Lib Dem Diary – Ruaraidh Ferguson

The Secret Diary of Ruaraidh Ferguson, age 53 and a half

(Published with apologies to Sue Townsend, author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾)

Friday 17/04
I got the bill for the election address today, that’s the candidate leaflet that you get through the post. The Royal Mail has an obligation to deliver free one piece of election material for each candidate. You can always tell the day they are being delivered as the normally congenial Postie is late and in a foul mood. I don’t know what the other parties do but our leaflet was emailed as a template to me, you then just change the bits of text and add any photos. I suspect the main contenders will be a bit more elaborate. The cost for our printing was £540.00, makes you wonder what the rest are spending. Who says you can’t buy an MP?

Last local Lib/Dem strategy meeting before the election, many difficult choices to be made, do we go with the egalitarian rich tea biscuit or the ostentatious chocolate cake? I’m sure few will be surprised to discover that we went for the scone of the middle ground.

Ruaraidh

Saturday 18/04
Candidates to be seen manfully striding the streets of Stornoway, many hands to be shaken and babies to be kissed. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of people about in Stornoway on a Saturday morning. There is something quite sad about seeing a be-suited politician and his retinue looking for someone to convince.
Another Saturday and another row brewing, this time regarding the Returning Officer. I have absolutely no idea what the rules are regarding the Returning Officer are but have absolute faith in Derek and his team being totally impartial and doing a great job.
There’s a bit of a push on from party HQ, wanting volunteers to help out canvassing in areas they are in a panic about. I managed to convince the young worthy that phoned me that whilst Skye was only a few miles from my constituency it was still no five-minute drive. It would be a huge surprise to me if Charles Kennedy did lose his seat but on the plus side he could then have a go at Holyrood.

Monday 20/04
The row about the returning officer seems to be gathering pace; again I have no idea what the rules or implications are but have passed on the details to HQ who really don’t seem particularly bothered about any of it.
The postal votes will soon be on their way, there is now such a large amount of people who vote by post, over 4,000 here or 27% of last Westminster’s vote, that elections can be pretty much predicted/decided two weeks before the poll. Candidates and agents can attend the opening of the postal votes but votes aren’t counted at that time and no one should be able to see where the cross on the ballot paper is, it’s really just to be allowed to observe the process.
I see the Labour Deputy Leader was up today for a day of campaigning on devolved matters, possibly a year too early.

Tuesday 21/4
High on the daily briefings from Lib Dem HQ is the SNP manifesto. It seems to be causing a fair bit of controversy. Those a lot more learned than I question the Maths which is claimed to be more Grimm brothers than Adam Smith, but is largely irrelevant anyway as they will never have to implement it. If they do support a Labour Government how is it going to work when SNP MPs have to support policies in Westminster that SNP MSPs would never support in Holyrood?
I also read that Nicola allegedly wants to carry out any partnership negotiations herself, if true its absolute hypocrisy of the highest order, given all the noise of Westminster based parties having undue influence over their parties’ MSPs in Holyrood.
The daily briefings I get, and occasionally read, are a mix of hot topics of the day, where Nick is going to be and what he’s going to say, and any message the party wants punted. As usual however, 70% of the items relate only to England and Wales.
A document called the Parliamentary Campaigner arrived by email last night. It includes tips on appearing at hustings such as reading the manifesto!

Wednesday 22/04
I listened to Ruth Davidson on Radio Scotland yesterday. She came across very well but of course isn’t standing for election. It was interesting to hear her say that whilst she agreed with the principal of the Bedroom Tax it shouldn’t have been introduced retrospectively and that she argued that with Osborne and Cameron prior to its introduction. Does that then mean it was a money raising exercise, rather than one based on fairness?

I’m glad to see from SNP supporter Mr Harper’s letter that he also feels that much of the current campaign focuses far too much on devolved issues. Unfortunately his own candidate still continues to highlight devolved matters as something he can change. This is no attempt to stifle debate but as a candidate I could highlight fuel poverty, transport and the NHS as being a disgrace, yet as an MP all I could really do is vote on funding issues in England and Wales which would then have a knock on effect on funding for Scotland, surely this is disingenuous at best?

I noticed this morning that both Scottish Christian Parties and SNP posters are up near traffic lights, junctions and other prohibited areas. It’s not as if the instructions for this are unclear.

Thursday 23/04
Labour fights the election on a platform of protecting the NHS, increasing living standards and taxing the rich. Conservatives attack Labour on wrecking the economy and being soft on welfare claimants.
It all sounds very familiar but actually these claims are from 1950s election leaflets.

LibDems are launching a carer’s manifesto later, detail looks a step in the right direction for a very much undervalued section of society, unfortunately it only applies to England and Wales though I think extra funding would come to Scotland.

This came in today, not too sure whether to feel encouraged or dejected

Helping your nearest target seat
“It is absolutely essential that this is our priority this week as non-strategic seat candidates. As well as supporting our party to win as many seats as possible on May 7th, it also gives us a chance as candidates to develop our campaigning skills ready for when we’re the target seat candidates – whether that’s in a council, Assembly or parliamentary election.”

My postal vote arrived yesterday along with Labour and SNP leaflets. In fact, Labour sent 3 personally addressed leaflets to the house but unfortunately there are 4 voters. I was slightly perturbed at the amount of time the current Mrs F was spending on making her choice on the ballot paper and also the speed with which it was then placed in the envelope. On a more serious note you can easily see how this system could be abused.