Tag Archives: iain dale

The Bigger Book of Boris: lots of jokes, not much politics

By Mark Pack | Published 6th October 2011 - 10:50 am

One of the questions that ambitious politicians often struggle to answer safely is, “Do you want to be leader of your party / Prime Minister?” Answer ‘yes’ in some form and journalists will line up to write stories about party splits, pending leadership challenges and the like. Answer ‘no’ and many will not believe you – whilst also quietly filing away the answer to quote back at the politician at an embarrassing later date.

The Bigger Book of Boris (an expanded version of the earlier Little Book of Boris) shows Boris Johnson’s political skill with humour in his answer to this question. …

Continue reading »
Posted in Books | Also tagged | Leave a comment

Someone likes Liberal Democrat conference…

By Mark Pack | Published 2nd October 2011 - 9:50 am

Over on Dale & Co Gareth Knight writes:

Any Conservative, including Iain Dale who attends the Liberal Democrat conference, remarks how impressed they are with the mere fact the conference is where party members openly and robustly confer on policy. The exhibition stands at the Liberal Democrat conference include dozens of party groups as well as the recent deluge of large companies and organisations desperate to suck up to the party they’ve proudly ignored until now. The agenda for conference is focused on policy papers with speeches for and against where the party leadership will frequently get involved in the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | Also tagged | Leave a comment

Top 50 most influential Lib Dems (according to Iain Dale)

By Mark Pack | Published 19th September 2011 - 8:50 am

In what has become a regular of party conference season, the Daily Telegraph has published a list of the 50 most influential Liberal Democrats assembled by “Iain Dale, Brian Brivati and a team of Liberal Democrat insiders”:

As one MP put it, the year has been “about the rise of the left”. Confidence in the party outside Westminster has grown even as polling numbers remained minimal. Liberal Democrats seem to have discovered that even in government the world does not end if you disagree. And this has given rise to a new breed of rebel, personified in Tim Fallon, Lib

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Tune in to Iain Dale’s Lib Dem night tonight on LBC, featuring Nick Clegg, Simon Hughes and others

By Nick Thornsby | Published 8th August 2011 - 4:54 pm

Iain Dale returns to his evening show on London’s LBC radio tonight with a Lib Dem special. First up is a live Q & A with deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, followed by interviews with a whole host of prominent Lib Dems, including three of the four London Mayoral hopefuls as well as deputy leader Simon Hughes.

Here’s the schedule in full from Iain’s blog:

6-7pm Live Q & A with LibDem leader Nick Clegg
7-7.30pm Interview with Nick Clegg (tbc)
7.30-8pm Reaction to Clegg with Lord Oakeshott, Susan Kramer & Jo Phillips
8-9pm Meet the LibDem London Mayoral Candidates – Brian Paddick, Brian

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Independent View: Iain Dale on Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems

By Iain Dale | Published 8th May 2011 - 10:27 am

When LibDem MPs return to Westminster this week they could be forgiven for having a collective panic attack. In their 22 year history they have never had such an onslaught of the political heebie-jeebies as they experienced at the hands of 12 million grumpy voters this week.

Cleggmania has turned into Cleggophobia. Every policy Nick Clegg touches now is seen to be toxic.

Westminster pundits are already writing him off as a political busted flush. But then again, these are the very same commentators who didn’t see the SNP landslide coming in Scotland. They are the same people who predicted the Tories …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Also tagged , , , , , , | 54 Comments

The top 25 most influential Lib Dems (according to the Telegraph)

By Stephen Tall | Published 21st September 2010 - 4:58 pm

Yesterday we reported the Telegraph’s list of numbers 26 to 50 in their annual list of ‘influential Lib Dems’, as devised by Iain Dale, Brian Brivati “with the help of a panel of senior Lib Dems”. Today we find out who they placed top of the pile…

The least surprising news is that Nick Clegg reclaims his place as the Number 1 most influential Lib Dem. Indeed it shows the limit of such lists that last year he was mischievously relegated to the runners-up spot, behind Vince Cable — of course no one could have predicted ‘Cleggmania’ at that stage, …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , | 2 Comments

Telegraph names its ‘Top 50 most influential Lib Dems’ (Part I: Nos 50-26)

By Stephen Tall | Published 20th September 2010 - 7:55 pm

Iain Dale and Brian Brivati have once again compiled for the Telegraph the list of 50 most influential Lib Dems, and today saw the publication of part one, covering numbers 26 to 50.

At 50 is leader of the Welsh Lib Dems, Kirsty Williams; while propping up today’s list — just outside the top 25 — is Nick Clegg’s special advisor, Richard Reeves, the former head of think-tank Demos. There are a number of new entries, many of them MPs who now find themselves government ministers, including Andrew Stunell (28), Nick Harvey (32), David Heath (33), Tim Farron (34), Lord …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments

Total Politics Top 75 Lib Dem blogs list published

By Stephen Tall | Published 6th September 2010 - 6:32 pm

It’s two months since Total Politics asked blog-readers to vote for their Top 10 favourite blogs in their annual survey promoted here on LDV, as well as at LabourList and Iain Dale’s Diary. More than 2,200 people voted, and here is the full list of the Top 75 Lib Dem blogs according to the voters of Total Politics:

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments

Iain Dale’s voting system confusion

By Iain Roberts | Published 23rd August 2010 - 8:33 am

Iain Dale yesterday posted a piece attacking the Alternative Vote system which doesn’t bode well for a well informed campaign.

That’s a shame because there’s a sensible debate to be had – with Lib Dems being the first to admit that the Alternative Vote system isn’t the best of all possible options, though most would rate it as a great improvement on what we have now.

Dale writes

There’s a reason only one other country in the world uses AV. It’s a half way house. It tries to be a PR equivalent of the First Past the Post system, but in reality

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 27 Comments

LDV weekend meme: what is the state of the Lib Dem blogosphere?

By Stephen Tall | Published 18th July 2010 - 2:10 pm

When Iain Dale asked if Lib Dem Voice would once again co-sponsor Total Politics’ Best Blog Poll 2010, he also set me some homework: to write c.1,500 words on ‘the State of the LibDem blogosphere’ by the end of the month. As you will see from the date, my deadline is fast approaching.

I’ve got a few ideas of what I intend to write, but I’d greatly appreciate the assistence of Lib Dem Voice readers – as well as Lib Dem bloggers – to ensure my analysis is suitably rounded and informed. I’ve come up with seven questions I …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV meme | Also tagged , | 10 Comments

Opinion: Eurosceptics on the fringes, egg on their faces

By Jonathan Walls | Published 6th July 2010 - 1:45 pm

Iain Dale is rather keen to make it clear why he sees nothing wrong with accepting paranoid Euroscepticism at face value. Here’s his piece on the wild rumours that the EU hopes to ban selling eggs by the dozen.

I was looking at some of the comments in response to his post, and I don’t think they’re being fair to Iain. Just because he could have looked at a packet of eggs in his fridge and found the information in question is already on the packaging hardly means we should expect such extensive research from him before posting.

He wrote: ”It’s written …

Continue reading »
Posted in Europe / International, Op-eds | 2 Comments

Total Politics Best Blog Poll 2010: vote now!

By Helen Duffett | Published 5th July 2010 - 1:20 pm

It’s that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. This is the fifth year of the poll. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2010-11, which will be published in September. For the second year running, the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList, LibDemVoice and Iain Dale’s Diary.

Click here to vote in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2010

The rules are simple.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks …

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

Election 2.0: How did the internet shape the general election?

By Mark Pack | Published 22nd June 2010 - 1:20 pm

The Yoosk website recently put together a panel of bloggers to answer questions about the impact of the internet, and social media in particular, on British politics. Alongside Iain Dale, Alex Smith and James Evans I answered a range of questions:

Was the UK 2010 general election an internet election?

Which bloggers or Twitterers made the biggest contribution to UK 2010 election?

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Online politics | Also tagged , , | 3 Comments

Labour set for worst share of vote since 1918: why isn’t that a big story?

By Mark Pack | Published 25th April 2010 - 12:49 pm

Iain Dale quite rightly has queried why the prospect of Labour finishing third in the popular share of the vote isn’t a big story being talked about in the media.

But actually Iain is too kind to Labour.

Because the voting abyss Labour is teetering on the edge of is more than simply coming third. More than simply doing worse than Michael Foot. It’s on the verge of its worst share of the vote since 1918.

In 1983 Labour scored 28.3% and in 1918 it was 22.2%. (Both of these are figures for Great Britain, i.e. excluding Northern Ireland, as that’s the …

Continue reading »
Posted in General Election, Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 28 Comments

First election debate: winners and losers

By Mark Pack | Published 16th April 2010 - 9:35 pm

Now the dust is starting to settle after the first debate, who are the winners and losers – aside from the party leaders?

Winner – liberalism
Loser – hostility to foreigners

Praising some aspects of immigration, talking about no like-for-like replacement of Trident, pledging to scrap tuition fees, promising to cut taxes for most by raising taxes for the very rich – Nick Clegg won the debate not by abandoning policies for some  mushy middle ground, but by sticking to core liberal beliefs. Those beliefs were carefully wrapped in language and arguments designed to be appeal to a wide audience – but …

Continue reading »
Posted in General Election, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments