Tag Archives: john major

Has Nick detected the emergence of ‘shy Cleggites’?

By Stephen Tall | Published 13th January 2011 - 9:59 pm

‘Shy Tories’ — the term applied to those planning to vote Conservative, but too embarrassed to admit it publicly — was a phrase used to help explain the pollsters’ failure to predict John Major’s 1992 election victory. An anecdote told by Nick Clegg in his interview in today’s Sun suggests the Lib Dems might also have our own share of abashed admirers:

Mr Clegg said: “Of course some people come up to me and say, ‘Oh we don’t like the Government doing this and doing that’. But more people come up to me and say, ‘I think you are doing

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Posted in News | Also tagged bill newton dunn, nick clegg, the sun, tom newton dunn | 7 Comments

Tim Farron: Why would any sane progressive give Labour a second glance?

By Helen Duffett | Published 13th December 2010 - 5:09 pm

Today Labour leader Ed Miliband made a pitch for disaffected Lib Dem members at his first monthly press conference as Leader of the Opposition, saying,

…Today I want to make an offer to Liberal Democrats: To those who are reluctant to abandon ship, but are concerned at the direction of their party, I invite them to work with us on issues of common interest.

Commenting on Mr Miliband’s ‘offer’ of policy input, Liberal Democrat President-elect Tim Farron said:

Labour have just spent 13 years sucking up to Rupert Murdoch and George Bush – why would any sane progressive even give them

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Posted in News | Also tagged ed miliband, tim farron | 62 Comments

I agree with Adrian Sanders and 22 Conservative MPs

By Mark Pack | Published 26th October 2010 - 10:27 am

Yesterday in Parliament Adrian Sanders and 22 Conservative MPs voted to reduce the maximum number of ministers allowed in the Commons in line with the forthcoming reduction in the number of MPs:

If the number of constituencies in the United Kingdom decreases below 650, the limit on the number of holders of Ministerial offices entitled to sit and vote in the House of Commons referred to in section 2(1) must be decreased by at least a proportionate amount.

Reducing the number of ministers is something I’ve supported …

Posted in Op-eds, Parliament | Also tagged adrian sanders, anthony king, charles walker, david heath, featured, lord norton, lord turnbull, nick clegg | 10 Comments

Would the coalition dare to cut welfare back to Labour levels?

By Iain Roberts | Published 4th July 2010 - 5:20 pm

After adjusting for inflation, welfare spending today is an astonishing ten times higher than in 1948, according to figures published in yesterday’s Guardian.

The graph shows that the sharpest rises in welfare spending were both under Conservative administrations (presumably not unconnected with the recessions at those times – 1981-84 and 1991-94 – though the bill rose in all but three of the 18 years of Conservative government).

Only under Churchill and Eden in the 1950s did the welfare bill fall slightly. Under Macmillan it rose about 50%, and the welfare bill Labour inherited in 1997 was almost double that they’d handed …

Posted in News | Also tagged clement attlee, gordon brown, harold macmillan, margaret thatcher, tony blair, welfare reform | 19 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 30 March 2010

By Sara Bedford | Published 30th March 2010 - 9:21 am

Today just 2250 years ago, the first sighting of what we now know as Halley’s Comet was recorded Eric Clapton becomes eligible to draw his pension, whilst it’s also ‘Happy Birthday’ to fellow sexagenarians Robbie Coltrane (60), Eddie Jordan (62) and Mervyn King (63).

Once this day in 1978, the Conservative Party announced it had recruited advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi to revamp its image and get its political message across ahead of the General Election. Politicians both within the opposition and in Prime Minister Jim Callaghan’s government criticised the Tory stance, describing it as ‘frivolous’.

Fourteen years later we saw John Major climb onto his soapbox to urge voters in Cheltenham to elect John Taylor as their MP – a mission which resulted in the election of Lib Dem Nigel Jones.

Posted in Daily View, News | Also tagged duncan stott, eddie jordan, eric clapton, halley's comet, james callaghan, mary reid, mervyn king, robbie coltrance, tony blair | 3 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 3 January 2010

By Mark Pack | Published 3rd January 2010 - 7:00 am

It’s Sunday. It’s 7am. It’s time to learn how to dig a hole, but first the news.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here’s are two posts that have caught the eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

What about the blood on your hands Mr Major? asks Nich Starling, reminding us of how John Major failed in the former Yugoslavia to act despite the warnings from Paddy Ashdown
Market Harborough reindeer ban makes Conservative Home reports Jonathan Calder.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Islamic march plan sparks row in military town

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged al-muhajiroun, islam4uk, paddy ashdown, wootton bassett | Leave a comment

Reasons not to have an ‘early’ general election: a footnote

By Mark Pack | Published 16th December 2009 - 5:10 pm

At the weekend I threw in another reason why Gordon Brown is very unlikely to call a general election before May.

The Times’s Danny Finkelstein has a good perspective on the issue today:

“In every election I have been involved in, there has been a last-minute rumour about an early poll date. And every one has involved a mad dash to get things ready, all those little practical details that you were going to get round to but hadn’t. Followed by anticlimax.”

Quite.

It’s sensible to err on the side of caution and be prepared (who has ever regretted being prepared in …

Posted in General Election, News | Also tagged danny finkelstein, gordon brown | 1 Comment

Daily View 2×2: 11 November 2009

By Iain Roberts | Published 11th November 2009 - 7:53 am

2 Big Stories

Woman loses appeal against noisy sex

You might have thought Gordon and that letter would be the big story, but the BBC website says differently, with this rated higher on the Most Shared and Most Read charts by yesterday evening.

And why not? It’s got sex, crime and something odd – just the sort of story we, the Great British public, relish.

As a neighbour said:

“The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain. I cannot describe the noise. I have never ever heard anything like it.”

But, in case you want your big stories to have a serious political edge, there are other issues.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged lembit opik | 5 Comments

A look back at the polls: April 2009

By Stephen Tall | Published 3rd May 2009 - 9:06 pm

We tend not to be too poll-obsessed here at LDV – of course we look at them, as do all other politico-geeks, but viewed in isolation no one poll will tell you very much beyond what you want to read into it. Looked at over a reasonable time-span and, if there are enough polls, you can see some trends.

Here, in chronological order, are the results of the eight polls published in April:

Tories 41%, Labour 34%, Lib Dems 16% – YouGov/S. Times (5th April 2009)
Tories 43%, Labour 30%, Lib Dems 18% – Populus/Times (7th April)
Tories 43%, Labour 26%, Lib Dems 21%

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Posted in Op-eds, Polls | Also tagged gordon brown, nick clegg, yougov | Leave a comment

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