Tories and Lib Dems, a cigarette paper between

Or it seems not, after David Cameron has spent the last couple of days trying to woo Lib Dem voters and activists by claiming that there’s ‘a cigarette paper’ between the two parties, Chris Huhne on the Today programme brutally rebuffed these claims.
His discussion with Tory chairman Eric Pickles picked up on all the important points why you shouldn’t vote Conservative and why the Lib Dems are a much fairer, more progressive party. One is the fact that Tory tax cuts only benefit the rich – from his figures only 3,500 estates will be positively affected by their idea to raise the inheritance tax threshold on properties worth over £1million. Another is the fact that, despite what Cameron says, a lot of the party is institutionally racist and homophobic, as displayed by their willingness to ally with extreme right wing parties in Europe.

Also in the media, Nick Clegg has denounced the Tories as ‘the party of crime’ in the Guardian, and the attack on the Tories is beginning to get the Lib Dems some more exposure and showing that overall their policies are quite sensible and closer to Labour than the Tories. And after a poll showed that 36% of voters don’t know who he is he needs that a lot.

The fact that few people know much about him and his position on key issues may yet prove to be an advantage, as he has a lot of people who have no opinion on him available to be convinced into voting Lib Dem.


Who knows whether this will work? Only the election results will show, but if Gordon Brown manages to regain some ground too, the Lib Dems may gain enough seats for a hung parliament. Wishful thinking?