Scottish Tory Boy has found a scandalous Liberal leaflet, done up with plenty of green ink to make them look like the party of the environment rather than motorways, and there's much to be cross about with it. Here's the section he spotted.
First, as STB points out, they've dishonestly identified one of their regional MSPs as a "local" one, i.e. as the constituency MSP, which is against Parliament's rules.
This might seem trivial, but it helps ensure people understand how they are represented and by whom, and so prevents poaching and pretend incumbency. The party clearly hopes to promote Jim "Two Jobs" Hume as the constituency challenger to the actual local MSP, in this case Iain Gray, the LOLITSP. A wee compliment is therefore due to STB. The Liberals aren't even trying to poach one of his MSPs: I believe he's just genuinely aggrieved about the principle.
This kind of misrepresentation is what we have come to expect from the Liberals. But the leaflet does include another substantial bit of deception. The quote to the right of the leaflet is identified as a Guardian point of view, the one about the Liberals being the best on the environment for decades.
Guardian readers might well be impressed to hear that, but it's actually a quote from Liberal conference, merely reported in the Guardian. Who'd expect a speaker at Liberal conference to back the Liberals?
The speaker in question was Dick Hazell, the Chief Executive of the Environmental Services Association. The ESA has many good members working on recycling, but it also supports the worst approach possible to waste - burning it.
He's also known as Dirk, and under this name was a chair of the London Tories, before he (shock horror) joined the Liberals. Mr Hazell is pictured here with Brian Paddick, holding a giant membership card, as per the giant charity cheque photo used in every local paper.
Now this looks even worse. Liberal supporter supports Liberals, and is quoted as if he's the whole damn Guardian. Honest? I think not.
Mr Hazell, as it happens, is a man of flexible opinions, as well as flexible allegiances. He may now think the Liberals best on environmental matters, but while still a Tory he told their conference that:
"Conservative controlled councils are leading on the environment at the local level.."
He's also so green-minded that he believes the objective of Greenpeace is:
"...to limit economic growth: a certain recipe for civil strife and wars which condemns the bulk of humanity to perpetual poverty."
Surely he can't be the same Dick Hazell who, according to his cousin, was apparently "involved in some financial irregularities" while a Vice Chairman of Lloyds, though? Peter Hain named and shamed this Mr Hazell in a Parliamentary motion in 1995, but the internet is unable to prove or disprove a link.
Finally, to round out my annoyance, this same accursed leaflet includes a grammatical howler. The last sentence reads (emphasis mine):
"I will continue to hold Ministers to account on the environment, and urge strong action on over the packaging of products and the generation of biofuels."
Update: there's another wee typo to look for in their copy too.
So, in one small section of a single leaflet they've broken Parliamentary rules, misleadingly quoted one of their own as a third party endorsement, and mangled the English language.
Has anyone got a stronger contender for Worst Liberal Leaflet Ever? A small bottle of something nice is available for the best entry in the comments. Scans or pictures are obligatory, I'm afraid. I have standards.
no soiled literature I'm afraid, but as you may have noticed here:
http://www.counterbalance-eib.org/blog/2008/09/the-age-of-perma-fleecing/
a Liberal MEP has been bigging the EIB as an institution that can step in to protect the public from being "fleeced".
I think they used that same Guardian quote in Hackney.
Taken from a elction leaflet in Central Edinburgh (holyrood 2007)
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/480500777_f46c8900f0_o.jpg
with how it would look if drawn to scale next to it.
Funny how Amy put this out after she ran the ERS stall at the Scottish Greens' conference last month, so as to avoid being collared on it. Still won't win her East Lothian though ("Not winning here") and I won't forget before I see her next...
Pity Amy didn't release the leaflet before running the ERS stall at the Scottish Greens' conference last month. She still won't win East Lothian ("not winning here").