The real scandal in the Liberal Democrats is not leading the news. Extremists are menacing the career and life of a Liberal Democrat politician and respectable society hardly considers these authentically scandalous threats to be a scandal at all. The scandal, in short, is that there is no scandal.
.... The campaign against him is now a test for the Liberal Democrat leadership. It should defend freedom of speech in all cases except when speakers espouse violence. If Clegg cannot say that a polite protest against the cowardice of the BBC does not justify death threats, he will lose the right to call himself a liberal.
I am glad to say his local party in Hampstead and Kilburn has backed Nawaz already. I hope that come the next election all Hampstead voters of all persuasions will consider voting for him.
Some arguments matter more than party politics. The right of democratic representatives and democratic publics to speak their minds without fear of retribution is one of them. [Guardian Cif] Read more
