Tag Archives: bob russell

LDV Caption Competition | Sir Bob Russell “snookered by Nick Clegg” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Published 7th January 2012 - 11:50 am

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

(Hat-tip to the Colchester Daily Gazette.)

Here’s veteran Lib Dem MP for Colchester Sir Bob Russell, knighted for public service in this year’s honours, enjoying a frame of snooker with Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about those pictured?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Jeremy Browne “it’s not always this black-and-white” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | Also tagged , | 18 Comments

Sir Bob Russell MP: “I have spent my entire adult life fighting the establishment but clearly, I have failed.”

By Helen Duffett | Published 3rd January 2012 - 6:50 pm

Bob Russell MP, who who was first elected when Nick Clegg was only four years old, has received a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours list.

Sir Bob, who received the honour for his public service, has described the honour as “A matter of great personal importance and significance to me.”

The BBC reports:

The Liberal Democrat, who’s been involved in local politics for more than 40 years is among the region’s most outspoken MPs, particularly since the formation of the coalition.

This is a significant honour for a man who for decades has been one of the most colourful characters on

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 1 Comment

PMQs: Jo Swinson on the role of women in Aghanistan

By Paul Walter | Published 1st December 2011 - 10:23 am

Liberal Democrat questions first this week:

Jo Swinson asked:

Ten years on from the military intervention, more than 3 million girls in Afghanistan are now in school. With the Bonn conference on Monday, will the Prime Minister send a clear message that the rights of those girls should not be traded away in a false choice between women’s rights and security? The evidence shows that women’s involvement in post-conflict resolution is essential for stability.

The Prime Minister agreed:

All those of us who have been to Afghanistan and met women MPs and other leaders in that country who want to stand up for women’s

…

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Join the Liberal Youth invasion

By Harry Matthews | Published 30th September 2011 - 12:26 pm

After a very successful Federal Conference earlier this month, Liberal Youth will hold its Autumn Conference on 22nd & 23rd October. It’s in the Roman town of Colchester* (home to the UK’s oldest market on record).

Conference, as all Liberal Democrats know, is a fantastic opportunity for party members to shape policies and hold elected officers to account – and Liberal Youth is no different.

Along with all the usual reports from officers (and the odd constitutional amendment), there will be policy debates on the Arab Spring, MMR jabs, Women’s Rights & Bank Shares. As we have seen from this year’s conference with the Employment and Support Allowance motion, Liberal Youth policy can become federal policy – and might now even become Government policy. This is a brilliant opportunity for young Liberal Democrats to get involved with policy making and gain experience in public speaking!

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The 7 Lib Dem MPs unaffected by the Boundary Commission proposals

By Stephen Tall | Published 13th September 2011 - 6:20 pm

The last 24 hours’ political news has been dominated by the Boundary Commission for England’s proposals for new parliamentary constituencies — and in particular the reduction from 533 to 502 in accordance with the Coalition Agreement to reduce the size of the House of Commons.

I’m a self-confessed politics geek, so I find this stuff interesting. But I was surprised that it should be the lead news item on BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme this morning — does the public care as much as us anoraks? I doubt it.

True, some members of the public will have particular concerns about …

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , | 25 Comments

Nick Clegg celebrates Bob Russell’s big break

By Helen Duffett | Published 14th June 2011 - 1:58 pm


Video also available on YouTube.

Nick Clegg visited Bob Russell visited Colchester last week, to celebrate Bob Russell MP’s 40th anniversary as an elected politician, and the pair found time for a quick game of pool at the local YMCA.

Despite Bob’s reputation as a critical friend of the Coalition Government, Nick told the BBC:

He’s an institution, he’s totally unique. When he was first elected I was only four years old. He’s now one of the best-loved politicians in Westminster.

I think life would be much less interesting if Bob Russell always toed the party line.

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , | 5 Comments

Parliament debates Libya: what Liberal Democrat MPs have been saying

By Mark Pack | Published 21st March 2011 - 8:45 pm

Here are some selections from today’s debate in Parliament so far on the United Nations resolution on Libya and subsequent military action which touch on the questions of international law, the Liberal Democrat position, what is happening in other countries and the question of Iraq:

Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD):In view of the obviously barbaric attacks by Gaddafi on his own people, does the Prime Minister agree that those officials and military chiefs who are still standing firm with Gaddafi stand every chance of being hauled before the war crimes tribunal?

The Prime Minister: The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. The

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , | 31 Comments

Disability Living Allowance and NHS motions: the aftermath

By Mark Pack | Published 12th March 2011 - 12:13 pm

There’s a common theme to the party’s official reactions to both the Disability Living Allowance (Mobility Component) and health reform motions being passed at conference today. That is to welcome the party staking out its own views on the issues, even where they clearly contradict those of Conservative ministers, and for two reasons.

First, it more clearly sets out where the coalition partners disagree on policy. As having a relaxed, adult approach to admitting in public that people in government don’t always agree on everything is something I’ve talked about in the past, this is certainly good to see – and …

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Posted in Conference, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 15 Comments

PMQs: The Pillsbury Doughboy takes on Motherhood and Apple pie – and loses

By Paul Walter | Published 3rd February 2011 - 11:32 pm

For the second time in three weeks, a LibDem asked the first question at Prime Minister’s Question time. Bob Russell asked, first of all, for the PM to list his engagements for the day. As usual, there was the same response as there has been for virtually every week since Noah was in short trousers. “This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others and, in addition to my duties in the House, I shall have further such meetings later today.” Same question, same answer, every blinking week. It is hard not to have a mite of sympathy with …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Opinion: Bob Russell’s advice over housing benefit should be heeded by the coalition

By Jonathan Featonby | Published 28th October 2010 - 10:55 am

During yesterday’s PMQs, the most vocal Lib Dem rebel MP today made an exceptionally well-stated and compassionate plea for the coalition government to rethink their plans to cut housing benefit.

Bob Russell, who stood to cries of “hear, hear” from those on the benches opposite when John Bercow called his name, voiced his concerns that as a result of the changes, thousands of children could possibly become homeless.

It is certainly a consideration that has to be taken seriously by David Cameron, Nick Clegg and their cabinet colleagues.

They may well respond – as the Prime Minister did this afternoon – by saying …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 103 Comments

PMQs: Bob Russell teaches Ed Miliband how to do it

By Paul Walter | Published 27th October 2010 - 6:02 pm

These days, Ed Miliband is getting a lot of advice on how to deal with Prime Minister’s Questions. A leaked memo advised him to “get to your feet looking as though you are seizing on something new”, and to ensure that he has a “cheer line” so his speech can be “clipped by the broadcasters”.

David Cameron, of course, reminded Ed Miliband of this advice today. But the best advice came in the form of an example of excellent questioning by Bob Russell, Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester.

In the last question today, Bob referred to the “fun and games” that …

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Posted in PMQs | Also tagged , | 69 Comments

When is a rebellion not a rebellion?

By Stephen Tall | Published 15th July 2010 - 7:30 pm

The Coalition decision to raise VAT was, by some measure, the most controversial aspect of the Government’s first budget. In our recent survey of party members, 42% opposed the move, though 48% endorsed it (however reluctantly) to deal with the deficit.

The party’s MPs have also been wrestling with the issue. The VAT increase was debated on Tuesday night in the Commons – in the end only Colchester’s Bob Russell from the Lib Dems voted against the Government, siding with a Labour amendment.

As Jim Pickard in the FT notes, St Ives MP Andrew George, and four other Lib …

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Posted in News, Parliament | Also tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Two Lib Dem MPs rebel over VAT

By Mark Pack | Published 29th June 2010 - 7:37 am

The Guardian:

The coalition faced its first rebellion last night when two Liberal Democrat MPs voted against a budget proposal to increase VAT to 20%.

Bob Russell and Mike Hancock voted with Labour to oppose the increase, which has alarmed many Lib Dems who warned during the election of a Tory VAT “bombshell”.

To shouts of “shame” from the Labour benches, the 2.5% increase in VAT from January was backed by 346 to 270, majority 76. Russell, MP for Colchester, and Hancock, MP for Porstmouth South, had earlier supported a backbench Lib Dem motion demanding a Treasury investigation into the impact on the

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged , , , | 90 Comments

Britain’s best MP competition: the results

By Keith Halstead | Published 7th January 2010 - 4:20 pm

Our ‘Britain’s Best MP’ competition has come to a close with Douglas Carswell, Conservative MP for Harwich, a clear winner. The final results are:

Douglas Carswell 47%
Gisela Stuart 16%
Tom Harris 12%
Lynne Featherstone 9%
Bob Russell 6%
Jo Swinson 6%
David Howarth 2%
Chris Mullin 2%

I appreciate that the results do not make happy reading for visitors to this site and the results of online polls cannot be taken too seriously, but please don’t dismiss this competition just yet.

Whilst acknowledging that our hope of getting people to listen to the MPs answers and then vote for their ‘best MP’ based on what they heard probably …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Voting started in Britain’s best MP campaign

By Keith Halstead | Published 23rd December 2009 - 1:20 pm

You may remember that back at the beginning of December we launched our ‘Best MP’ campaign to highlight the fact that not all MPs should be tarred with the same brush as the ‘expenses cheats.’

We asked users of our website – Yoosk -  to send in their nominations for Best MP and to send us the questions they would like to put to the nominees. All eight nominated MPs agreed to answer and you can compare what they said on our website now and cast your vote in our Poll, which will be ‘live’ until the 31st December.

Here …

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment