To follow on from the news that The Guardian backs Clegg, The Observer has made the same call.
There is only one party on the ballot paper that, by its record in the old parliament, its manifesto for the new one and its leader’s performance in the campaign, can claim to represent an agenda for radical, positive change in politics. That party is the Liberal Democrats. There is only one way clearly to endorse that message and that is to vote Liberal Democrat.
Meanwhile, Sunny Hundal has defected from the Tories to the Liberal Democrats too, although with the caveat that “In a Tory-Labour fight, I would hope progressives would vote Labour to keep out the Tories.” So, that’s clear then.
Nick Cohen, Oliver Kamm, Norman Geras, none of whom are fans of Gordon Brown, will be voting Labour.
Alongside all Labour’s scoundrels and freeloaders, you can still find honourable men and women who believe in equality and internationalism. Their presence shows that even if the party’s leaders cannot make it, and even if it takes a gut-wrenching effort to make it on their behalf, there remains a case for voting Labour – despite everything.
I shall vote Labour for this reason. The worse the Labour defeat, the more likely it is that the wrong person will be blamed: Tony Blair rather than Gordon Brown. Guessing the future alignments of British politics is futile. Things can change radically. They might have done but eventually did not in the 1980s. But the safest route to preserving liberalism seems to me to be to shore up Labour’s support, ensure that David Miliband rather than Ed Balls becomes Leader of the Opposition after the election, and thereby help the British polity conform once again to the conventions of two-party politics.
social justice trumps other considerations unless these are of an exceptional and urgent kind
