Simpson is one of the best of a bad bunch, so I'm doing him the honour of reproducing his letter here, along with my reply.
Andrew's Letter:
"Clegg's questions were not filtered.
Once again Eamonn Fitzpatrick uses your paper to attack the Lib Dems and this time he has a go at the Town Hall meeting with the Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg MP.
Before anybody takes any notice of Mr Fitzpatrick's opinion on this maybe they should know that he was one of the first members of the public to be picked by Nick to answer a question.
True to form Mr Fitzpatrick then took the opportunity to ask three questions one of which was about the Lib Dem position on Labour's 42-day detention without trial proposal, this being the issue that led Conservative MP David Davis to resign and call a by-election in which Mr Fitzpatrick stood as a candidate.
Nick Clegg answered succinctly and clearly and stated how the Lib Dems were opposed to the 42-day proposal and together with ID cards, saw this as part of a steady erosion of traditional British liberties.
Of course Mr Fitzpatrick didn't like this answer because he takes the opposite view, hence why he stood in the by-election. To remind people in that election just 31 people voted for Mr Fitzpatrick which perhaps shows how seriously anybody should take his views both on national and local issues. One thing Mr Fitzpatrick's letter does demonstrate though is that, contrary to what others have written, the Nick Clegg meeting was genuinely open to all. Nobody who came along was turned away and there was no filtering of any questions. Nick Clegg picked people himself as they indicated they had a question.
I doubt we will ever see the leaders of the Conservative or Labour Parties come to Northampton and conduct such an open and straightforward public meeting.
Finally Mr Fitzpatrick's view of Nick Clegg as "unimpressive" clearly wasn't shared by others who attended since some went on to join the Liberal Democrats there and then."
Right, that's Andrew's letter, now for my reply. (I didn't notice who the three 'others' were who joined the Lib Dems after the meeting, by the way).
Re Andrew Simpson's letter (09/02/2009) about the Nick Clegg meeting, I saw no sign of filtering questions, but I saw plenty of evasive answers, both from Nick Clegg himself, and from Tony Woods and Richard Church, whom he had instructed (asked?) to stay behind and answer local questions after he'd gone. (See my blog at www.fitzynorthampton.co.uk).
I realise that if Nick Clegg is in training to be an important politician one day he has to learn how to avoid the honest answer, and be the same as most of those presently in power. But I was hoping for better things from the Lib-Dems, just as when they were first elected in Northampton I - and thousands of others - hoped they would bring in a new era of honesty and transparency in local politics. Not a bit of it, as we have all found out to our cost. Taking important decisions in Cabinet, for a start, is a very undemocratic procedure, and allows a very few individuals the power of a dictatorship. If those individuals are specially paid, as they are, it raises the question of what are they in it for, the good of the town or the good of themselves?
Regarding my question about the 42-day detention proposal, Nick Clegg gave the stock Lib-Dem reply, and I perhaps shouldn't have expected more than that. However, I would point out to Andrew Simpson that I'm quite proud of my stand on this matter. I don't feel I'm living in a police state. I love my country and I always stick up for my country, and I don't constantly apologise for it like some of the wimps we have as politicians these days. There is no getting away from the fact that the proposal for a 42-day detention period for terrorist suspects is overwhelmingly supported by public opinion. David Davis got re-elected because he was a Conservative candidate in a Conservative area, not because of his particular personal views. Re my 31 votes, I think I did rather well in a part of the country noted for its scepticism of unknown politicians, where nobody knew me from Adam. With the disfavour that the local Liberal-Democrat party is held in at present, I will personally congratulate Andrew Simpson if he gets more than 31 votes in the next General Election.
