Monday 28 September 2009

Charles Clarke attacks the 'crude politics' which prevent coalitions

At the Fabian Fringe event - 'Is this the last chance for a progressive coalition?' - Charles Clarke said 'crude politics' gets in the way of the formation of successful Labour/Lib-Dem alliances. The round-table discussion attempted to discover if there are areas that progressives from different political parties could work together, and the former home secretary said this needed to happen:
It is almost inevitable contests arrive which can be very personal, I understand that and I don't claim that Labour is holier than though. It's a shame if all our time is spent slagging each other off because of the party polticial situation we face at the moment. Our ambition should be to see what we have in common.

Clarke also argued that not only does more need to be done to overcome a factional way of thinking, the economic worries the country is facing makes the situation more pressing.
We need to have a form of discussion about how we would address the issues that are facing the country. At no time in my political life has this been more needed, because of the consequences of the finanacial and economic crisis. I would say that now is the time to be putting forward centre-left proposals.

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