Lib Dems defect to UKIP

[AJS-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberalde...

This is a bit of a coup. A long serving Lib Dem can't very easily be dismissed as BNP in a suit, and the fact that he cites environmental reasons for leaving the Lib Dems really sticks the boot in. Only it's that pesky sort of environmentalism that opposes building o Friday greenbelt rather than the lofty sort that champions taxing cars to appease the climate fairies.

[AJS-]

Enough to swing a byelection though. Winning seats would be nice, but it's more about the pressure it puts on the Tories to make a deal. Preferably from a position of desperation.

[AJS-]

Puggit said:

I thought every LibDem member was irreversibly pro-EU?

Apparently not. I think as this UKIP thing gathers strength it's more like an anti established parties vote than a purely Eurosceptic movement.

I dislike nearly every policy of the modern Lib Dems, but in theory I would describe myself as more of a liberal than a conservative. I believe in a small, remote government intervening as little as possible in the lives of the citizens. I believe in personal freedom and personal responsibility. The right to be different, and the right for minorities to be protected from the tyranny of the majority.

The modern Liberal Democrat party is the bd child of wet socialism and political opportunism, to such an extent that most people you'd describe as classical liberals would rather vote Tory and listen to the odd wind bag ranting about family values, than vote Lib Dem and be "represented" by someone who is basically a socialist, and whose only concern for liberty is as it relates to his chosen trendy causes and groups.