As anyone who was following me on Twitter last night can tell you, Cardiff Blogger will now be a blog with no party affiliation. Party politics drives me nuts. Telling other people what they have to say, what they should vote for and what they need to think about a certain subject is not something I want to be involved in any more. I appreciate that party politics help people with the funding to contest elections that would otherwise be impossible and the support they give is obviously vital. However, I’m not wanting to become an MP. Politics is my hobby, I’m not a career politician and in the future if I decide that I would like to try to become a politician then I’ll decide then what party I stand for.
I also dislike writing things on my blog or Twitter wondering if I’ll get into trouble for slating the party I was affiliated with or praising the policies of an opposition party. I dislike being tied down to one particular party and their views. I may agree with the majority of Conservative policies at this very moment in time but from now on Cardiff Blogger is an independent blog not affiliated to any party.
(Also, UWIC Conservative Future has merged with Cardiff Conservative Future so I’m no longer affiliated in any way with the Conservative Party.)
Popularity: 21% [?]
Cardiff Blogger is cutting all ties with political parties
At least in next year’s Total Politics blog rankings, you’ll get higher – in the non-affiliated category!
Hmmm, is this a result of last week’s incident, when certain cretins tried to tie a tweet of yours to Tory policy? Real shame that some people can’t disassociate private opinions from official policies.
Hope you come back soon, don’t let the buggers grind you down!
Oh no, I’ve been meaning to do this for some time. Being affiliated to a party restricts your blogging to some extent. I can’t be doing with that.
WCT – Lol, I thought that list was more competitive.
It’s a shame you feel the need to take this step but I will continue to watch this blog with interest.
You have highlighted a serious difficulty with party politics in that people can’t feel they can say what they really think because they are terrified of going off message in case it is somehow used to damage the party and its electoral chances. This is wrong and British politics is worse for it. The so called mavericks of British politics are just people who are more independently minded and we need more of them! People have to learn that parties are not always united on every issue. And that’s a good thing. I certainly don’t agree with Conservative policy on everything – I want Tony Blair to be EU President for one thing!
Personally I don’t find my party affiliation ties me down. I even manage to disagree with the leaders while being an approved candidate, but then maybe that is down to the party I’m in, one that actively encourages debate amongst its membership.
I’ll still be following.
(BTW as you first non-alligned post I’ve just tagged you in the Power 2010 Meme)
[...] This is in relation to my previous blog. [...]