Lib Dems must be taken seriously – Liam Fox
By Sam Dale
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox today insisted he didn’t want to “rubbish” Liberal Democrat policies.
The Conservative MP was speaking after their recent poll surge following Nick Clegg’s appearance in the first TV debate.
“We have got to take it seriously. There’s no doubt the election has come alive, that the voters are energised,” added Dr Fox.
“People want change and increasingly in the next few weeks the message we want to get across is that only the Conservatives can offer change.”
He went on to highlight some of the Liberal Democrat’s more controversial policies such as scrapping Trident, an amnesty for illegal immigrants and joining the euro.
“This is not being out to rubbish Nick Clegg, this is to show people what they actually stand for,” he said.
And speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Lord Mandelson echoed Dr Fox’s message to take Mr Clegg seriously.
He said: “Nick Clegg does have to be taken seriously because he has entered the fray and appealed to a lot of people who feel Labour has had a good innings, and feel it’s someone else’s turn, but who have looked at David Cameron’s Tories and baulked at them becoming the government.”
Meanwhile, the Times claimed David Cameron changed his election broadcast yesterday from attacking Labour to confronting the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservative leader warned that a hung parliament would mean “more indecision, more of the old politics”.
Mr Cameron also alluded to the prospect of Gordon Brown continuing as prime minister if the Liberal Democrat surge produced a hung parliament.
“We might be stuck with what we have now,” he added.
