Oxford University Labour Club has unveiled a grand plan to “Reunite the Liberal Left” by persuading disaffected Lib-Dem voters to switch sides.
Starting last weekend, 370 hand-addressed letters were sent to a list of students culled from a Lib-Dem facebook group.
The letter says, “The decision to ally with the Conservatives…has elevated the forces of conservatism and destroyed the Liberal Democrats’ credibility. A party that supports a government with more homophobes in the Cabinet than women or ethnic minorities can longer claim the mantle of ‘progressive’.
“A party that supports a cap on immigration has forfeited its claim to be a compassionate party. And a party that will not oppose tax breaks for the married is not fit to call itself liberal”.
Students are warned, “The Liberal Democrats will be finished as a credible progressive force for generations. The proud tradition of the liberal left should not be destroyed along with its party.”
The letter urges that “the proud tradition of the liberal left should not be destroyed along with its party.” It concludes with an invitation for students to become members of OULC at a half-price rate.
The letter is signed by Alistair Strathern and Stephen Bush, the OULC Chair and Chair-Elect, respectively. Bush is understood to have proposed the letter within OULC as a move to try and reunite the progressive parties in Oxford.
Bush explained his policy to Cherwell. “I’ve always believed that the loss of the SDP in the 80s when the Labour party split was a traged…I would have preferred a Lib-Lab coalition leading to the reconciliation of those two traditions…”
Bush said this campaign was “an opportunity for us to hold our hand out and say, ‘there are things we can learn from you, there are things you can learn from us, let’s reunite the left again’.”
The price of OULC membership has been slashed to ten pounds for the duration of next Michaelmas term. However, membership of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats (OULD) costs just £3, compared to OULC’s usual £20 life membership fee.
Andrew Lomas, a pharmacology DPhil student and Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Wycombe, supported OULC’s initiative. “I think it’s a great thing to do” he said. “It’s only fair to point out that the Lib-Dems have sold out the voters and give people on the progressive left a place to actually voice their opinions…£10 is a bargain when you’re talking about having a say in the future of the democratic Left.”
Leading Lib Dems were outraged at Labour’s tactics. OULD Campaigns Officer Emily Baxter said in a written statement:”OULC’s letter exhibits classic New Labour spin tactics. As they themselves acknowledge, numerous difficulties would have faced a Lib-Lab alliance. A ‘Rainbow Coalition’ was simply not viable… I hope that students will recognise this and not buy into OULC’s cheap and cynical offer. OULD campaigned tirelessly against Labour at the General Election, with the support of many students, because we recognised Labour’s many failings over the last 13 years. That has not changed. Labour cannot now claim to be ‘the good guys’ simply by virtue of having gone into opposition.”
This sentiment was echoed more earthily by Lib-Dem grassroots activist Robin McGhee of St Anne’s College.
“The letter is sermonising in a rather twee and hypocritical way. The OULC, it would appear, are simply unable to comprehend the fact that they are not the only people with a moral backbone.
“Even OCA have one, albeit rather crippled by port-induced rheumatism. Labour are also unable to understand the difference between forming a tactical alliance with the Tories with the blessing of the party membership, as we have, and converting into the Tories against the wishes of their party, as New Labour did.”
