With the majority of Liberal Democrat politicians braced for impact on May 5th it appears some can still afford to be sanguine. Rumours abound that two of the Liberal Democrats’ most prominent losers of the last year are to be given peerages by Nick Clegg.
With his minority administration on Sheffield City Council teetering on the brink, Paul Scriven refused to sign the letter from more than 90 Lib Dem leaders criticising the scale of the cuts — despite believing that the pace of reductions is too fast. Nick Clegg’s “closet ally in local government” may soon be wiping away his tears with luxurious stoat fur.
Despite telling the Commons that he hadn’t “lent it any thought so far”, Nick Clegg is also expected to nominate double-loser Elwyn Watkins for a seat in the Lords. Watkins failed to beat Debbie Abrahams in Oldham East and Saddleworth having had last May’s contest against Phil Woolas overturned by the courts.
The former Rochdale councillor risked huge legal bills if he failed to win his case against Woolas. Just as well he has worked as a “personal assistant” and “business adviser” to multi-billionaire Saudi Sheikh Abdullah Ali Alhamrani since 1998.
Lord Watkins of Riyadh?
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My name is Steven Ronald Low aka Steven Ronald and I, like Sean Thomas aka SeanT of politicalbetting dot com, both have Hyper-injuctions out against us.
You’re having a go at Watkins for (a) having a job and (b) having risked his own earnings in order to mount a legal challenge against a racist?
The only position I would give those two would be as Attendants at a Council operated public toilet, assuming these have not all been closed as seems to be the case. Either that or seconded to the TRL as “Crash Dummies”.
Lib Dem PPCs have an irritating, holier-than-thou sense of entitlement when it comes to a seat in Parliament – their attitude is that they and only they deserve to win and they’re dumbfounded when they almost invariably don’t. (Except for the even more irritating times when they actually do.) So naturally, now that they’re actively unpopular for a change, those failed candidates are forming an orderly queue around the House of Lords, trying to claim some kind of Parliamentary seat while they still can.
Is it true that Paul Scrivens will be called Lord Scrivens of Blackburn Meadows – there’s real irony in that?
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[...] Political Scrapbook today reports that Lib Dem losers — Elwyn Watkins, two-time loser in Oldham East, and soon-to-lose leader of Sheffield Council, Paul Scriven — are to be given “ermine parachutes” in the House of Lords. Many more ermine parachutes could of course be available to Lib Dem MPs who lose their seats when the first election to the House of Lords is held. Under the Coalition agreement, the government will shortly “bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation.” According to Patrick Hennessy in the Torygraph, this is seen by Cameron as a way of shoring up the position of Deputy Clegg if the referendum goes against AV as seems increasingly likely. [...]