Tag Archives: chris rennard

Chris Rennard (Baron Rennard of Wavertree) was the Liberal Democrat Chief Executive 2003-2009. They Work For You documents Lord Rennard’s activity in the House of Lords.

Lord Rennard: police launch formal investigation

By Stephen Tall | Wed 24th April 2013 - 8:00 am

Today’s Independent reports:

The Metropolitan Police has launched a formal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Rennard. Scotland Yard said that detectives had moved from assessing the claims of a small number of women to carrying out “inquiries to corroborate those allegations”. The Metropolitan Police set up a dedicated phone line for alleged victims of sexual misconduct after a number of women made claims in the media about inappropriate conduct by Lord Rennard. The peer, the party’s former chief election strategist, has repeatedly denied any improper behaviour or sexual harassment.

He said at the time

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Posted in News | Also tagged alistair webster and helena morrissey | 1 Comment

The Rennard allegations: what Lib Dem members think about how the party and press handled them

By Stephen Tall | Sat 30th March 2013 - 11:20 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 650 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

55% say: party handed it badly, now doing right thing

Lord Rennard has been accused of sexual impropriety during his time as Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats. He has denied all the allegations. From what you have seen or heard about the story, how well or badly do you think the Liberal Democrats handled the allegations against Lord Rennard during his …

Posted in LDV Members poll | 9 Comments

It’s not just the Lib Dem leadership trying to ignore the ‘secret courts’ row: the news media is too

By Stephen Tall | Sun 10th March 2013 - 12:10 pm

I had an odd experience on Friday. I was doing a round of media interviews – 3 for TV, 3 for radio – previewing the Lib Dem conference. I’d been called by researchers in advance to ‘get my take’ on the key issues. Each time, I said there was a big issue on which the party leadership could expect to be defeated and which would see activists from across the broad spectrum of the Lib Dems united: opposition to secret courts. This received an “Uh-hum” response which I took for baffled boredom. And as expected, each interview in turn dwelt …

Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged 2013 brighton spring conference, chris huhne, featured, media, secret courts, shirley williams and vicky pryce | 7 Comments

Jo Swinson talks directly to Lib Dem members about her role in the Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sat 9th March 2013 - 10:45 am

Last night, Danny Alexander wrote this post for LibDemVoice explaining his role in the allegations concerning Lord Rennard, confirming he spoke directly to the party’s then chief executive to make clear any future conduct would have consequences: “These were not easy conversations, nor should they have been.”

Jo Swinson, whose only previous public statement on the issue was posted here on LibDemVoice, took to the stage at last night’s party conference rally to talk directly to members about how she’d handled the allegations which were …

Posted in Conference | Also tagged Danny Alexander and Jo Swinson | 2 Comments

Lord Rennard allegations: the processes now in place

By Tim Gordon | Sat 2nd March 2013 - 3:25 pm

I want to keep you informed on where we stand in the various processes that have started following the allegations against Lord Rennard.

There are now three processes in place:

Inquiries by the Metropolitan Police to ascertain whether criminal activity might have taken place. This is still at an early stage and there is no set time limit on when they must decide whether or not a criminal investigation should take place.
An internal investigation by the Party, headed by Alistair Webster QC, to establish whether disciplinary action under the Party’s rules is due. This whole process must take no

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Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged alistair webster and public concern at work | 4 Comments

Lord Rennard: further reports and a new statement

By The Voice | Tue 26th February 2013 - 6:33 pm

Radio 4 ran a piece about the allegations against Chris Rennard today which covered a wide range of the questions raised so far. You can listen to it here. (Update – also written up by the BBC here.)

A spokesperson for Lord Rennard also issued a statement today, which says:

Lord Rennard refutes these allegations. He will co-operate with any properly constituted inquiry.

He has been notified of an internal investigatory panel within the Party. The matter must now be regarded as sub judice pending its proceedings and no further statement will be issued in the interim.

Posted in News | 14 Comments

Mark Pack on BBC comments on Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Tue 26th February 2013 - 7:05 am

Lib Dem Voice co-editor Mark Pack was interviewed by the BBC yesterday about the allegations concerning Chris Rennard. Here’s what he had to say:

Posted in News | Also tagged Mark Pack | Leave a comment

Stephen Tall on Sky News comments on today’s Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Mon 25th February 2013 - 10:40 pm

Lib Dem Voice co-editor Stephen Tall was interviewed on Sky News earlier today about the allegations concerning Chris Rennard — here’s what he had to say:

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged stephen tall | 9 Comments

Update on the Party’s processes following the allegations concerning the conduct of Lord Rennard

By Tim Gordon | Mon 25th February 2013 - 5:03 pm

I want to update you on three developments to the processes I outlined in my post on Saturday.

Arrangements for victims and witnesses to come forward

Firstly, we have sought the assistance of Public Concern at Work, the UK’s leading whistle-blowing authority, to ensure that the whistle-blowing arrangement is sufficiently independent to provide the required support to those wishing to come forward in relation to the alleged behaviour of Lord Rennard.

Public Concern at Work have agreed to take over the role, temporarily filled by Kate Parminter, as the main point of contact for anyone wishing to come forward with further allegations or information.

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged alistair webster, kate parminter, liberal democrat lawyers and public concern at work | Comments Off

Today’s front pages: the Chris Rennard allegations dominate

By Stephen Tall | Mon 25th February 2013 - 8:00 am

Today’s front pages of the newspapers are about as grim as you might imagine after the weekend’s events…

I’ve not had chance to read through all the press yet. Two that have caught my eye are this critical, but fair-minded, editorial in The Guardian:

Like the BBC over Jimmy Savile in recent weeks, the Liberal Democrats have faced difficult press allegations in recent days. Last night the Liberal Democrats found themselves scrambling to clarify whether they looked in the other direction over claims about their former

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Posted in News | Also tagged nick clegg | 8 Comments

Nick Clegg’s statement on Chris Rennard: 5 key points

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th February 2013 - 8:55 pm

It’s just over an hour since we published Nick Clegg’s statement concerning the allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour levelled against Lord (Chris) Rennard. Here are some quick, initial thoughts:

1) Nick Clegg has stuck by his position, repeated earlier today by Vince Cable and Danny Alexander, that he “did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast.” However, he was aware of “indirect and non-specific concerns about Chris Rennard’s conduct” in 2008, his first year as party leader. He asked Danny Alexander to put these allegations to Chris Rennard, who …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured and nick clegg | 11 Comments

Statement from Nick Clegg on Chris Rennard allegations

By The Voice | Sun 24th February 2013 - 7:35 pm

The following statement by Nick Clegg has just been issued:

The allegations made on Channel 4 concerning Lord Rennard last Thursday were extremely serious and distressing to the women involved. It is critical they are investigated thoroughly and dealt with properly and they will be.

But I would like to make one thing crystal clear. I did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast. I have today spoken to one of the women in the broadcast who I respect and admire and who confirmed that she had never raised the issue

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Posted in News | Also tagged featured and nick clegg | 11 Comments

Chris Rennard allegations: where we’re at

By Stephen Tall | Sun 24th February 2013 - 10:20 am

Today’s press makes grim reading for the Lib Dems. Three of the Sunday papers lead on the allegations that Lord (Chris) Rennard behaved sexually inappropriately during his time as chief executive, and — more worrying still — that the party covered it up.

Nick Clegg faces claims of cover-up over party ‘sex pest’ (Independent)
Liberal Democrats hit by new raft of sex pest claims (Telegraph)
Lib Dems deny Nick Clegg knew of Lord Rennard claims (BBC News)

Posted in News | 26 Comments

Chris Rennard steps aside from party roles to avoid “embarrassment” to Lib Dems

By The Voice | Fri 22nd February 2013 - 10:40 am

Further to the allegations broadcast on last night’s Channel 4 News that former Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard behaved sexually inappropriately towards women working for the Liberal Democrats, he has announced he’s stepping aside from his current active roles within the party — as a Lib Dem peer and a member of the party’s federal policy committee — to avoid “embarrassment” to the party. Here‘s the Telegraph report:

The top Lib Dem official official will temporarily stand down from his party duties to avoid “embarrassment” to the party, after several women made accusations about his conduct on

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Posted in News | Comments Off

Opinion: Government must act to encourage healthier diets

By Oliver Sidorczuk | Thu 7th February 2013 - 4:53 pm

Yesterday, Chris Rennard and John Sharkey raised the important and inter-connected issues of sugar consumption and childhood obesity, respectively, during Oral Questions in the Lords.

These related topics prompted fifteen minutes of debate from a packed Chamber, as the responding Minister – Earl Howe – spelt out what the Government is doing to encourage healthier eating and prevent the problems associated with poor diet and lack of exercise, from worsening.

John Sharkey began proceedings by pointing out that not one of the companies signed up to the responsibility deal for calorie reduction is a fast-food operator. He …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged john sharkey and public health | 21 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 4-7 February

By Mark Valladares | Fri 1st February 2013 - 11:21 am

Strangely enough, in the absence of a Lords Reform Bill to debate (and who’s sorry now?), things are relatively quiet on the red benches. Quiet, but not exactly dead, I’m delighted to say. And now that Paddy Ashdown has hit Twitter, life is going to be a bit more exciting. And talking of Twitter, don’t forget that our Parliamentary Party in the Lords has its own Twitter feed. And yes, those are real Peers tweeting, in live time. So, what might they be covering next week?

On Monday, …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged john sharkey, kishwer falkner, margaret sharp and paddy ashdown | Leave a comment

Lord Rennard writes… Individual Electoral Registration: a journey from Tory instincts to Lib Dem legislation

By Chris Rennard | Thu 24th January 2013 - 5:37 pm

In 2003, the Electoral Commission recommended that Great Britain should follow the example of Northern Ireland and move to a system of Individual Electoral Registration (IER), where everyone fills in their own form. Labour havered for six years, fearing that ‘their’ voters might not register individually. It took until 2009 for them to introduce framework legislation to bring in individual registration at some future point, with no guarantees as to exactly when.

When the Coalition took office, the two parties agreed to speed up Labour’s glacial process. Ministers settled on a transitional period encompassing the next General Election. The new system …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged individual electoral registration and paul tyler | 6 Comments

Constituency boundary changes are dead.* Unlike the House of Lords.*

By Stephen Tall | Mon 14th January 2013 - 7:45 pm

The House of Lords has today voted to block a reduction in the number of MPs from 650 to 600 as part of the review of constituencies that might have seen the Conservatives gain up to 20 seats. The BBC reports:

The House of Lords voted by 300 to 231 to delay until 2018 a boundary review necessary to make the change. … Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that his party

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Posted in News | Also tagged house of lords, parliamentary boundary review and parliamentary reform | 26 Comments

Chris Rennard writes… Marking the great Sutton and Cheam by-election victory with Sir Trevor Jones

By Chris Rennard | Wed 9th January 2013 - 10:25 am

Just over forty years ago, the Liberal Party was on 8.5% in the polls. The chair of the London Young Liberals, Graham Tope, was the party’s candidate for the Sutton and Cheam parliamentary by-election. Few people believed that a Liberal win was possible. We had come third in 1970, some 17,000 votes behind the Conservatives.

Some people prominent in the national party were dismissive of the ‘community politics’ campaign that was brought to the by-election by a Liverpool Councillor called Trevor Jones. Possibly the first ‘Focus’ leaflets outside Liverpool were produced for that by-election promoting the local Liberal campaigning led by …

Posted in News | Also tagged by-elections, graham tope, sutton and cheam and trevor jones | 2 Comments

“Where we work, we win” – will that Lib Dem maxim survive the 2015 test?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 9:50 am

Chris Rennard Don’t splutter on your Saturday morning cornflakes, but the Guardian has today published two intelligent articles on the Lib Dems and the strategy which the party is hoping will see us through to the other side of the 2015 election intact.

First, there’s Patrick Wintour‘s analysis — Liberal Democrats bank on ground war to hold on to seats — which uses as its springboard an analysis by Lord (Chris) Rennard, the party’s former chief executive and elections guru:

insists it should not be ground down by low national polls. “The

Posted in News | Also tagged eastleigh, featured, michael white, patrick wintour, portsmouth and the guardian | 25 Comments

Tim Gordon scorecard, 1 year on

By Mark Pack | Thu 3rd January 2013 - 9:50 am

Last January I wrote an open letter to the party’s then new Chief Executive Tim Gordon, setting out four priorities. One year on, how are things looking?

Here’s what I wrote (with introductory pleasantries skipped), with each of the four points followed by an update and a score. Read on to see how Tim has been doing…

Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged featured, stephen tall and tim gordon | 12 Comments

Well done Liz Barker, Andrew Phillips, Chris Rennard and Ros Scott

By Mark Pack | Sat 29th December 2012 - 12:50 pm

Continuing today’s theme of congratulations, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) has picked 10 peers who “have most to contribute to debates on charity issues”, four of whom are Liberal Democrats.

Well done Baroness Liz Barker, Lord Andrew Phillips, Lord Chris Rennard and Baroness Ros Scott.

Posted in News | Also tagged baroness barker, lord andrew phillips, NCVO and ros scott | Leave a comment

Chris Rennard: Youth is not a barrier to being anything in our party

By Mary Reid | Tue 27th November 2012 - 2:31 pm

Chris Rennard spoke to the Liberal Youth Conference at the weekend. Courtesy of The Libertine here is an extract from his speech:

Party youth groups were always crucial in the key by-elections that I was involved in during the 1980s and later when some of the great by-election wins that I helped to deliver rescued our party and helped it to gain many more parliamentary seats. Active Liberal youth helped to make the difference in many of the seats that we now hold at different levels.

I often talk

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Posted in News | Also tagged liberal youth | 4 Comments

Chris Rennard backs move to kill off, not just delay, boundary changes

By Mark Pack | Tue 30th October 2012 - 7:13 pm

PoliticsHome reports:

Labour peer Lord Hart has just tabled an amendment to the Electoral Registration Bill which would have another major impact on the timetable of the Coalition’s plans to cut seat numbers.

The amendment, which seeks to amend a clause in Section 10 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, declares that the Boundary Commissions reviews will not take place until….2018. Yes, you read that right, 2018.

Posted in Election law and News | Also tagged Lord Hart and parliamentary boundary review | 12 Comments

In other news… Nick talks Dutch, Farron’s footie boycott, Hemming’s whistleblower charter & more

By Stephen Tall | Sun 28th October 2012 - 6:45 pm

Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

Nick Clegg insists on speaking Dutch at Cabinet Office meeting (Telegraph)

Nick Clegg, who speaks five languages fluently, chose to conduct a recent meeting at the Cabinet Office with Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, entirely in Dutch. Did the Deputy Prime Minister, whose mother is from the Netherlands, do so to outfox a Downing Street official whom David Cameron had allegedly sent to spy on their conversation? “Nick enjoys being able to talk Dutch,” the Liberal Democrat leader’s spokesman tells Mandrake.

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Posted in News | Also tagged john hemming, john leech, keith house, Michael Moore, nick clegg, paul tyler, simon werner, siobhan brasier, stuart bray, tim farron, vincent mckee and willie rennie | 3 Comments

Next week in the Lords: 29 October – 1 November

By Mark Valladares | Fri 26th October 2012 - 3:21 pm

There are those who suggest that what this country needs is less legislation and more management and proper scrutiny. Perhaps the House of Lords is taking this to heart, as the diary for the week is reflective of such a wish…

Monday sees the beginning of the Committee Stage of the Election Registration and Administration Bill, with Chris Rennard and Paul Tyler leading for the Liberal Democrats, and William Wallace responding on behalf of the Government.

Liberal Democrats will be looking to ensure that voter registration remains mandatory, as …

Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged house of lords, hugh dykes, john sharkey, mike german, paul strasburger, paul tyler, ros scott, tim clement-jones and william wallace | 3 Comments

Polls and predictions: The Chris Rennard Interview

By The Voice | Tue 18th September 2012 - 2:25 pm

Liberal Democrat News has just published extracts from an interview with Lord (Chris) Rennard, former Lib Dem Chief Executive, and Director of Campaigns and Elections. The interview appears in full below.
Journalist York Membery is a regular contributor to the nationals. He is also a contributing editor to the Journal of Liberal History.

Chris is credited with masterminding a string of past by-election victories as well as the target seat strategy that increased our number of MPs from 19 to 63. He tells York Membery that we should look to the future with hope not fear…

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, tony greaves and york membery | 4 Comments

Who Lib Dem members think are the most effective non-MPs at promoting the party

By Stephen Tall | Tue 14th August 2012 - 7:55 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Oakeshott, Ashdown and Pack top your list

LDV asked: Which prominent Lib Dems who are NOT MPs (eg, peers, campaigners) are doing an effective job of promoting the party to the public? Please write-in.

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged brian paddick, Caroline Pidgeon, chris davies, evan harris, kirsty williams, lord mcnally, Mark Pack, matthew oakeshott, paddy ashdown, ros scott, shirley williams, stephen tall, susan kramer, tony greaves and willie rennie | 6 Comments

Chris Rennard writes: How can we make sure that people can vote?

By Chris Rennard | Fri 10th August 2012 - 3:33 pm

Just before the Summer recess, the House of Lords began formal consideration of the hugely significant Electoral Registration and Administration Bill. Among other things this introduces Individual Electoral Registration (IER) for Great Britain. The system has been in operation in Northern Ireland since 2002.

I was closely in involved in working with other Liberal Democrats to change the proposals first put forward in the Government’s white paper which could have had the effect of significantly reducing the levels of voter registration in Great Britain. Mark Williams wrote about them

Posted in News | Also tagged electoral registration and Electoral Registration and Administration Bill | 11 Comments

LibLink: Chris Rennard – Failure to deliver Lords reform will not threaten the coalition

By NewsHound | Sat 4th August 2012 - 9:05 am

Over at the Guardian, former Lib Dem chief executive Lord (Chris) Rennard has argued that the fall of Lords reform would be a blow to Lib Dems, but that it was not the key aspect of the coalition agreement to voters:

Failure to deliver on the most important aspects of constitutional reform would, of course, be a bitter blow to Liberal Democrats. But the party will also recognise that the constitutional package within the coalition agreement was not the most important aspect of it to the voters, nor was it nearly as important as the state of the economy as

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Posted in News | Also tagged lords reform | 3 Comments

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Tag Archives: chris rennard

55% say: party handed it badly, now doing right thing

Arrangements for victims and witnesses to come forward

Oakeshott, Ashdown and Pack top your list

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