There has been much made of an apparent difference in policy position between Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg, on the issue of Trident. You can read just some of the blog posts here, here and here.
But, so what? Last time I checked, unlike the other two parties, it was delegates voting at conference that made our policy - not the party leader.
Part of the excitement at this "disagreement" might be a desire to inject some news into what is necessarily a relatively dull - but very important - contest.
And don't get me wrong, personal policy views from candidates are interesting. And clearly the position of the party leadership does have some bearing (one way or another) on how some conference delegates vote.
But *we* make party policy, not the leader. Which is why this leadership election is about general direction and emphasis of our campaigning, yes - but, for me, largely about who is best placed to communicate *our* policies to the public.
3 comments:
But this is important. We have an idea of the boundaries of any debate on nuclear weapons policy in a future conference. Which bundle of arguments is likely to be 'in line with the leadership assumptions' and which not.
"We" do not make policy in a vacuum in some sealed moment of time, "we" make it in stages - and voting at a conference is only one stage of becoming a true core policy.
Well said!
L
So what? The party as a whole might make policy, but a leader worth his or her salt leads from the front. The reason we have our existing policy on Trident is because Ming demanded it - it is fairly widely recognised that the party would have voted the other way without his intervention. It can't have escaped you attention by now that a large contingent of party conference votes whichever way the party leadership tells them to. Let's not exaggerate the role ordinary members have in setting our policy.
This leadership contest is about setting the general direction of the party for years to come. Any leader who expects change but isn't prepared to signpost it during their leadership contest is likely to have a tougher time actually implementing that change.
That's why it is important.
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