The Libdems in Crisis Hughes's Admission Sinks Party Deeper Into the Mire
Linked as:
Summary
THERE is no disguising the scale of the crisis that has suddenly engulfed the Liberal Democrats. After the latest general election, in which the party gained its highest number of seats since the 1920s, there was heady talk about a third force in British politics. They were riding on a high, with a share of power in Scotland and control of several English cities, including Newcastle. On key policy issues - the war in Iraq, ID cards, measures to combat terrorism - the LibDems came closest to functioning as an effective opposition, carrying considerable public support. For the party and its supporters, the future looked bright. The future looked yellow.
No longer. Even before yesterday's admission from party chairman and leadership candidate Simon Hughes that he has had homosexual relationships - something he had previously flatly denied - a Populus poll put the LibDems back on 16percent, its lowest rating since 2001. This new crisis has been provoked by an accumulation of events: the admission by Charles Kennedy that he had lied about his alcohol problems; the shambolic mishandling of his exit; a confession from Lord McNally, the party's leader in the Lords, that he had been an alcoholic for 20 years; and finally the startling revelation that MarkOaten, the party's respected home affairs spokesman, had used the front of a happy family life to hide a relationship with a male prostitute.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Libdems in Crisis Hughes's Admission Sinks Party Deeper Into the Mire
Simon Hughes was elected in 1983 in Bermondsey following a singularly spiteful ca...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
