Friday, December 29, 2017

Jo Swinson CBE - is this some sort of joke?

More than a few eyebrows were raised when the news leaked out that Nick Clegg was to be knighted in the New Year's Honours list.  He is, after all, the man who inherited a party that won a post-war record of 62 seats under Charles Kennedy in 2005, and somehow managed to reduce that to just 8 by the time he stepped down in 2015.  There was also a touch of scepticism as to whether Britain's fourth party collectively deserved the bumper number of knighthoods they have received of late.  But at least you can make a semi-plausible case for Clegg getting some sort of recognition from the honours system - he was party leader for seven-and-a-half years, Deputy Prime Minister for five years, and he was also the first Liberal or Liberal Democrat to lead his party into government at Westminster level since the wartime coalition of the 1940s.

No such excuse can be made for Jo Swinson, who I've just seen has been given a CBE.  Does anyone have the faintest idea what she's supposed to have done to deserve that?  She hasn't yet been party leader, she's only been deputy leader for a few months, and in the coalition government she never made it beyond junior ministerial rank.  Perhaps more to the point, she's only 37 years old, which in all likelihood means the meat of her political career is still ahead of her.  Honouring her at this stage is an unfathomable decision, and one that surely brings the system into further disrepute.  The obvious suspicion is that the Lib Dems, who pose as radicals but are establishment to their bones, have given up on collecting votes and are getting their kicks by collecting undeserved gongs instead.

Ironically, this development coincides with an article in the Guardian the other day which suggested that senior Lib Dems are increasingly looking towards Layla Moran as their party's future.  Swinson's name wasn't even mentioned.  That's an astonishing turnaround from a few short months ago when it looked like Swinson would only need to wait a couple of years for Vince Cable to step down, and then enjoy a coronation.  She may have miscalculated very badly by sitting out this year's leadership contest.  And that could well be a stroke of luck from our point of view, given that home-grown leaders tend to produce at least a modest vote boost in Scotland.

Not that I'd want to take sides in a matter that doesn't concern me, of course, so here's my totally unrelated Eurovision video of the day.

32 comments:

  1. For services to questionable election returns.

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    1. She would have been an opponent for Knickerless if she was a nat si. Both can talk the hind legs aff a dunkey and are Tories at heart...with no alternative policies.

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    2. You're just in the huff because you didn't get the email.

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  2. But she is. She is a Credit to the British Empire. It’s Scotland she’s a disgrace to.

    These LibDem ‘honours’ only look ridiculous if you look at them objectively or from a Scottish point of view. They make perfect sense when you consider them the British Establishment’s way of honouring their own or the people that have supported them.

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    1. The British establishment was formed by the help from the Scottish establishment. But do go back to your mud hut jocko old chap and burn some whale oil and feed the weans with EU subsidies.

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    2. You're just in the huff because you weren't included in the email.

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  3. Young James, the Tories, Nat sis, Libs and Labour have the same thing in common as the
    Democrats and Republicans in the USA, they are right wing and conservative although they do their best to try and appear to be different come election time.

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  4. To the credit of the kippers they exposed the EU beaurocracy who are parasites ripping off the taxpayer!
    Instead of attacking people who get gongs it should be the parasites in Holyrood and the Lords you are after....Your turn prick.

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    1. You're just in the huff because you weren't included in the email. Fool.

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    2. A fool and a Jock are easily conned into parting with their money for no return.
      What was the email jocko?

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    3. So far down the food chain, they didn't even tell it about the email...

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  5. I smell something rancid going on, really rancid. Wasn't there some questions over er, expenses claims by this trougher? Corrupt as hell.

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    1. Clever not to name a person! You Jock nat sis are good at gossip and innuendo.

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    2. J Swinson helped protect lord rennard when he was abusing women in parliament. Maybe her award is for her part in protecting the westminster pervert gang.
      maybe she'll end up like C Kennedy. Drinking himself to death through the shame of having to protect cyril smith.

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    3. Maybe she wore sussies whilst being slapped on the erse by rennard.
      Such things could never happen at Holyrood! The Nat si MP'S just share the same burd at Westminster.

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    4. You're just in the huff because you weren't included in the email.

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  6. Yes, She put party before Country, all those who opposed Independence have been rewarded.

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    1. You could say she put the UK before petty Jock nat si ism.. She was a remainer so you nat sis who want to sell out Scotland to the EU have something in common with frau Swinson.

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    2. So far down the food chain, they didn't even tell it about the email...

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  7. I must say I do like that headline! Chuckle. God Swinson's annoying. I remember as a teenager in the 80s I thought the Lib Dems were "awright". Not too bad. But the post Kennedy party is truly dire. Awful. Austerity loving, indy hating fools

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    1. Aye ra good auld days when ye had bum fluff and never thought you would be a Tartan Tory conservative.

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    2. Aw, pettit lip because the Tories left it off the email list...

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  8. Mr. Troll MacTrollface definitely has his knickers in a twist today. Did someone leave him off the email list?

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    1. It's pretending not to know about the email. It's hurting because its Tory overlords don't love it anymore...

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  9. Anyone else see the troll signing up for this?

    https://archive.is/YV4xM

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    1. Ayatollah Hogmanay Shortbreid MacDuffDecember 31, 2017 at 6:02 PM

      What a repetitive boring lot of hand jivers you nat sis are.

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    2. No denial there, troll. Little uniforms, barking "PAPERS!" at foreigners and doing it all for the love of Blighty. Exactly your kind of thing.

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    3. So when will you be leaving the UK for your homeland?

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  10. Swindon is Proud to be Scots delighted to be #Overruled.

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    1. Thomas the Tank EngineJanuary 1, 2018 at 11:51 AM

      Swindon! You must be a train anorak.

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  11. Swinson! Spellchecker!

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