I have a confession to make. I voted for Margaret Thatcher. It is worse, I voted for her twice! I was even a member of the Conservative Party.

However my political redemption came in 1984. I was at an academic conference in Italy and I saw, what became an iconic newspaper photograph:

 

Source: BBC  Credit: John Harris 1984

At first glance I thought it must be an Italian newspaper – then it became apparent the war against the striking miners in England had turned very nasty. Riot police were striking out, almost indiscriminately, in this case against a miner’s wife who very narrowly avoided being struck on the head.

I had supported the control of irresponsible and insufficiently accountable unions. What I could not support was a war against entire communities, waged by a hastily assembled national police force. As a student in County Durham from 1969-72 I had learnt about the humane and fair way that the mining industry had been rationalised there.

 Communities were not told to “get on their bikes” they were retrained, rehoused and the environment was restored to green fields in a fair, planned and humane way. Families may not have liked to hear that their mines were going to close and their villages would, eventually be bulldozed away. But they understood the need and they were provided with an alternative way of life. None of this seemed to be on offer in 1984.

I joined the Social Democrats, and after the “Alliance” election voted to merge with the Liberals to form the Liberal Democrats. This became my political home because it is the party that interprets “fairness” the same way that I do.

No political party is going to stand on a platform of “the unfair party”, so in the coming election voters will have to interpret what fairness means when discussed by each of the main parties. I feel most comfortable with our definition: Fair taxes, A Fair start, A Fair green economy and Fair votes. As announced in January in the Liberal Democrat policy launch of Four steps to a Fairer Britain.

Nothing the Conservatives have said or done in the run up to this election gives me any confidence that what they think is “fair” bears any relation to anything I believe in. I am afraid that the “nasty party” is, somewhat unsuccessfully trying to dress itself in new clothes, which are no more than PR spin.

Now Gordon Brown promises “A Future Fair for All”, a message that would be more convincing if his party hadn’t promised that in 1997 and missed so many of their aspirations. Nevertheless imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so it will, at least make the electorate consider what they consider to be “fair”.