Tag Archives: lembit opik

Lembit does an impression of the Angel of the North

By Caron Lindsay | Published 8th February 2012 - 4:25 pm

Seriously, he does.

And he doesn’t care what anyone thinks, either, as he said to Sky News yesterday.

Thing is, as we all watch the uncomfortably inappropriate close ups, his dad dancing and numerous other cringeworthy snippets, we are compelled to listen to what is actually quite a good song by the Good Suns. A very clever marketing ploy, I think.

Enjoy, or whatever. Just don’t charge the Voice for any post traumatic stress counselling you might need.

Posted in News | Also tagged | 3 Comments

The message that won the Mayor selection for Brian Paddick

By Mark Pack | Published 7th September 2011 - 12:55 pm

Neil Stockley, one of the best Liberal Deomcrat commentators when it comes to messaging and presenting a coherent narrative, has taken a look at the message which propelled Brian Paddick to victory in the London Mayor selection contest:

Liberal Democrat selection campaigns for London mayor are strange beasts, as the party seeks out a mega-campaigner who can rally the troops and pull in more assembly members by his/her coat-tails.   This time, the dynamics were mixed up even more by the entry into the race of the former Montgomeryshire MP, Lembit Opik.  (Lembit had a defeat narrative in which he compared

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Posted in London | Also tagged , | 3 Comments

Lembit Opik on the London Mayor selection result

By Mark Pack | Published 2nd September 2011 - 10:24 pm

Lembit Opik had a piece in today’s Evening Standard ahead of the results declaration in the London Mayor selection. In it he said he expected to lose and went on to say:

Ever since I was first enticed into entering the fray as a potential candidate, I’ve experienced a remarkable degree of antagonism and aggression from certain Lib Dems.

Most of it has occurred in the strange and self-styled environment of the ‘blogosphere’ – a parallel universe where some people who’ve never been elected to public office feel qualified to pronounce on those who have.

When one meets these people for real, their courage

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Posted in London | Also tagged , , | 23 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

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Opinion: London Mayoral hustings, Round 2

By Simon McGrath | Published 31st July 2011 - 4:27 pm

Having been to the London Mayoral hustings last week in Wimbledon (and written about it for LDV) I thought it would be interesting to go to the official hustings last night in central London to see how (or if) the candidates had changed. I don’t know if it was the different audience or the extra week and taking on board the various comment people made but all four candidates made better speeches and all seemed more confident of why they wanted to represent us.

By far the most improved was Lembit Opik. I could see why he has had …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Opinion: Mayoral Hustings – Twists and turns and four good horses

By Richard Clare | Published 30th July 2011 - 3:54 pm

I’ve never been to such an event before so I didn’t know what to expect. Regardless, I made it to the Hustings in Kings Cross, the first ‘proper’ Hustings as I think the Chair described it.

Mike Tuffrey gave the first speech. It was fairly standard: he outlined his experience on the GLA and said that if he won the nomination, it would be his 14th election. “My 13th election wasn’t unlucky for me, in fact it was my best to date.” he said, naming a few impressive percentages the Lib Dems had got in the last London Assembly elections …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 12 Comments

Update on the latest twists and turns in the contest to become the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London

By Stephen Tall | Published 23rd July 2011 - 8:15 pm

It’s been a fascinating — and characteristicaly bizarre — last 48 hours in the contest to become the Lib Dems’ London mayoral candidate.

There was the first hustings, reported here on LDV by Simon McGrath, which attracted comments from Brian Paddick, and some robust thoughts from Lembit Opik’s campaign manager Ed Joyce.

Further controversy was sparked by Peter Black’s blog-post yesterday, Lembit Öpik and the rewriting of history, highlighting a paragraph in Lembit’s manifesto which attributes his defeat in Montgomeryshire ‘to the incident in which Mick Bates drunkenly assaulted a paramedic in January 2010, which became …

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Posted in London | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Opinion: Verdict from the first Mayoral Hustings – it’s a two horse race

By Simon McGrath | Published 21st July 2011 - 3:27 pm

Merton Lib Dems Mayoral candidate hustings
Photo: Mayorwatch. See also @mayorwatch‘s live tweets from last night’s event.

Merton Liberal Democrats held the first hustings of the London Mayoral selection last night with all four candidates addressing an audience from Merton and surrounding constituencies.

I had never met or heard any of them before but the one speech I was expecting to enjoy was Lembit’s. I thought that I would be drawn to him despite myself but the reality was frankly disappointing. He was the …

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Posted in London | Also tagged , , , , | 40 Comments

London Mayoral candidate shortlist and revised timetable published

By Helen Duffett | Published 12th July 2011 - 12:18 pm

London Region Liberal Democrats have announced the shortlist of four for the selection of the party’s Mayoral candidate for 2012:

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Posted in London, News | Also tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Opinion: Liberal Democrats and Londoners deserve a three horse race

By Matt Sanders | Published 16th June 2011 - 5:29 pm

Brian Paddick, who is now reported to be running for Mayor of London, has the experience and the high profile to take on Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone.

Like it or not, the race next year is going to be personality politics at its most intense. With polls showing a lead for the Labour party in London, but Johnson and Livingstone running neck and neck, it’s in the big parties interests to make this “Ken vs Boris”.

I like and respect the other names who have put themselves forward for the Liberal Democrat nomination. Mike Tuffrey has quietly …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , | 27 Comments

Opinion: Why you should be taking Lembit Opik seriously

By Richard Clare | Published 5th June 2011 - 3:15 pm

It’s hard to raise the subject of Lembit Opik without somebody cracking a joke. He’s certainly not loved by our own party’s leadership and many see him as more of a celebrity than a politician. I can, however, name two other people who are hated by their party’s leadership and seem to be two parts celebrity, one part politician, and they’ve both held the position of Mayor of London.

Lembit has great recognition among people. My own unscientific polling leads me to believe that he isn’t far behind Ken and Boris in who knows who he is, which is quite a …

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 62 Comments

Mike Tuffrey the choice of members for Lib Dem London mayoral candidate: LDV survey

By Stephen Tall | Published 7th May 2011 - 11:08 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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

Tuffrey set to beat Opik for London mayoral nomination

LDV asked: It’s thought that there are two names who may stand for the London mayoralty as the Lib Dem candidate in 2012: Lembit Opik and Mike Tuffrey. Who do you think you are most likely to vote for?

    10% – Lembit Opik
    56% – Mike Tuffrey
    18% – I do not

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Posted in LDV Members poll, Local government | Also tagged , | 6 Comments

Opinion: Why Mike Tuffrey should be our candidate for Mayor of London

By Mark Pack | Published 28th March 2011 - 8:55 am

Over the weekend I started up a ‘draft Mike Tuffrey‘ page on Facebook to encourage Mike Tuffrey, one of our London Assembly members, to put his name forward as our candidate for the 2012 Mayor elections.

Imagining your fantasy perfect candidate is always fun (a cross between Paddy Ashdown and Shirley Williams perhaps?) but as the actual selection is nearing for its second attempt, I’m not won over by the likely choices on offer – and I think Mike has an awful lot to contribute.

Why Mike Tuffrey

As a long-standing member of the London Assembly, and the leader of our group 2006-2010, he’s got a huge knowledge of London’s issues and the track record in power of both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. He’s also regularly gone toe-to-toe with them at events such as Mayor’s Questions at City Hall – and frequently come out on top. He’s also consistently shown a passion for environmental issues which are crucial for London and important to so many Liberal Democrats.

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Posted in London, Op-eds | Also tagged , | 8 Comments

Lembit4London right to reply

By Ed Joyce | Published 27th March 2011 - 2:36 pm

At the Welsh Liberal Democrat conference earlier this month Nick Clegg made the following comment.

And of course we’ve even had a Liberal Democrat celebrity flying the Welsh flag in the depths of the Australian jungle! Now that’s one forestry disaster we’re not responsible for!

This comment was then reported as the lead paragraph later in a post by Mark Pack with the following comment :

Nick Clegg’s speech to the party’s Welsh conference contained much in the way of summarising the party’s current official position on politics and government priorities – and also a reference to Lembit Opik. His departure from the Commons was made the subject of a joke rather than a cause of regret ….

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Posted in Op-eds | 25 Comments

Lembit Opik: vote for my libertarian agenda

By Mark Pack | Published 21st March 2011 - 5:53 pm

Yesterday’s BBC Politics Show included a feature on Lembit Opik’s hopes to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London. It’s still available online to watch (see here; it starts at 47:42).

Most notable was the news that no Liberal Democrat MP, GLA member or council leader in London is backing him, that he would hold a referendum on asking the public to pay considerably more in order to fund a 24-hour tube and that he twice described his political views as libertarian.

Posted in London | 18 Comments