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Musician urges stars to vote Lib-Dem
By Luke Leitch Arts Reporter, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 29.03.05Brian Eno, one of the most influential men in pop, today launches a campaign to encourage some of Britain's key cultural figures to vote Liberal Democrat.
The former Roxy Music member and producer voted Labour in 1997.
Now he is determined to help break the "rut" of two-party politics, he told the Standard.
The campaign is centred on Eno's new website, at www. libdemthistime.org, which is asking potential Liberal Democrat voters to publicly commit to the party this election - and encourage more and more voters to do so in time for 5 May.
The core group of supporters for Eno's plan include Sir Peter Hall, Travis singer Fran Healey, Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, film director Sophie Fiennes, scientist Richard Dawkins, Rosie Boycott and Germaine Greer.
Eno said: "They're original, intelligent people who are worth looking at. I didn't want to go the celebrity or showbiz route, or have it dominated by one group or seem like a little club."
The point of Eno's campaign is not to support the Liberal Democrats for the sake of it, but to work towards breaking the cycle of adversarial two-party politics.
His online manifesto explains: "This election could be a tipping point: with the Tories weak, and Blair widely distrusted, the chance is within reach, but if people who can't face voting for either the Tories or the Labour party just stay home, nothing will change."
A recent poll found while 20 per cent of people say they will vote Liberal Democrat, almost 40 per cent would if they thought the party was likely to win the election.
