David Lammy MP joins in
This morning I published extracts from a speech David Lammy MP, minister for skills, on Liberal Conspiracy. He had said he liked the US primary system for party internal elections. Anyway, to my surprise it turns out his office had seen it published and Mr Lammy himself turned up in the comments to address his critics. Apart from Tom Watson, I think that’s the first time I’ve seen a cabinet minister get involved in blog comments. Hey, these guys are learning fast. I’m impressed… though obviously less impressed with the Labour party overall.
Miliband whinged over at my place a couple of years ago.
I’m sure he realised the folly of that pretty quickly!
I don’t think it is folly for a politician to face criticism, it shows some courage. It showed he has the courage of a gambler to gamble against the house.
To do so inconsistently, however, does create a personalised target by exposing any inability to face the criticism down and raises questions about their commitment to the conversation and the conclusions it could provide – in which case Lammy made a dramatic miscalculation regarding his political position which only further highlights the incoherence of his party and attitude.
He could still gain from the wreckage if he were able to provide a full summary of the debate and compensate for his weaknesses by satisfying any hanging questions, but if this proved beyond his ability he would redouble the perception of his foolishness and lose any further remaining sympathy.
See, I’d completely missed the bit about it being an exerpt and actually thought he’d written it for publication himself, which is I think why I was less accepting of his responses. I’ll make sure to re edit my draft reply. While it’s good he’s engaging, he is both talking bollocks and jumping to massive conclusions without much in the way of evidence.
Also? Neither he nor Tom are of Cabinet rank, but Milliband has responded in a few places, read out some quotes from DK in a speech at a party once. They weren’t nice quotes.
Well I don’t think you will be getting Boris round these parts any time soon. At his press conference yesterday I introduced myself as ‘Adam Bienkov, Liberal Conspiracy website’ and he started laughing before turning to the room and saying:
“Does such a thing exist?”
Adam – he won’t be laughing by the next election, that’s for sure!
What question did you pose to the blonde bombshell, Adam?