Manifesto Promises

I'm not sure whether Tom Harris, Labour MP, does it deliberately to wind up his readers, but he regularly criticises on his blog the failure of other parties in upholding their manifesto promises, without any hint of irony. For example:

The interesting thing during the exchange was the heckling I received from the LibDems opposite, who shouted: “It’s the coalition agreement that’s important, not the manifesto!”

This is a new departure for democratic government, isn’t it? An assumption that a coalition agreement cobbled together behind closed doors after the polls have closed is more important than the manifestos on which the parties fought the election? Really?

Let’s recap the important figures, shall we?

Number of people who voted after being given the chance to peruse the parties’ manifestos: 29,691,380.

Number of voters who voted after being given the chance to peruse the coalition agreement: 0.

So remind me why the coalition agreement is “more important” than the manifestos? Ah, yes, of course! The New Politics…

Of course this would be the same Tom Harris who voted against a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty despite his party's manifesto promise in 2005 (emphasis mine):

The new Constitutional Treaty ensures the new Europe can work effectively, and that Britain keeps control of key national interests like foreign policy, taxation, social security and defence. The Treaty sets out what the EU can do and what it cannot. It strengthens the voice of national parliaments and governments in EU affairs. It is a good treaty for Britain and for the new Europe. We will put it to the British people in a referendum and campaign whole-heartedly for a ‘Yes’ vote to keep Britain a leading nation in Europe.

I can only assume Mr Harris has his shirts especially tailored in order to accommodate his enormous brass neck.