Great story about Lord Greaves going to his house and them pretending they weren’t in in the Guardian Diary last week.

What is undeniably true is that the Liberal Democrat “sour grapes” argument is an explicit acceptance that their support is likely to plummet at the next European election. Karim would have had to make a miniscule improvement to secure re-election as a Liberal Democrat MEP - the careerist argument simply doesn’t wash.

Of course, plummeting Liberal Democrat support at the European Elections isn’t going to help you secure election from seventh place on the LD list, Steve? I assume that’s you with 23 first-preferences across the entire region, please correct me if not!

“As a former Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate and Cllr in the North West, i know of Mr Karim and his local reputation and i’ve also experienced the reality of some Tory attitudes. Suffice it to say, I predict a very unfortunate relationship. This isn’t newsworthy. It’s simply about careers. The implications may be limited to a temporary membership blip in a few local Tory Associations just before candidate selections. Plus ca change…”

Strange for someone so actively involved to write (just over a fortnight ago):

“The problem with the Cameron project is that its working in the way it was designed to. It sends signals just as new Labour sent signals, to right and left, in order to win at any cost but will fail to tackle the real causes of National decline for fear of alienating potential voters in the undecided/apathetic camp. It’s soft social-democratic, euro-liberalism offers nothing new. I was taken in for a while but no more.”

I think perhaps that ‘work commitments’ may be a bit of a euphemism.

The “sour grapes” argument only stands up if the Liberal Democrats suffer a catastrophic loss of support in the 2009 elections, making Karim’s re-election unlikely. As you have made this argument, presumably you think that your party is heading for a mauling come the next Euro Elections.

Incidentally, Tim Perkins is still very much a member of the Conservative Party, although I understand his recent work commitments have meant that he has not been as actively involved as he (or we) would like. Tim worked exceptionally hard before the May elections both in Claremont and helping a number of other candidates in target wards.

On Human Rights
“This is just another example of how the Labour and Conservative parties are completely aligned on stripping away our human and civil rights…”

On Conservative Homophobia
With their failure to support a resolution condemning discriminatory remarks by political and religious leaders targeting homosexuals, the Tories have shown their true colours.”

“Their apathy in the face of rising homophobia should come as no surprise. The Conservative camp is today rife with contradiction. Cameron attempts to paint a glossy image of a gay-friendly party in the UK while desperately trying to get into bed at European level with Poland’s homophobic ‘Law and Justice’ party.”