Just a day after Sir Menzies Campbell launched his local elections campaign, the Liberal Democrats have been immersed in controversy over their elections handbook. The official Party manual, endorsed by Liberal Democrat supremo, Lord Rennard, calls on their council candidates to peddle sweets to children to entice them to deliver election leaflets. It recommends, “shout at all the local kids you can see and hear… then proceed Pied Piper like round the estate doling out badges and toffees and leaflets”. Eric Pickles MP, Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party & Shadow Minister for Local Government, is today writing to Lord Rennard at Liberal Democrat HQ, demanding that the ‘Winning Elections’ manual is withdrawn within 48 hours. Mr Pickles commented,“Political parties have to be responsible and not encourage children to get in potentially dangerous situations. No responsible adult should ever entice unsupervised children to take sweets from strangers. This election manual is completely oblivious to common sense. At a time of heightened concern about the safety of children, I do not believe that the public will tolerate such reckless electioneering by the Liberal Democrats.”From a press release just issued by the Conservative Party
And thus we live in a society where everybody is scared, not of doing anything harmful, but of being seen to do anything which anybody else could, however totuously, perceive as potentially harmful or offensive to somebody else (particularly where the word "child" can be used).
ReplyDeleteMind you if the Libs had found this in a Tory document they would have done exactly the same.
This is a hangover post from April 1st isn't it? Tell me it is so?
ReplyDeleteI have never yet seen one of these "official campaigning manuals" like this or the one a few years ago. And nobody has ever tried to get me to buy one, read one or, apparently, work to one's instructions. In fact I've never seen one advertised, so I suspect you have to be really in with the in crowd as Mr Pickles obviously is, to even get one.
I'm actually quite shocked though in this age of Jamie Oliver and co that they didn't reccomend sliced carrots instead.
However if you know any children in my potential ward who would like some sweets to do deliveries, do send them round as I need all the deliverers I can get and sweets sounds like a better deal than having to stand and talk to them over a glass of wine at the thank you party afterwards like we ought to do with the adult deliverers!
But I'm not going to go yelling at them in the street. The last candidate in the ward that did that was beaten up for it in the press! Mind you, he was trying to get them to stop throwing water bombs at his house or something!
This is a late April Fool, right?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, can't believe Eric is in such a Pickle about this - nor indeed that he's just spotted this. Must've been in this or the equivalent publication for at least the last 10 years.
And how do you 'withdraw' a publication that's sold for £3 at every conference stall anyway!
Good for a chuckle ...
The logo on the front looks distinctly ‘early 90s’…
ReplyDeleteNever mind scaring the kids, isn't this, in a roundabout way, treating? Can they not be arraigned under the Representation of the People Acts?
ReplyDeleteIain, will you withdraw that book with the hideous picture of Thatcher on the cover? If anything is likely to scare the kids it would have to be that.
ReplyDelete>> Never mind scaring the kids, isn't this, in a roundabout way, treating? Can they not be arraigned under the Representation of the People Acts?
ReplyDeleteNot unless the "children" are over 18 and therefore voters. I know the Lib Dems are in favour of lowering the voting age, but I don't think they had 8 year olds in mind!
More generally, this is a classic silly season-type story. Full markes to Eric Pickles for getting the MSM to cover something quite this trivial.
On the front page of the lib dem website ..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.libdems.org.uk/
it says ...
"Ambitious for every child"
Cleary they are after this episode
This isn't an April fool, I remember seeing it mentioned before, and causing quite a stir.
ReplyDeleteThis is how it how it must all start. Give kids sweets and badges to deliver leaflets one day, hand over £50 the next and ask them to dress up in a football strip and s**t on your face. How many Lib Dem candidates are on list 99? I think we should be told...
I think this passage is meant to be ironic and illustrate how it should not be done. I accept however that it is badly written. The part of the passage you did not quote is that which stresses in large letters that children should NOT be used to leaflet unaccompanied by an adult and certainly should not be used without the parents consent. Perhaps such advice was too inconvenient for you Iain.
ReplyDeleteSurely what's actually convenient is to say it's "meant" to be ironic as a defence. You'll be saying they were just being postmodern next.
ReplyDeleteThis story is no April Fool and LDs advocating to “shout at all the local kids you can see and hear” is more than ‘pied piper’ of politics. As many visitors to this blog realise to reflect the whole sort of behavior the LD actually do in practice to win elections.
ReplyDeleteDuring the last London Elections - a LD candidate decided it would be a good idea to start haranguing in the street a 13 year old girl, whose sole crime was delivering Tory leaflets on sunny Sunday morning (in one of the safest parts of the Borough.) This hardly the behaviour of giving sweets to children. He later went on to shouting at the girl's father further along the same road.
It may not come to much surprise that a few weeks later at the Election Count in Alexandra Place, the same guy decided it was a good idea - to 'lightly' punch in the stomach the candidate – claiming it was a joke!
It is amazing how these some LD activists (and this guy is a member of their parliamentary candidates list) decided this sort of behaviour is in order! Being generous, he did somewhat later that year apologise! The irony of this was one of his fellow female candidates in the neighbouring ward was making great play in the local press about how somebody had threatened her!
Just to think ordinary people think the LDs are the 'friendly party' . . . it is no wonder on the previous version of this LD Training Manual told its activists to be wicked and act shamelessly!
Peter Black, ever the faithful (yet incredibly stupid) Lib Dem. Your party has been caught out (yet again) so stop trying to make excuses when there are none.
ReplyDeleteCaught out "again"?!
ReplyDeleteThe document you're talking about is 12 years old (seems appropriate somehow!), the comments were revised out of it two editions ago.
Typical Tory stirring.
Go get some policies!
Getting punched by a Lib Dem? Can't really imagine a Lib Dem managing to win a fight. Except Paddy of course.
ReplyDelete