Whittington's Diary

When Paul Marsden left the Labour party to join the Liberal Democrats a few of his former colleagues let in be known that they considered him a few sardines short of a full tin. Now, by deciding to rejoin it, he has proved them right.

Marsden, of course, is best known for his poetry. Sadly, his early work has disappeared from his website, but my old friend Lord Bonkers has been keeping an eye on the recent development of his oeuvre.

At the time he joined the Lib Dems, Marsden penned such gems as this (addressed to Hilary Armstrong):

Because you kicked me in the slats,
I've joined the Liberal Democrats.

and this (addressed to anyone who would listen):

I am a fierce and ardent suitor,
Please someone pay for my computer

His later, Housman-influenced verse, written when he surprised the Lib Dems by announcing that he would not stand again in Shrewsbury, has a new resonance today. One thinks of such lines as:

High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam,
I’m not as fickle as I seem

On Wenlock Edge the wood’s in trouble,
And I am leaving at the double.

I am leaving at a gallop,
It’s farewell Shrewsbury, goodbye Salop.

The Lib Dems are a fine, broad church
And I have left them in the lurch.

To be frank, I see nothing here to wean me from my early enthusiasm for Marvell.