It’s the lies I object to (he lied)
My discomfort with the recurring scandals among Lib Dem leaders and leadership candidates is not the revelations themselves, but the suspicion I have of people who say “it’s not the scandal itself I take offence to, it’s that they lied to us”. I just don’t believe them.
When Charles Kennedy revealed he used to have a drinking problem, but that it was “essentially resolved”, the consensus was that he should step down not because of his alcoholism, but because he had lied. Simon Hughes has been criticised not so much for his recently-revealed gay relationships, but his deception. Vox pops of his constituents on Radio 4 last night showed people to be very unhappy with their MP — but only because he’d lied to them.
I don’t believe those people who have moved against Kennedy and Hughes because of their lies. I don’t believe the British people are that naive or trusting or sensitive to think their our politicians should have such spotless characters. Hardly anyone can believe the Prime Minister was so innocent as to be totally misled by the intelligence services’ contacts who claimed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — he must have chosen not to dig too deeply. Hardly anyone can believe that David Cameron has so completely transformed his world outlook as to be unrecognisable as the man who wrote the last Conservative election manifesto. Even the “ethical foreign policy” of the saintly Robin Cook was heavily compromised when he came to implement it. Hardly any politicians of note lead uncorrupted lives, and surely no-one realistically expects them to (or else we’d hear a whole lot more about it).
So why are people so prissy about Kennedy and Hughes? Because they want to mask their real motivations, I’d guess. They don’t want a party leader with a alcohol problem, whether or not it’s under control. They don’t want a man who’s had bisexual relationships representing them in parliament.
But you can’t say any of that, of course. So instead you have to take exception to the lies. And that in itself is a lie, that’s dishonest. And that’s the real disappointment. Because I don’t expect my politicians to be living uncompromised lives. But I do expect a much, much higher standard from my fellow members of the public.
