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When in a hole...

... I thought the first rule was to stop digging. Yet the Cats-in-a-sack Conservatives do not seem to be able to resist taking chunks out of each other.

The bile and bitterness that comes through in these exchanges does not show the Tories in an especially happy light- in fact it must be miserable to be a Conservative right now.
Despite the polls, the quality of debate and the lack of rancour amongst the Liberal Democrats is a complete contrast to the atmosphere amongst "Cameron's Conservatives".

The Tories can not take too much more of this before the voters are going to start walking away in even bigger numbers. Meanwhile as the conference season approaches- I received my latest reminder this morning- the Liberal Democrats now have an opportunity to demonstrate what the practical effect of of our basic principles will be.

I think that it is because we are basically agreed on those principles: anti state, somewhat libertarian, fair, open and radical, as they are that our party debates seem a bit more mature. If the Conservatives were more sure that their leader had some core beliefs, perhaps they would have more confidence in his leadership.
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