Letter To Don Foster 2
by John Walker on Dec.09, 2010, under The Rest
Here is the letter I wrote to Don Foster tonight, after he voted in favour of tripling tuition fees, cutting arts and humanities funding by 100%, and unashamedly doing the precise opposite of his solemn pre-election promise:
Dear Don Foster,
I have one question for which I would appreciate an answer. If – before the Coalition was formed – you heard of an MP who made a solemn promise, signed a pledge and held this up for cameras, and was widely supported and elected based on this promise, and then voted against it, what would you think of him?
In the face of the clear will of your electorate, and the clear promises you made, that you would vote for the raise in tuition fees – no matter how you may have rationalised this for yourself – is a terrible act of deceit.
I ask that you resign, because your flagrant lying and vulgar contempt for your electorate demonstrates that you are obviously unfit for the role into which you were elected. I am quite certain that the Don Foster of March 2010 would entirely agree with me.
I’m so upset with and ashamed of you.
Yours sincerely,
John Walker
Former Lib Dem voter
December 9th, 2010 on 21:50
Let us know if he replies. He’s not my MP, but this is a damned shame, as until now he seemed like a reasonable, sensible man with a strong voting record. I could see why you campaigned on his behalf. And I see now why you would never do so again (if he wasn’t retiring, that is). Those strong words are entirely justified.
Though I voted for a Lib-Dem candidate, I’m sort of relieved the Labour incumbent remained by the skin of her teeth. I’ve no idea which way the Lib-Dem would have voted had he got in, but were another election to be called in a few months, I’d certainly vote Labour (I almost did anyway, as my MP has a fairly strong voting record).
December 9th, 2010 on 21:55
*sigh* it is sad. I had a friend ask me (rhetorically, he thought) why the majority of the anger and disappointment was going the way of the Lib Dems rather than the Tories, who are obviously the driving force behind the ‘reform’. Of course, while he thought he was making a clever point, the reason is exactly as you’ve pointed out in your letter – the Tories (whilst equally culpable or maybe even moreso) weren’t the ones pre-election signing pledges to say they would oppose any such rise. There is a special type of contempt and disappointment reserved for those who blatantly go against pledges they’ve made in the public record.
It truly does make me *sadface*. Also the massively biased reporting of the BBC, which I wasn’t really expecting. I expect that stuff from the papers, and Sky News, but, foolishly I guess, I had a greater belief in the impartiality of the BBC. But then, since Panorama over recent years has descended into tabloid bilge, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
December 9th, 2010 on 22:27
100% art cuts?! I would say that’s even worse then tuition fess rising.
December 9th, 2010 on 23:28
Oh dear did you see what Foster said would happen if he failed to back the reform and the Government were defeated?
He said the coalition would collapse and that there would be… “a major slump in Lib Dem support”.
Oh how’d I’d laugh if I wasn’t screeching a blood curdling scream whilst tears run down my face.
December 10th, 2010 on 00:16
Another well written letter. I too would like to hear the response, if any.
My Lib Dem MP (well ex-MP, no longer in constituency) managed to keep to his word and vote against the reform, but he may have been feeling a little more pressure as he *may* have just employed a Russian Spy.
December 10th, 2010 on 00:45
I voted for the lib dems in the election, lagely based on their tuition fee promises (I actually quite liked their plans for dealing with the deficit as well, but of course those went out the window as soon as they joined the coalition). I’m not sure whether to feel betrayed or not – the Lib Dems have behaved despicably now they are in government, this fees debacle being only the latest example.
But my MP, Jenny Willot, has been, without a doubt the best MP I have ever had represent me. She listens to all her constituents, has lobbied the government on many important issues, and today resigned her ministerial position so she could vote against the fees rises – solely because so many constituents lobbied against it.
On the flipside, the labour candidate for my area is a real c*nt. So I’m stuck with the choice of voting for a great MP but a terrible party, or a slightly better party, but a terrible MP in the next election. How I love British politics…
December 10th, 2010 on 10:47
@The_Terminator: Vote for the MP, not the party. You’ll get much more out of it.
Also, have the voting records been released? I’ve been trying to find them so I can see what my local MP did and what the wonderful Clegg did.
December 10th, 2010 on 10:49
Ignore me, I just found it.
December 10th, 2010 on 11:24
We had a political party called the Australian Democrats who filled much the same electoral niche as the Lib Dems seem to. Then they negotiated with the Liberal Party (our conservative party, who were in power at the time but did not control both houses of parliament), against the wishes of their base, to introduce a goods and services tax in return for some concessions in other areas (that I think they got shafted on anyway). It basically took one more election for them to no longer be a relevant political force, and some bitter public disputes and leadership battles then more or less ended any tiny chance they might have had of recovering.
I can see the same thing happening here. Don’t worry though, as long as there is another progressive party waiting in the wings to take on their disenfranchised voters, you’ll be back to the electoral system causing 15% of people not getting anything approaching the representation they want in no time at all…
February 4th, 2011 on 08:48
Great letter, did you ever get a response?