We probably should have known better than to rely on Nick Brown. It has been clear all along that there’s more than convictions driving his position, but I think we all believe he’d stand firm. His publicly stated reasons for voting with the government tonight are clearly nonsense (the measures he say swayed him were introduced last week) and the halls of westminster were filled with talk of what sort of Blair-Gordon-Nick deal had driven these changes.
Given his defection, and the number of MPs who went with him, the government scraping through by five votes is a pretty poor showing on their part. They’ve abandoned those few tatters of principles they clutched at, and surely British politics can never look at the manifesto in the same way again.
We met with the infamous Jane Griffiths this morning and she perpetuated the image she’s built amongst my acquaintances. It was no surprise when she didn’t listen to any of our points. However her response to Kris’ comment that he wouldn’t have taken the course he did if he’d had to pay top-up fees, because he couldn’t conscience that level of debt was taking it too far. She suggested he shouldn’t have bothered in the case. I don’t know quite how that attitude fits with the government’s desire for 50% participation in HE.
That British politics is devoid of honour, I was already aware. But it still never fails to astonish.