Tag Archives: jonny oates

The Independent View: Conservatives admit their role in election attacks on Clegg

By Phil Cowley | Published 5th October 2010 - 3:17 pm

Back in April, in those heady days after the first televised leaders debate, as news of the remarkable Liberal Democrat poll surge began to come through, Nick Clegg spoke to the members of his campaign team on the phone. None of them could quite believe what was happening, but they agreed on one thing: ‘They’re going to come for us.’

As everyone will recall, ‘they’ did – with a string of lurid newspaper stories, reaching a peak on 22 April, the morning of the second leaders’ debate. Most Lib Dem Voice readers will remember: ‘Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem donors and payments into his private account’ (Daily Telegraph); ‘Clegg’s crazy immigration policies’ (Daily Express); ‘Wobble Democrat’ (Sun); and ‘Clegg in Nazi Slur on Britain’ (Daily Mail).

Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Also tagged dennis kavanagh, nick clegg | 48 Comments

Opinion: I always love Conference

By Olly Grender | Published 24th September 2010 - 8:55 pm

I always love conference, in fact I love all three Party conferences. Because inspite of the fact that I am most comfortable with my LibDem tribe I am on the whole comfortable with people with a genuine interest in politics. Let’s face it all of us are such a small proportion of the population.

As I walked through Liverpool in the evening I strongly suspect that those girls dressed up to the nines, well kind of in nothing actually, had no idea they were hosting a party of Government in their hometown.

That is what is so great about conference, …

Posted in Conference | Also tagged david rendel, guest editor, linda jack, olly grender | 1 Comment

What Lib Dems are saying (or not) about Andy Coulson

By Stephen Tall | Published 6th September 2010 - 7:00 pm

The official Lib Dem line on Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s director of communications, could not have been clearer prior to the election: this Voice headline from July 2009 gives the flavour – Huhne on Coulson: “either complicit or incompetent”.

Yet the party leadership has been noticeably more reticent to comment on the most recent allegations, triggered by the New York Times’s typically thorough investigation.

(What does it say, by the way, about the quality of the British news media today that — with the honourable exception of The Guardian — it was left to a US newspaper to …

Posted in News | Also tagged adrian sanders, andy coulson, caroline pidgeon, chris huhne, lembit opik, media, phone tapping | 33 Comments

Who is who behind the scenes in the coalition?

By Mark Pack | Published 18th August 2010 - 11:07 pm

Today’s Guardian has a pretty decent go at covering who the key advisers are, on both the Liberal Democrat and Conservative side, how they are working together, who talks to who and so on.

The piece has been praised by others today, but I only say “pretty decent” because it doesn’t mention Alison Suttie. Talking about Lib Dem advisers without mentioning her is a bit like talking about Lib Dem MPs without mentioning Vince or my diet without mentioning chocolate. Previously for Ming Campbell and now for Nick Clegg she’s played an absolutely key role in a deputy chief of …

Posted in News | Also tagged alison suttie, coalition, nick clegg, the guardian | 5 Comments

Opinion: The Lib Dems need a better communications strategy

By Ben Johnson | Published 17th July 2010 - 11:15 am

An opposition party can only be truly effective via the media. Government has its own spin and PR, but the opposition must cultivate this through good press stories for them and bad ones for the government.

Blair understood this better than anyone and used it to great advantage in the dying days of the Major administration, mostly through the fanaticism of Alastair Campbell.

Fast forward to today and a small party perpetually in opposition is now in government. When in opposition, projecting a clear party line was a key goal. For the Lib Dems in government, …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andy coulson, nick clegg | 32 Comments

Annoyed by BBC Question Time panel selection? Then you know what to do.

By Stephen Tall | Published 4th February 2010 - 10:25 pm

A couple of years back, I was moved to write to the BBC complaining about Question Time’s pro-Tory bias, regularly featuring Tory-supporting journalists alongside Tory MPs.

Well, that’ll learn me to be careful what you wish for. Because what do we have to look forward to on tonight’s QT panel? The following: an official Labour representative (Lord Falconer), and two former Labour MPs (Clare Short and George Galloway); and, for balance, an official Tory representative (Theresa May), and professional right-wing agitpropette (Melanie Phillips). Deep joy.

As Love and Liberty’s Alex Wilcock acerbically notes:

It’s not as if the Liberal Democrats have

…

Posted in News | Also tagged alex wilcock, bbc, bbc question time, jo swinson, luke richards, mark thompson, media | 21 Comments

Lib Dem HQ: read what Nick said, not what the press reported!

By Stephen Tall | Published 23rd November 2009 - 10:25 am

An email pings into LDV’s email inbox from the Lib Dems’ director of election communications, Jonny Oates, stating categorically that Nick Clegg did not express a preference for dealing with the Tories over Labour.

Now it has been known, just occasionally, for Nick to speak a little faster than he thinks. But, as I posted here, yesterday Nick really was crystal clear about how he would approach the vexed question of a ‘hung Parliament’ – and still the media managed to distort his remarks! In rebutting today’s inaccurate press reports, all Jonny had had to do is reproduce the …

Posted in News | Also tagged andrew marr, hung parliament, nick clegg | 69 Comments

The inside story of how the Lib Dem general election manifesto will be drawn up

By Mark Pack | Published 20th October 2009 - 12:20 pm

The debates and disputes around the Liberal Democrats’ Bournemouth conference give a taste of what is likely to be a tricky process of drawing up the party’s manifesto for the next general election.

Formally, there is a three part process to that manifesto: the manifesto working group chaired by Danny Alexander will present work to the Shadow Cabinet which will then in turn (quite possibly amended) go to the Federal Policy Committee (FPC).

How will this process work and who will the key people be in drawing up the manifesto?

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged chris fox, chris rennard, danny alexander, evan harris, featured, federal policy committee, general election manifesto, hilary stephenson, willie rennie | 10 Comments

Liberal Democrat General Election Team announced

By Helen Duffett | Published 5th August 2009 - 3:27 pm

Nick Clegg has announced today the team that will advise him on strategy, resources and communications, as well as the planning and delivery of the Lib Dems’ General Election strategy.

From the Liberal Democrats’ website:

Nick Clegg said:

“I am delighted to announce the team that will lead the planning and delivery of our General Election campaign.

“I have asked John Sharkey, my adviser on Strategic Communications and the former MD of Saatchi’s, to Chair the Campaign, supported by Andrew Stunell MP as Vice Chair.

“John’s extensive experience managing major communications businesses combined with Andrew’s campaigning expertise will be a formidable combination steering the

…

Posted in General Election, News | Also tagged andrew stunell, chris fox, danny alexander, hilary stephenson, john sharkey, nick clegg | 31 Comments

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