David Maddox: Change of Lib Dem strategy?

Those of you who take an interest in party election leaflets - and I guess if you can be bothered to read this blog it will probably include you - then the utterances of Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat's Shadow Scottish Secretary, on Newsnight Scotland last night may have come as a surprise.
To put this in context I would ask you to remember the classic line used by all parties now, but developed by the Lib Dems, of only "only we can beat.... here." Usually it is accompanied by a spurious bar chart showing neck and neck support between their candidate and the sitting MP.
Often the claim bore little resemblance to reality. I remember as a 13-year-old in 1987 helping my mother deliver such leaflets for the then Lib/ SDP Alliance candidate in Norwich North only for the chap to come a very poor third.
Perhaps more famously Linda Gorn, the Lib Dem candidate in the Holyrood by-election for Moray in 2006 made a complete fool of herself by basing the campaign on that message. She disappeared shortly after coming third.
but last night Mr Carmichael said the idea of "binary political choices" was "condescending and arrogant".
He added: "The politicians have got to get real here, they've got to recognise that there's a major problem of political disengagement and instead of telling people what choice they have got why don't you just try and listen to them for a while and engage in proper, serious political debate about political issues, about the state of our economy about the state of our democracy and about the fact that most people don't see any solutions coming from a broken political system at all."
He meant this in a context of the election being one between Labour and the Tories or Labour and the SNP, but it certainly makes that old Lib Dem leaflet slogan look odd too.

David Maddox: Is the SNP trying to suppress democracy?

Interesting developments today over the great TV debate debate, if you get my drift.
Gordon Brown finally accepts, if somewhat reluctantly, to have one in principle. To be fair on him this is further than any of his predecessors have gone, even if he did have to be harried into accepting the idea.
Then, rather sinisterly, the SNP announce they will go to court to block any Scottish viewing of such a debate if they are not allowed to participate.
The Nationalists' argument is obviously that as arguably the best supported party north of the Border they would be unfairly disadvantaged if Alex Salmond or Westminster leader Angus Robertson were not part of it.
No doubt they still believe in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s that separation from the UK is the most important issue to discuss - most people in Britain might disagree.
If this were a Scottish election then they would have a point, but it is not. It is a UK election and this is the opportunity for people to see who they would rather want as Prime Minister - Gordon Brown or David Cameron.
There is just about enough moral justification to include Nick Clegg as leader of the Lib Dems, even though nobody but himself actually seriously believes he will be resident in Number 10 any time next year.
It would be a nonsense for tens of millions of non-Scottish voters to have to listen to a party they cannot vote for and a subject (Scottish independence) for which they care little and have no real say.
And where do we draw the line? Should we have the Greens, UKIP and the BNP who have more supporters across the UK than the SNP? Should we have all the leaders of Plaid Cymru and the various Northern Irish parties?
No we should not. The whole thing would become a joke.
So what the SNP want, essentially, is to make sure that Scots are the only voters who cannot watch these debates and take a view on who would be the best PM for Britain. It would be Scots, thanks to the SNP, who would have their democratic rights undermined.
The one compromise that seems reasonable here is the suggestion that there should be debates involving other cabinet ministers and their shadows.
If this were to happen Messrs Salmond or Roberston could take on Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, David Mundell of the Tories and Alistair Carmichael for the Lib Dems in a specific Scottish edition on STV or/ and BBC Scotland.
However, we know from previous occasions that Mr Salmond's ego is too big to debate with mere Scottish secretaries or ministers. He refused an offer to take on Mr Murphy at a conference about 10 days ago and famously was mocked by Jeremy Paxman when he refused to engage with David Cairns.
It will be interesting to see how this all resolves itself. But my guess is that it may not be Gordon Brown's reluctance that stops these debates but the SNP's hubris.

David Maddox: Is good breeding the secret to political success?

I often think it's comical!

How Nature always does contrive!

That every boy and every gal

That’s born into the world alive

Is either a little Liberal

Or else a little Conservative!

Times have changed since November 25 1882 when these famous words of Private Willis from Gilbert and Sullivan's Sentry Song (in their operetta Iolanthe) were first sung in the Savoy Theatre in London. And circumstances are even more different in Scotland than they are south of the border with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats now only occupying third and fourth place in people's affections respectively.
On a good day the Tories and Lib Dems may get a third of the political support between them in Scottish polls and, at least in the Lib Dems case, that share seems to be shrinking rapidly.
So as the Lib Dems are failing to persuade people to support their cause, they seem to have hit on a new strategy - put virile youngish men in positions of leadership and get them to produce supporters for the future. The tactic seems to be working.
UK leader Nick Clegg, 42, and his wife Miriam (both pictured left) have just had their third child - a son named Miguel born on February 22. Mr Clegg pointedly avoided last weekend's Scottish party conference, no doubt to spend some quality canvassing time with the youngster.
Scottish leader Tavish "Viking" Scott, 42, and his new wife, BBC journalist Kirsten Campbell, are due to have their first child in July. It will be Mr Scott's fourth.
Scottish deputy leader Michael Moore, 43, and his wife Alison (both pictured left) are due to have a child in June.

No wonder poor Alistair Carmichael, 43, the party's spokesman for Scotland in Westminster, was gently chided by Mr Scott in his conference speech yesterday for not doing his bit for party membership.

Ross Lydall: Has Jo Swinson the nerve to demand home truths of Jacqui Smith?

Interesting to see that Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire and champion of openness and transparency, is due to ask the first "topical" question to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith this afternoon.

By a quirk of bad timing, Ms Smith has to face the Commons a day after finding her living arrangements splashed over the front page of the Mail on Sunday. By living with her sister in south London and nominating her constituency home as her second home, she is able to claim up to £24,006 a year in the second home allowance (entirely within the letter - if not the spirit - of the rules, it should be added).

Commendably, and in contrast to most other MPs, Ms Swinson publishes all her parliamentary expenses on her website. But will she have the nerve to take on Ms Smith, and secure for herself a few headlines?

One wonders what advice she might be receiving from her Lib-Dem colleague and shadow Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael. The MP for Orkney and Shetland, a canny chap, is due to be appointed to a new parliamentary committee overseeing members' allowances, as is Labour MP and government whip Tommy McAvoy, who represents Rutherglen and Hamilton West.