Tag Archives: jeremy browne

Jeremy Browne sets off on global drugs policy research tour

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 15th May 2013 - 12:21 pm

Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister Jeremy Browne is in Portugal this week. As reported in the Guardian, he has embarked on a tour that will take him to Denmark, Sweden and the US to investigate different drugs policies before reporting his conclusions at the end of the year.

He is quoted as saying:

I’m proud of the UK’s drug policy and there are strong signs our approach is working. Illegal drug use is at its lowest level since records began and far more people are leaving treatment free from dependency than ever before.

But I’m not complacent. The UK cannot deal with

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged drugs policy and guardian | 3 Comments

An open letter to Jeremy Browne MP…Part 2: Problems at the Home Office

By Mark Pack | Mon 22nd April 2013 - 10:25 am

Dear Jeremy,

In part 1 I explained why the Interception of Communications Commissioner is a failed regulator and one the Home Office should be fixing, yet your civil servants have been reluctant to do so. That should give a pause for thought about the proposals Home Office civil servants keep on pushing to extend the ability of the government to snoop on what we do online.

So too should the way in which the Home Office regularly changes its views of what counts as being in the national interest or vital for the fight against crime, and indeed makes outlandish claims …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged draft communications data bill, freedom of information, information commissioner, Interception of Communications Commissioner and Mark Pack | 3 Comments

Congratulations to Jeremy and Rachel

By Nick Thornsby | Thu 11th April 2013 - 10:43 am

I’m sure readers would like to join the Voice team in sending our congratulations to Lib Dem MP, home office minister and regular LDV contributor Jeremy Browne and his partner Rachel Binks on the birth of their baby, Molly (not least because it’s an opportunity to use that photo).

However, while mother, baby and indeed father are all now fine, Jeremy and Rachel went through an experience that no new parents would wish to. This Is West Country reports:

Taunton Deane MP Jeremy Browne and his partner Rachel Binks

…

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Posted in News | 3 Comments

Mike Thornton MP takes his seat in the Commons

By Helen Duffett | Wed 6th March 2013 - 3:55 pm

By-election winning Lib Dems. Photo by Helen Duffett, on Flickr.

From the BBC:

The newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Mike Thornton has taken his seat in the House of Commons after winning the Eastleigh by-election.

He took his oath of allegiance to the Crown earlier.

New MPs are not allowed to speak in debates, vote, or get paid,

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged annette brooke, eastleigh by-election, Jo Swinson, mike thornton and stephen lloyd | 4 Comments

Jeremy Browne on his upbringing, an unusual encounter with Michael Portillo and why he is staying put in the only liberal party

By Nick Thornsby | Thu 20th December 2012 - 4:34 pm

This month’s Total Politics magazine carries an interview with Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem MP for Taunton and home office minister, by the Conservative MP for Reading East, Rob Wilson. He talks, among other things, about his aspirations for the Liberal Democrats as a true party of government, about his unusual upbringing (he was schooled in both Iran and Zimbabwe) and about why the Liberal Democrats is the party for him.

Here are some excerpts, starting with his time at school and university:

Aged 10, Browne was now at school in Harare with what he described as

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Posted in News | Also tagged rob wilson | 4 Comments

LDV Caption Competition: Clegg meets Bono “Not U2″ Edition

By The Voice | Sat 13th October 2012 - 2:15 pm

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

Here’s Nick Clegg meeting U2 frontman Bono. What do you think might be being said or thought here?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Jeremy Browne “Wiff Waff’s Coming Home” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | Also tagged bono and nick clegg | 16 Comments

Transfer deadline day: Laws, Brake, Foster & Swinson in, Burstow, Teather, Harvey & Stunell out, Clarke loan finishes

By James Percival | Wed 5th September 2012 - 1:32 pm

I love reshuffle days, they’re just like transfer deadline day. You sit there at your office computer pretending to work while secretly updating the Guardian live blog to see who your side has brought in and let go.

So, have we strengthened the side for the second half of the season or left gaping holes in our defence?

Well, we have managed to hold on to all our big players – Cable, Alexander, Davey and Moore – and, despite losing his place to Alexander after his suspension early in the season, we now have a fighting fit Laws back and ready …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, Danny Alexander, david heath, david laws, don foster, ed davey, Jo Swinson, ken clarke, lynne featherstone, Michael Moore, nick clegg, nick harvey, norman lamb, paul burstow, sarah teather, tom brake and vince cable | 3 Comments

Reshuffle thoughts: how does it score against my four criteria?

By Mark Pack | Tue 4th September 2012 - 9:31 pm

Ahead of the reshuffle, I posted four criteria against which the Liberal Democrat part of the shuffling should be judged. Now nearly all the details are in, how does it look?

Most importantly, have people been put in jobs they’ve got a decent chance of doing well? It’s hard enough being a minister in the smaller party in a coalition government without having lots of people thrown into policy areas they are completely new to.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andrew stunell, david heath, david laws, don foster, featured, Jo Swinson, julian huppert, nick clegg, nick harvey, paul burstow, reshuffle, sarah teather and tom brake | 18 Comments

LDV Caption Competition: Jeremy Browne “Wiff Waff’s Coming Home” Edition

By The Voice | Sat 25th August 2012 - 4:45 pm

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

Here’s Lib Dem foreign minister Jeremy Browne enjoying a good old game of ping-pong (aka wiff waff, if you’re Boris Johnson). What do you think might be being said or thought here?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Nick Clegg & Tinchy Stryder “Cool Guy” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | 8 Comments

Jeremy Browne – working for abolition of the death penalty abroad

By Jeremy Browne MP | Fri 17th August 2012 - 12:22 pm

Next month, it will be 48 years since the last execution on British soil. Internationally, more countries than ever have been electing to also abandon the death penalty. Amnesty International’s latest report on death sentences and executions shows that the number of countries retaining capital punishment has decreased by one third over the last decade. More countries than ever are also instituting moratoriums on the practice. However, Amnesty reports that 149 more people were known to be executed in 2011 than in 2010. In the Middle East in particular, 2011 saw a steep rise in the number of recorded executions. …

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Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged death penalty | 3 Comments

LibLink: Jeremy Browne and Edward McMillan-Scott – The EU can amplify our human rights pledge

By Nick Thornsby | Thu 28th June 2012 - 6:56 pm

Jeremy Browne, Lib Dem Foreign Office minister, and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP have a joint article in today’s Independent on how the European Union is helping to uphold the human rights if people around the world.

Here’s a sample:

Human rights, poverty reduction and the upholding of international law are essential to – and indivisible from – both EU and UK foreign policy objectives. We cannot achieve long term security and prosperity unless we uphold our values, and recognise that unchecked human rights abuses represent a threat to our own national security.

Although we must promote our values with conviction and determination, it must

…

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Posted in LibLink and News | Also tagged edward mcmillan-scott | 1 Comment

LDVideo: Jeremy Browne “reserves his position” on the Government’s Euro 2012 boycott

By Stephen Tall | Fri 22nd June 2012 - 8:55 am

When is a boycott not a boycott? When England confounds expectations by playing well.

That appears to be the more-than-a-little confusing Government message during the Euro 2012 football championships being held in Ukraine, where there are continuing concerns about its ‘selective justice’ system. No government minister has attended a match yet, and that boycott will extend to this Sunday’s quarter-final against Italy.

But the Government has refused to be drawn on whether its boycott would continue if England reach the semi-finals. You can watch Lib Dem foreign office minister Jeremy Browne attempt to justify this inconsistency to Andrew Neil on the BBC’s Daily Politics here:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged football and ukraine | 3 Comments

Jeremy Browne turns down Argentina invite during 30th anniversary Falklands tour

By The Voice | Sat 9th June 2012 - 8:15 am

The Independent reports that Lib Dem foreign office minister Jeremy Browne has turned down an invitation to attend talks in Argentina when he visits the Falklands next week in what appears to be a diplomatic but pretty unambiguous FU from the FO:

“We have today received an invitation from Argentina’s foreign minister, Hector Timmerman, for Mr Browne to visit Buenos Aires next week,” the spokesman said. “However he has a full schedule of events in the Falkland Islands to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the conflict there. This has been arranged for some time.

“Mr Browne is grateful for the invitation.

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Posted in News | Also tagged argentina and falklands | 7 Comments

LibLink: Jeremy Browne MP on the Government’s actions to prevent torture

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st February 2012 - 10:58 am

Liberal Democrat Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne in the Guardian about the Coalition’s strategy to prevent torture throughout the World and about the independent enquiry which will investigate whether Britain was implicated in torture after 9/11:

We know that we face a long and difficult road ahead. But our vision is for people to be treated fairly and able to speak freely in every country. We should never be comfortable with a world where journalists, lawyers and activists endure ill treatment for criticising their governments. This is a core part of what this coalition stands for, and we will continue to

…

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Posted in Europe / International, LibLink and News | Also tagged amnesty uk, europe, torture and un | 2 Comments

LDVideo: Clegg on RBS Hester’s pay – “these figures seem like they’re from another planet”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 29th January 2012 - 9:40 am

The debate reverberated here on LibDemVoice yesterday: Should Stephen Hester accept his bonus? Here’s what Nick Clegg had to say about it all yesterday:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged nick clegg and stephen hester | 10 Comments

The weekend debate: Should Stephen Hester accept his bonus?

By Carl Quilliam | Sat 28th January 2012 - 9:25 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

Since the £963, 000 shares bonus for RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester has been revealed there have been opinions pouring out from across the political spectrum.

When Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of a “failure of leadership” over it, Cameron promptly distanced himself from the process altogether, with George Osborne claiming it was due to rules put in place by Labour.

Boris Johnson seems to be against it, as is our usually economically …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged boris johnson, ed miliband, george osborne, nick clegg, stephen hester and weekend debate | 28 Comments

Opinion: Memo to Jeremy Browne MP

By Paul Reynolds | Fri 27th January 2012 - 4:30 pm

Dear Jeremy,

Thank you very much for your typically robust performance on BBC TV’s Question Time last night. However I wish to counsel you against using the prospect of war with Iran as a vehicle to demonstrate your resolve, and the Party’s new-found ‘establishment’ credentials. Your political future, and maybe even your personal freedom, are at stake here….

In the debate you not only expressed your support for blockade-type unilateral sanctions, that do not have UN support, but also you gave the distinct impression that you were in favour of the UK joining a major war against Iran.

The recent rise …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged bbc question time, iran and weapons of mass destruction | 11 Comments

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 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 bob russell and nick clegg | 18 Comments

Which four Liberal Democrat ministers have most improved their standings in 2011?

By Mark Pack | Wed 28th December 2011 - 11:55 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.

Jeremy Browne, Vince Cable, Ed Davey and Lynne Featherstone are the four Liberal Democrat ministers to have significantly increased their standing in the eyes of party members over this year, according to the surveys of party members carried out by Liberal Democrat Voice four times in the year.

When asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with a range of party …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged Alistair Carmichael, chris huhne, ed davey, lynne featherstone, tim farron and vince cable | 3 Comments

LDVideo: Jeremy Browne’s pledge to Sam Fox: I’ll raise issue of tiger farms with Chinese government

By Stephen Tall | Thu 24th November 2011 - 7:45 am

As the BBC reports:

The former model and singer Sam Fox challenged foreign office minster Jeremy Browne on the Daily Politics about tiger farms in China which she wants to see closed. Mr Browne told her that he would raise the matter with the Chinese. Fewer than 3,500 tigers remain in the wild around the world.

You can watch the exchange below:

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Posted in YouTube | Also tagged animal welfare, china and samantha fox | 1 Comment

LDV Caption Competition | Jeremy Browne “it’s not always this black-and-white” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sun 20th November 2011 - 5:45 pm

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

(Hat-tip to ChinaDaily.com.)

Here’s Lib Dem foreign minister Jeremy Browne enjoying a bite to eat with one of two pandas on their way from Bifengxia Yaan Panda Base in China to Edinburgh Zoo. What do you think might be being said or thought by those pictured?

And the winner of our last caption comp is…

Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, John Hemming “you’ll have had your tea” Edition.

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Posted in Caption Comp | Also tagged featured | 30 Comments

Opinion: Lib Dems promoting human rights abroad

By Jonathan Baldie | Sun 8th May 2011 - 2:23 pm

As a Liberal Democrat member*, I’m proud of the fact that our party is in government, with ministers making tough choices about the UK.

While most attention is on electoral reform and tuition fees, I want to steer your attention towards foreign policy. In the Foreign Office there is one Lib Dem minister, Jeremy Browne MP. He takes the responsibility in the FCO for human rights policy among other things.

Mr Browne recently made an excellent Q&A video on YouTube last month, focussing on the UK’s action on promoting foreign policy abroad:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged david kato, human rights and uganda | 6 Comments

LibLink: Jeremy Browne and Nick Harvey on an International Arms Trade Treaty

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd March 2011 - 5:42 pm

Over at Comment is Free today, Jeremy Browne and Nick Harvey argue for the need for an international arms trade treaty, and that Britain must lead its creation:

On Monday the second round of negotiations to establish an international arms trade treaty (ATT) began at the United Nations headquarters in New York. These negotiations, and the need for better regulation of the arms trade, could not be timelier.

The courage displayed in the popular uprisings across the Middle East and north Africa over the last month has been fascinating and inspiring. But the shocking retaliatory brutality, especially of

…

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Posted in LibLink | Also tagged arms trade, nick harvey and united nations | 6 Comments

Opinion: An historical comparison – the Big Society vs the Great Society

By Antony Hook | Tue 15th February 2011 - 11:34 am

In the late 90s, Tony Blair’s New Deal deliberately adopted the name of US President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1930s programme to increase public spending, create jobs, and escape the Great Depression.

Thirteen years later, one assumes that David Cameron’s Big Society (that Jeremy Browne praised yesterday) at least partially invokes another significant American liberal reform era: the Great Society of President Johnson in the 60s.

I fear that substituting “big” for “great” represents a lesser moral ambition. The Kennedy-Johnson years in America were self consciously “a call to greatness”. Politicians talked of “new frontiers”, putting an end to war, conquering …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged big society, franklin roosevelt, new deal and tony blair | 16 Comments

Jeremy Browne writes: Why liberals should support the Big Society

By Jeremy Browne MP | Mon 14th February 2011 - 5:23 pm

I am instinctively very supportive of the Big Society. But it is not a new concept and I have another name for it. I call it liberalism.

My liberalism is a belief that power should start at the bottom and feed upwards. It is about personal empowerment, choice and, sometimes, quirky individualism. It is about self-pride, community and, often, a suspicion of authority. It is human in scale and organic in its development.

I have a nervous attentiveness to the need to protect this precious but delicate grassroots liberalism from the steam-roller of the overbearing state. What my liberalism is emphatically not is authoritarian or bleakly conformist. It does not idealise the placing of power at the top in the hands of the mighty and then working downwards. It is instinctively unsettled by orthodoxy and drab uniformity.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged big society | 42 Comments

LibLink: Jeremy Browne – Lib Dems can’t just be a home for protest votes

By Nick Thornsby | Fri 11th February 2011 - 5:45 pm

Over on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free site, Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Foreign Office Minister, Jeremy Browne, makes a valuable contribution to what will be an increasingly important conversation for Liberal Democrats to engage in in the coming years: how we can make our participation in government an electoral asset, and make it more likely that 2010-2015 will not go down in history as simply a one-off period of Liberal Democrats exercising national power.

Jeremy’s main thesis is that, to ensure future success, the Liberal Democrats need to replace those voters who supported the party as a protest, whose …

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Posted in LibLink | 69 Comments

LDVideo conference edition (3): Hughes, Huhne, Alexander and Browne

By Stephen Tall | Sat 25th September 2010 - 12:45 pm

Anyone starting to get conference withdrawal symptoms? For those of you who were there, here’s a few videos from the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool to help you catch up with what you missed by, erm, being there. And for those of you who weren’t there and saw it all on telly anyway… well, here’s another chance to enjoy some of the highlights.

(Please note, as these are BBC videos it’s not possible to link to them: they will therefore only be visible to readers viewing Lib Dem Voice directly through your web browser.)

Is Simon Hughes on the political left or right?

Chris Huhne’s ‘green deal to offset budget cuts’

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Posted in Conference and YouTube | Also tagged chris huhne, Danny Alexander and simon hughes | Leave a comment

LDV Sunday caption competition: “Jeremy Browne passes the hat” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th July 2010 - 2:45 pm

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

(Credit: UK in Indonesia, hat-tip Andrea Gill).

Here’s Jeremy Browne, Taunton Deane Lib Dem MP and Minister of State at the Foreign Office, marking the launch of the Indonesian Embassy’s new hybrid car “Prius” at the Ambassador’s residence. What do you think Jeremy or the Ambassador might have been saying or thinking?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, the “Mark Pack points at pothole” edition – according to …

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Posted in Caption Comp | 16 Comments

Three Lib Dem MPs fighting Legg’s expenses judgement

By The Voice | Sun 31st January 2010 - 10:20 pm

Three Lib Dems are among the 70 MPs who lodged appeals after being told to pay back some of their taxpayer-funded Commons expenses by Sir Thomas Legg, reports today’s Telegraph:

At least 35 Labour MPs and former Labour MPs have appealed against Sir Thomas’s findings, as well as 30 Conservatives, three Liberal Democrats and two independents. Among them are MPs who made some of the highest-profile claims exposed by the Telegraph investigation, including £1,645 for a duck house.

Sir Thomas’s 30-page report is thought to identify more than 300 MPs — nearly half of those in Parliament — whom he found

…

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Posted in News | Also tagged alan beith, lembit opik, mps expenses, paul kennedy and thomas legg | 1 Comment