There appears to be at least one MP wondering aloud whether Nick Clegg is the right leader for the Liberal Democrats*. On today’s Politics Show:
SUSAN KRAMER: I actually feel quite guilty because, you know, we had a leadership election in my political party, and what I should have done, and dammit, I didn’t, was get together with another woman and the two of us put together a joint thing.
TIM DONOVAN: So you thought about it? That would have been sensational!
SUSAN KRAMER: I thought about it too late. You look at the job and think ‘Who on Earth wants to give their life to this particular role and give up family?’ Well, we should have done it, as a joint thing, that’s the answer, and set an example.
(Hat-tip: Iain Dale)
Doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see what the implication here is: Susan Kramer is unhappy with Nick Clegg’s leadership. Is a trip to the Whip’s Office for Ms Kramer to be expected?
* For the avoidance of doubt, my view is "yes, he is".
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12 responses so far ↓
1 Jo Anglezarke // Mar 2, 2008 at 5:08 pm
“I thought about it too late.”
Oh dear god…
2 Bob Shaw // Mar 2, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Oh come on Susan has a point - Mings departure came as such as shock (not). I am glad she didn’t stand. If she couldn’t see that coming I dread to think how she’d have got on as leader.
3 Alix // Mar 2, 2008 at 5:25 pm
I think your interpretation is a little disingenuously provocative, non? It didn’t even occur to me to interpret SK’s words as “rumblings against Nick Clegg.” The context is clearly the promotion of women’s involvement at the top level of politics by means of “setting an example”, as much as SK’s thwarted desire to stand.
4 Andrew Hinton // Mar 2, 2008 at 5:33 pm
It is a bizarre comment, isn’t it? If you look at the programme itself, she really does have to shoe-horn it in as a comment, it could hardly be said to have come up naturally. I don’t know what it is about leadership comments that some of our MPs don’t get. If you say *anything* about leadership, it will be picked up and spun by someone. So just don’t. It couldn’t possibly help our party to destabilise Clegg right now, even if there was a wide feeling in the party that he wasn’t doing well, which there isn’t.
5 Rob Knight // Mar 2, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I’ve been reading Lib Dem blogs for about three years now and this is categorically the single most moronic thing I have ever seen anyone write, and I remember the Darbyshires.
6 Gavin Whenman // Mar 2, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Give me a chance, I can get much more moronic than this.
In all seriousness, do you not think that this is Susan Kramer effectively saying “I should have stood as I can do a better job”?
Alix: “disingenuously provocative”. Me?!? … Yeah, sounds about right.
7 Jeremy Hargreaves // Mar 2, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Gavin Whenman wrote “In all seriousness, do you not think that this is Susan Kramer effectively saying “I should have stood as I can do a better job”?”
No - I really, really don’t think that.
8 Gavin Whenman // Mar 2, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I must just have a conspiratorial (or paranoid) mind
9 asquith // Mar 2, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I don’t think she was murmuring about Clegg, but she should still be slapped down for such sloppy use of English. Clegg is doing an excellent job, and knifing of leaders has gone way too far in a lot of parties.
I must say that job share plan is mighty ludicrous, and a huge majority on LDV are of the same opinion.
10 Lee Griffin // Mar 2, 2008 at 7:06 pm
I wouldn’t say that it’s anything about Clegg, more about her own ambition. After all you can say you think you’d have beaten someone AND think they’re doing a fine job…just that you would do a better one
11 Joe Otten // Mar 2, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Noooooooo, not a job-share, noooooooooooooo.
Have we all forgotten the David and David show?
12 Ally // Aug 5, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Rob,
I’m sure Leah and Robin (Darbyshire) are deeply flattered that you are still taking the time to write sh*t about them two and a half years after they left the party.
But, really, don’t you anything better to do with your life than slag off people you don’t even know? It is called cyberbullying you know. Most of the culprits are teenagers but I guess some people just never left the playground. So sad.
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