib Dems tout court?

1 comment:

Joe Otten said...

That's a lot to read into the source of one email.