Broadcaster and journalist John Kampfner has today launched a new publication outlining his reasons for leaving the Labour party to join the Lib Dems.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg joined the former editor of New Statesman magazine - who has previously also worked for the BBC and the Financial Times – to launch Lost Labours: Where now for the liberal left?, outlining his views on how New Labour has failed to deliver during its 13 years in office.

John Kampfner joins other high profile individuals such as actor Colin Firth in declaring his support for the Liberal Democrats for the forthcoming election.

Mr Kampfner, who left Labour in 2005 because of the Iraq war, said:

“New Labour in office has had one all-consuming purpose: re-election. Since 1997, their every working day was based around the task of prolonging their term of office. It filled in the ideological hollow and justified ever-encroaching authoritarianism and a pandering to the right on criminal justice and other areas of social policy.

“In contrast, the Liberal Democrat analysis of the failures of the deregulated market has been consistently, and painfully, accurate. Nick Clegg’s tax reform plans, taking four million low paid workers out of tax altogether, are the most redistributive of any party. And the Liberal Democrat approach to criminal justice, human rights, foreign and social policy is close to mine.”

North West Norfolk Liberal Democrat spokesperson William Summers commented:

“It’s great to have John Kampfner and other high profile backers on board. As a liberal and socially progressive party the Lib Dems are the natural home for disaffected Labour supporters right across the country.

“The message is clear: if you feel you have been let down by Labour, please lend your vote to the Liberal Democrats at the election and help us change politics for the better.”

Tags: colin firth, john kampfner, labour party, nick clegg

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Better government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.