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// June 21st, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Liberal Youth, UK Politics

Background to “I agree with Nick”: In our first televised election debate, our prime minister at the time, Gordon Brown (the leader of the opposing Labour party), kept on agreeing with the leader of the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg. Thus, “I agree with Nick” became a catchphrase.

Being a senior figure in a political party is equivalent to being an A-List celebrity. EVERYONE wants to take a photo with you /shake your hand/fawn over you, from people campaigning to be the next member of parliament (and need a photo for their campaign material) to those who just want a photo for the lulz*.

As I mentioned before, in the youth and student branch of the Liberal Democrats, Liberal Youth, elections are currently taking place to elect the new executive. Members of Liberal Youth are meant to vote for the people they want based on the manifestos shown at this handy site. Now, I made my choices based on the content in these manifestos**, what people were promising vs. what they could actually deliver, etc, but what was a big turnoff for me was people trying to pretend that senior politicians had endorsed them.

More specifically, I’m talking about this (and on a lesser scale, this). Just because you managed to get a photo next to him does not give you the right to say “Nick agrees with me.” Nick Clegg takes photos with many people, and won’t remember most of the people he’s shared photos with (he’s only human, after all).
I don’t care if you were just taking the piss, or if you were just trying to liven your manifesto up with a photo, but I consider it false advertising, unless you can prove that you specifically walked up to him and gave him all your policies as a candidate for a general executive member of Liberal Youth and got his express permission to use his image in that way.
And, considering what a busy man he is (note my failure to try and get a picture of him whilst he was in the same room as me), this scenario occuring is highly unlikely.

If I ever got a photo with someone important in the Lib Dems, I could technically put anything I liked as a slogan, as I would own the rights to that picture. But I wouldn’t. Because I highly doubt the person I took the photo with would agree to support “OMG LET TASERS BECOME LEGAL IN THE UK!!!!1111!!!!”

I understand prospective parliamentary candidates needing a photo with a senior member of the party - to show that they’re united/actually a member of the party – for campaign material, blah blah blah, but I don’t see the point in using them to advertise people in internal elections, when we already know you’re on the right party to be running for that position. And unless it’s for a leadership position within the federal party, isn’t everyone meant to remain neutral about who they would vote for?

When it comes to Liberal Youth elections…

You’re a bloody youth politician. Like it or not, but the ‘grown-ups’ don’t take you seriously right now. Write a decent manifesto, telling your electorate what you can and cannot offer. Don’t rely on celebrity endorsements, and don’t try to insinuate that senior people have agreed with everything you’ve said, because that just makes you look like a fool.

Or, at the very least, will make me decide to vote for someone else.

*I will hunt down Nick Clegg eventually, get a photo and act like his best buddy. Because I’m cool like that.
** Grammar and spelling may have played a part in my decision as well, as stupid as it may sound. If you can’t be bothered to use spellcheck and/or proofread before you send off something for the last time, then it shows me that you can be careless.

// June 18th, 2010 // 2 Comments » // Liberal Youth, UK Politics

I joined the youth branch of the political party my views corresponded with the most earlier this year, the Liberal Democrats. Currently, there are elections going on in Liberal Youth to elect the new executive and the various committees. No doubt, when you get involved in politics, you expect to see some nastiness. But you don’t expect that nastiness to come from members of the same party. I’m starting to wonder if getting involved was the best idea after all.

As the youth branch of the Lib Dems, Liberal Youth’s membership database is significantly smaller than that of the main party (less and less young people getting interested in politics, etc). Liberal Youth only accounts for those aged up to 26 (and some people who really ought to be members aren’t tagged as being members, but that’s a story for another day). The small amount of members mean that cliques easily develop.
Like in real politics, certain members will always vote for the person they’re friends with, regardless of what they can offer to the party or what they’re actually promising to do – see Labour’s leadership elections. But I don’t see ‘proper’ politicians smearing other candidates about internal jobs (because that’s just unprofessional, and just gives ammunition to the other parties come election time). So why do we see it so much in youth politics?

Long before I joined Liberal Youth, there were some issues that led to most of the executive of the day resigning, and by-elections having to be held. I’m starting to see things heading the same way again, and the elections aren’t even over yet.
At present, my Facebook feed is filled with squabbling amongst the people running for various positions. People are threatening to leave the party if (insert member name here) gets elected instead of (insert another member name that they’re friends with here), and some are still arguing about what happened last time.

HERE’S A NEWSFLASH. Liberal Youth elections count for practically nothing in the real world. No one outside of the party cares who the current chair or vice chair of whatever is. But it reflects badly on the party if you can’t seem to act like a civilised human being during these elections. The Lib Dems are known for being the ‘third party’ in UK politics, coalitions aside. If none of you can grow up and act rationally, then you can’t expect anyone else to take us seriously.

I joined the Lib Dems because of their policies on equality and fairness. Not because I wanted to stand idly by whilst the person who had the most connections within the party got the top job. Nor did I join to watch slanging matches between people who really ought to know better.

Let people who are voting in the Liberal Youth elections make up their own minds about who to vote for, no matter how stupid – Lulu‘s voting based on the people with the coolest names, but that’s her prerogative. Endorsing another candidate is fine if you’re doing it personally, but please don’t use your existing role within the party as leverage for the candidate you support.

If the youth branches of political parties are meant to be the politicians of the future, then I’m extremely scared. Because, honestly? I wouldn’t vote for any of you based on the way you’re acting now. In ten years, you could be helping to run the country. And that’s a seriously worrying prospect when you can’t treat members of your own party with respect.

…Isn’t democracy grand?