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Bath MP dismisses Private Eye report of potential challenger as fake news
Private Eye this week claimed that Wera Hobhouse was not on best terms with Liberal Democrat peer Lord Strasburger
17:14, 30 APR 2021
Wera Hobhouse speaking at the University of Bath
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Bath’s MP has dismissed as “fake news” reports the new council leader is being lined up to replace her amid party infighting.
WE can’t be entirely sure when the concept of “gaming” was first used to convey cynical manipulation in the political realm. In this year’s Scottish election it’s been used to label the tactics of Alba in seeking to gain an independence “supermajority” through second votes in the Holyrood lists. This was always an over-simplification, though, that owed more to deep personal disdain of Alex Salmond by some commentators and those MSPs daft enough to run with it. “Gaming” or manipulating the machinery of politics to secure a desired outcome has been with us for centuries. Take a look at the party lists right now and ask yourself why the names of so many party grandees lurk there rather than in the constituency contests? The list system itself is a form of democratic manipulation.
Since inception, the Scottish Parliament has experienced regular sniping and spasmodic calls for abolition. An Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party is standing candidates in next month’s election. The party’s website suggests the “£100 million saved annually” could be spent on the “NHS and education” and transforming “Holyrood’s grounds into homes for veterans”. A claim strangely reminiscent of the fabled weekly £100m for the NHS that once appeared on the side of a big red bus. Some will ask if the Abolition Party’s leading lights should be out on their own, but most reasonable observers would agree Holyrood is far from perfect. The predominance of a single party for so long is a moot point. Inevitably, all parties and leaders run out of energy and ideas.