On the 25th of February Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes and a newly appointed transport minister, gave a talk on the coalition Government for the Politics Society. With the current government such a contentious issue at Sussex, and across the country, we felt it important to hear the views of someone who believed in that government.
On the walk to Fulton A, Norman asked me if he would face ‘angry students’ or whether on a Friday afternoon it would instead be ‘one man and his dog.’ As we entered, there was a moderate turn out of around 30 people, and no dog.
Norman began the talk by introducing his career, noting particularly his past party positions and his presidency of the Tibet Society. Then I’d asked Norman to address an issue I was sure would be on everyone’s minds - why had he become a part of the ‘con-dem’ government, agreed to work with a party that he’d once so vehemently opposed. Mr Baker asserted that that his party lacked a public mandate, and in the event of a hung parliament had agreed to talk to the party with the most votes first. Therefore forming a Lib-Lab government, as the left had fantasised, was never an option.
By the very first question from the audience, Norman’s joke about students had come back to haunt him. Encapsulating the mood in universities across the country, the first question addressed the issue of tuition fees, as did a large percentage of those to follow. This initial questioner talked passionately on tuition fees and fiercely accused Baker of being ‘spineless’ for abandoning his belief in free education. Norman chose to respond to accusations with a focus on the ‘65%’ of the Liberal Democrat manifesto that had apparently been achieved in government. As well as putting forward the ‘shaving off the edges’ perspective. The perspective that though higher education policy was not proving popular, without the Liberal Democrats, bursaries, and other concessions for poorer students would never have been proposed.
Baker justified Conservative policies with Lib Dem success: the ‘pupil premium’ and the AV referendum for example. Though, the AV electoral system is desired by neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats. Mr Baker maintained an insistence that coalition governments have to involve compromises, throughout the event, though the rebuttal was that principles should come before political manoeuvring.
Norman was then questioned on how he would deal with the conflict between his government position and upholding his celebrated parliamentarianism (for example, forcing the eventual resignation of Peter Mandelson.) Mr Baker told the student that he still held the same ideals he always had. He stressed that he would continue to campaign on issues he felt strongly about but perhaps in a different manner now that he represents the government.
An interesting question on the ‘big society’ prompted Mr Baker to admit he wasn’t sold on the phrase, but nonetheless agreed that local people taking charge of projects was positive. Here he cited a Railways forum he had set up in his constituency town of Lewes as a victory of these ‘big society’ values.
Overall Norman Baker coped well with impassioned questions from ‘angry students’, and with tuition fees rising to £9000, ‘angry students’ are probably something he should get used to. Like any MP, Norman Baker put forward professional and persuasive arguments. But as hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets, the coalition government will remain controversial.
Sussexstudent.com/politics
Twitter.com/sussexpolsoc
- As published in Euroscope (summer edition)
