PM says alternative vote is unBritish and likely to favour extremists as Tory chairwoman is accused of 'Goebbels-like' lies
David Cameron has stepped up his attack on the alternative vote backed by Nick Clegg, describing the system as crazy and reminding voters that his deputy once regarded the reform as a "miserable little compromise".
He did so as the yes campaign prepared today for a celebrity-backed launch and a poster campaign beginning on Monday designed to argue the voting changes will make MPs work harder by needing to win 50% of their constituency's support.
The comedian and Labour supporter Eddie Izzard and European and world championship gold medal winner Kriss Akabusi today launch the yes campaign, with the referendum five weeks away.
Other celebrities to come out in favour of the yes campaign include broadcaster Jonathan Ross, actors Nick Hoult and David Schneider, and comedian Chris Addison.
The yes campaign is working hard to generate a trend towards younger people supporting the campaign against a political establishment led by right-wingers.
The no campaign, which in contrast still refuses to list its donors, insists it is a genuine cross-party alliance and has the support of nearly half of Labour MPs.
The electoral commission will this weekend send out a massive mailshot to the electorate in an attempt to explain the alternative vote.
Cameron continued to make his claim that AV is unBritish, undemocratic and likely to favour extremists. He said yesterday: "It is a system so undemocratic that your vote for a mainstream party counts once, while someone can support a fringe party like the BNP and get their vote counted several times.
"It's a system so obscure that it is only used by three countries in the whole world: Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. I'm not making it up, three countries in the whole world. Our system is used by half of the world."
Cameron stopped short of repeating the claim by the Conservative chairwoman, Lady Warsi, that AV will lead to mainstream parties having to pander to rightwing extremists.
Her claim prompted the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, Chris Huhne, to accuse Warsi of indulging in Goebbels-like lies, an indication that relations between the yes and no campaigns will get very bitter in the next few weeks, with potential long-term consequences for relations inside the coalition.
Cameron argued that the system is so unfair the person who comes third will win. Speaking at the party's Welsh conference, he said: "Just think forward to the Olympics. Usain Bolt powers home in the hundred metres but when it comes to handing out the gold medals they give it to the person who comes third. You wouldn't do it in the Olympics, we shouldn't do it in politics, we've got to vote no to this crazy system."
But David Mowat, Conservative MP for Warrington South, indicated he may be the first Tory to break with his party's support for first past the post and back AV in the referendum.
He told the Liverpool Daily Post: "I think the existing system tends to benefit the Labour party. If we did have AV, and we put Lib Dems second and they put us second, it would be very likely to give us a better result than we might achieve under first past the post."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/apr/02/david-cameron-av-attack
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