Monday, March 11, 2013

Now Philippe Sands leaves the Liberal Democrats

Nick Clegg's strategy of cultivating and then abandoning civil libertarians continues to have unwelcome consequences for the party.

Philippe Sands has an article on the Guardian website this evening:
Secrecy begets secrecy. I have listened to all the arguments, and concluded this is a compromise too far, neither necessary nor fair at this time. The point has been made eloquently in recent days by Dinah Rose QC and Jo Shaw. Their principled arguments have long had my full support and so I have joined them in resigning from the Liberal Democrats.

2 comments:

John said...

I call it progress. We were bound to attract the purist vested interests until such a time there was a crunch issue that affected their over-pious ideals.

As far as I can see it's an issue of the balance between liberty and security that has been struck in exactly the correct place as regards both liberalism and pragmatism.

I don't want to see anyone being unfairly tried - yet I doubt if we're talking about `Mr and Mrs ordinary` or even `rebellious` here.

The party's in danger of becoming a sect.

Foregone Conclusion said...

'The party's in danger of becoming a sect.'

Too right, the mindless loyalists are making it somewhere I certainly don't feel altogether comfortable.