With Party Conference season looming, Sarah Teather has perhaps ensured that yet another Liberal Democrat Conference will convene with controversy hanging over its shoulders, having resigned over “some aspects of government policy”. Refusing to pull any punches, she “no longer feels that Nick Clegg’s party fights sufficiently for social justice and liberal values on immigration…something did break for me that was never, ever repaired”. I’m not doubting that she has been in turmoil over the decision, nor that she has some honest intentions. However, when viewing her voting record, perhaps this ‘noble’ stance should be scrutinised more.
Credit where credit is due; she did vote against the recent benefits cap, and she also voted against military action in Syria. Furthermore, she overturned a Labor majority of over 13,000 in Brent East in 2003, and as a minister in the coalition she played a role in ending the detention of children for immigration purposes. However, this blog article isn’t about the merits of Ms Teather’s abilities. Once again, I’ve no doubt that she voted on many unpopular things with a heavy heart, but the wording of her resignation published in The Observer hints all too much of a holier than thou attitude. She voted for the increase in tuition fees, along with the increase in VAT to 20%. Although I’m not a fan of Zac Goldsmith, his tweet sums up the situation quite well; “Sarah Teather is desperately angry about all those policies she voted for. The alternative of course was not voting for them”. Andrew George would have been a far better candidate for resignation; he has voted against the coalition more than any other Lib Dem MP. In some ways she is doing the party a favour by not stepping down immediately a la Louise Mensch, which would have left the Lib Dems with the task of a tough by-election, along with the prospect of an open goal for the Labour Party. However, in choosing to time her resignation not long before the Lib Dem Conference, she is making a slight mockery of the “loyalty and friendship” that she tried to balance with colleagues.
Teather is of course right to highlight the Conservative’s pathetic and offensive “go home” van messages to illegal immigrants, but in choosing to resign she has perhaps lost the capacity to stay in the camp and fight against it; in stepping down at the 2015 election, she is essentially a lame duck MP. Whilst Labour are busy battling trade union reform, the Lib Dems perhaps could have benefited slightly from an upturn in economic fortunes, whilst tempering any potential Conservative triumphalism. Now Clegg is presented with a dilemma of either addressing Teather’s resignation head on at the Conference and defending the party, or shrugging it off and keeping his thoughts on the matter under wraps. However, whether the accusation that the party “no longer…fights sufficiently for social justice” is from Teather or the general public, Clegg has to answer the question head on. Raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 and initiating a multi-billion pound pupil premium for the poorest primary school students are very good starting points, along with shared parental leave for 2015. However, it is vital that Clegg pursues the proposals for raising the threshold to around £12,500 (taking everyone on the minimum wage out of income tax), a radical plan which could outflank Labour on social justice whilst at the same time proving to be a sensible option not open to a “lurch to the left” ridicule from the Conservatives. It’s a shame that Teather was not up to the fight of defending these proud achievements as well as questioning unpopular government policies.
Sarah Teather is a well-known Lib Dem MP, and it is a blow to the party. Her exit can now be easily pounced upon by the Opposition; cue Ed Miliband in his Conference speech declaring “the Liberal Democrats no longer fight for social justice and liberal values; Sarah Teather’s words, not mine!” However, her questionable voting record should take some of the sting out of the situation, and the resignation of a more high profile Lib Dem such as Vince Cable would have been a far more calamitous move. The Liberal Democrats need to move on from this and take the resignation as motivation to prove Ms Teather wrong. Whilst championing their achievements, they need to highlight popular policies such as the Mansion Tax which would be implemented but for the Conservatives, suggesting both a reason to vote for the Lib Dems and a reason not to vote for the Tories. As for Sarah Teather, it seems she is culpable for voting for the supposed policies which she now condemns. She has fallen on her sword, but it is a double-edged sword.
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