Brian Sedgemore (left) and Charles Kennedy (also kind of left) Photograph: PA
Brian Sedgemore, veteran Labour MP, defects to the Lib Dems. He sets out his reasons in a fire and brimstone denounciation of Blair in the Independent. A taster:
I'm renouncing Tony Blair, the Devil, New Labour and all their works. I don't do this lightly. I know that some of my friends will be angry, and I will be rubbished by the New Labour spin machine. Mad Dog [John] Reid will be set on me. John Prescott will say, "Brian? Brian who?"
But I can let them into a secret. I am not alone. A small group of us - all MPs who are standing down - decided we would leave the Labour Party immediately after the election. Among the MPs, there are 150 who loathe Mr Blair, 50 more who have grave doubts about him and a further 200 who love him. They are sometimes called the Clones or the Stepford Wives.
Also worth a read is his last speech in parliament (Thanks: Robin)
Makes you wonder how he stayed in the party for so long.
The orchestration of these defections is interesting, this one being timed for Charles Kennedy's 'let's make it about the war' campaign push. What, the blog cynical lobby asks, does Mr Segdemore get in return? Lib Dem Peerage?
Perhaps that's harsh. It would be nice to think that people make headline-grabbing political gestures out of principle. And it is fair enough, if Mr Sedgemore is cashing in 37 years of loyal party membership, that he should get some political capital out of it.
But the bottom line seems to be that this election campaign is now being fought between two factions of the left. Conventional wisdom dictates that the Lib Dems will never get enough support to form a government, hence the Labour scaremonger strategy to raise the spectre of a shock Tory 'back door' victory and shore up party waverers. Given the poll lead, it seems to be working. But how are we - and for that matter a future Labour government - supposed to know how much of its vote is just Tory-phobia, and how much is endorsement, shy or otherwise, of Blair and all his works?
With this problem in mind, and given the success of the original Observer blog poll-u-like, we are proud to launch the all new poll-u-like (Labour voter special edition). Exclusively for people who intend to vote Labour to let us know from what angle they are planting their cross in Tony's box.
The all new poll-u-like (Labour voter special edition)
Yet another public service brought to you by the Observer blog.
