On blinkered floating ‘Independents’

The problem I have with ‘Independent’ politicians is their irritiating belief that they are somehow above the political fray, up there on some ethereal political plane, untouched by the shabby passions and concerns of the party politician. So, Cllr Wallis who in a recent post ‘View of an Independent’ tells us:

… I don’t have any Party loyalties or blinkered by being a Member of a Party. I have always followed Politics since I first watched the 1979 Election as an 8-9 year old. I have also not voted for the same Party in all the General Elections since I was eligible to vote. For me the choice is down to two Parties. One of the Parties I have completely discounted as posted in a previous Blog.

Do you see what I mean? It does not occur to Cllr Wallis that being an Independent might in itself be a variety of blinkering, making it less likely that he will give proper consideration to the policies of the parties. And why is loyalty such a bad thing? In my experience, an Independent can be as ‘blinkered’ as any politician who belongs to a party. Of course, the Independent’s loyalty to the idea of being independent comes at a cost to the voter since the Independent has far less power – if any  -outside than inside a party.

Cllr Wallis tells us with, I think, some pride that he has not voted for the same party at general elections. Why is that a virtue, I wonder? Is it independence or just aimless floating?

And then there’s my suspicion that in fact most Independents are closet Tories who dare not speak their name. I guess I could devise a simple questionnaire to put to Independents which would reveal just how independent they really are. And I’ll wager most would be exposed as conservative – and probably Conservative.

Well, for a start, we know that Cllr Wallis isn’t voting Labour on 6 May…