'Avalanche' of Labour MPs could turn to Lib Dems - Sir Vince Cable

From The BBC

19th September 2015

There could be "an avalanche" of Labour MPs who defect to the Liberal Democrats following Jeremy Corbyn's leadership victory, Sir Vince Cable has said. Mr Corbyn won a landslide victory to become leader, despite not being backed by the majority of Labour MPs.

Labour made a "catastrophic choice" and was now stuck with a leader "totally out of touch" with its base, the former Lib Dem MP and business secretary said. It offered the Lib Dems "a way back" after election losses, he added. Speaking to Radio 4's Week In Westminster, Sir Vince said Mr Corbyn's victory and Labour's shift to the left was "certainly an opportunity" and "certainly a way back" for the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems ended up with just eight MPs following this year's general election - down from 57 in 2010. A host of senior Lib Dem ministers and MPs lost their seats at the election, including Sir Vince, former energy secretary Ed Davey, and ex-treasury secretary Danny Alexander.

Speaking ahead of the party's conference in Bournemouth, Sir Vince said "moderate, middle of the road" Labour politicians were now in "a terrible position" following Mr Corbyn's victory. His victory would do the Labour party "no end of harm", he warned, adding: "They're completely stuck with a leader who is just totally out of touch with their own electoral base." Sir Vince predicted there would be at least some defections to his party - but said he believed it could be more realistic for many disgruntled Labour MP to work with the Lib Dems on individual issues. "I think that kind of cross-party working is probably more promising for most Labour people than defection, though some will go and we will see. It may become an avalanche," he added.

New Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, has said "distressed" Labour figures have already contacted him following Mr Corbyn's election win. At the conference's opening rally, he said: "Britain is teeming with liberals, some of them are not yet in the Liberal Democrats. Some of them are in other parties. But we are their home."

[Oh, the desperate cries of a desperate ex-MP from a destroyed political party looking for any possibility to get their grubby hands back on power! Pathetic and quite frankly disgusting. As to Corbyn being ‘a leader "totally out of touch" with its base’ who exactly gave him 60% of the leadership vote if it wasn’t the parties base – actual members of the Labour Party. As to the other way off assertion that ‘Britain is teeming with liberals’ are these the same Liberals who didn’t vote for them in droves during the last election – including me? It would appear that Mr Cable's party has moved beyond simply rejecting the expressed will of the electorate into a land of wishful thinking and delusion. These statements about Labour’s ‘mistaken’ election of a Socialist leader just prove the point that the Liberals are out of touch both with their own followers and with the new political reality. My decision, and no doubt those of millions of others, NOT to vote Liberal ever again will not be shaken by the ravings of an obvious mad man. Pathetic.]