Tag Archives: ming campbell

Opinion: What price democracy in the Lib Dems?

By Linda Jack | Published 2nd February 2012 - 6:02 pm

Over the past 21 months I have had many moments when I have felt close to despair about the behaviour of our parliamentarians. Sometimes, like voting in favour of tuition fees, they can rightly point to the Coalition Agreement – endorsed overwhelmingly – as Nick Clegg observed at the time – by a North Korean like Special Conference. Other times, like voting against party policy on Legal Aid and Welfare Reform – there is no such defence. Last night calls into question the fundamental values and principles of our party, not just in terms of flying in the face of …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 133 Comments

Sir Menzies Campbell asks for Scottish members’ views on Home Rule

By Caron Lindsay | Published 25th January 2012 - 7:55 pm

Late last year, Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Willie Rennie appointed North East Fife MP and former leader Sir Menzies Campbell to chair a Commission on Home and Community Rule to set out exactly how a liberal Scotland would divide up government power. Uniquely, our party looks at ways of devolving power from as well as to Holyrood.

Sir Menzies today e-mailed Scottish members to let them know he wants their views and outlining plans for a consultative session  at the Party’s Inverness conference in March. (Should you wish to attend, please note that the deadline to register at the cheaper …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , | 12 Comments

And the most-mentioned Lib Dems of 2011 were…

By Stephen Tall | Published 31st December 2011 - 7:55 am

Two Lib Dem ministers made it into the top 10 of most-mentioned politicians in the national print media in 2011. Not surprisingly, one was Nick Clegg, the Deputy PM; the other was Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary.

Here’s the graphic which shows them placed 4th and 10th respectively:

Two Lib Dems also made it into the list of top 10 backbenchers who appeared in the national print media in 2011. Ming Campbell and David Laws popped up at 9th and 10th respectively (42nd and …

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

Was there a Clegg coup? Review of The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard

By Mark Pack | Published 23rd November 2011 - 9:54 am

Many book titles reveal little about what their book contains, either providing but a banal name for its contents or a clever, clever name which obscures rather than reveals. However, The Clegg Coup – Britain’s First Coalition Government Since Lloyd George by Jasper Gerard has a title which is revealing in two aspects. First, the way general accuracy in the book is marred by detailed slips – for whilst the general point of the title is true, with the May 2010 coalition being the UK’s first peacetime coalition in Westminster since before 1939, the title does not use the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Books | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Clegg orders fresh review of extradition laws headed by Ming

By Stephen Tall | Published 19th November 2011 - 4:15 pm

It’s two-and-a-half years since Nick Clegg as Lib Dem leader publicly stood up on behalf of Gary McKinnon, a computer hacker wanted to by the US authorities under controversial extradition laws:

The Americans are hell-bent on extradition and making an example of him. He was told if he sat back, pleaded guilty and said nothing about his extradition, he could end up doing a shorter sentence in a British prison. But because he exercised his basic right to challenge his extradition, he’s now classed as a terrorist. … No fewer than three Labour home secretaries have played their part in

…

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

Willie Rennie apologises for ‘unintentional offence’ of Lib Dems’ Alex Salmond cartoon

By Stephen Tall | Published 3rd November 2011 - 7:15 am

Some embarrassment for Willie Rennie, MSP and leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, this week following the publication by party staff of a cartoon satirising First Minister Alex Salmond’s hailing of the similarities between Scotland and Qatar:

The Stv website takes up the story:

Continue reading »
Posted in Scotland | Also tagged , , | 16 Comments

Ming to head up Scottish Lib Dems’ Home Rule Commission

By The Voice | Published 2nd November 2011 - 7:06 am

As the Scottish Lib Dems’ website announces:

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP has announced that former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell MP will chair the Home Rule Commission, set up to develop a blueprint for Home Rule in Scotland. The party’s Scottish conference in Dunfermline last month voted to establish a Commission to look at a settled distribution of powers between London, Edinburgh and local councils. Sir Menzies will join other Liberal Democrats to set out a long-term vision for a strong Scotland within the UK and powerful local communities in every part of Scotland.

Here’s what …

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Scotland | Also tagged , | 3 Comments

House of Lords reform: the next steps

By Mark Pack | Published 24th September 2011 - 9:55 am

As I mentioned when blogging Ming Campbell’s speech from Liberal Democrat conference, the motion in favour of Lords reform was passed overwhelmingly.

That in itself was not a surprise, but that does not mean actually securing Lords reform will be easy. Two immediate ways you can support the campaign for House of Lords reform are:

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

Ming Campbell urges Lib Dem peers to back Lords reforms

By Mark Pack | Published 23rd September 2011 - 10:55 am

One of the speakers in the Lords reform debate at Liberal Democrat conference was former party leader Ming Campbell, who not only backed the plans for elections to a reformed upper house but also directly addressed the Lib Dem peers who have been talking of opposing the introduction of elections:

The motion was passed overwhelmingly, including the diversity amendment.

You can support the campaign for House of Lords reform by signing up to the Facebook page Liberal Democrats for Lords Reform and by taking part in the official Parliamentary consultation (it only takes …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 3 Comments

LDVideo at Conference | Farron on ‘Tory bashing’, Lamb on NHS reforms, and Ming on the Euro

By Stephen Tall | Published 21st September 2011 - 10:15 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

Tim Farron’s Tory-bashing


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Norman Lamb on NHS changes

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Also tagged , | 3 Comments

News in Brief: Ming savages Danny, ‘Parenting Matters’, and Don Foster on “rodents with wings”

By Stephen Tall | Published 6th August 2011 - 6:55 pm

Former party leader Ming Campbell is apparently furious with fellow Scottish Lib Dem, Danny Alexander, according to the Telegraph.

The two MPs are, it appears, at each others’ metaphorical throats over the handing over to the British army of RAF Leuchars in Fife (Ming’s patch), while RAF Lossiemouth in Moray (Danny’s neighbouring patch) — though it should be noted that RAF Kinloss, also close to Danny’s own consituency, will suffer the same fate as Leuchars.

The Telegraph quotes Ming implying with scarcely veiled fury that Danny’s intervention in the defence …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 8 Comments

Labour and the SNP’s judgement in Megrahi case completely wrong – Campbell

By Mark Pack | Published 7th February 2011 - 8:25 pm

Lib Dem MP and member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee Ming Campbell has been commenting on the revelations about the Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi case:

The Labour government completely failed to take into account the horrific nature of the crime, the consequences and the sentence imposed when it took the view that it could assist the release of Mr Megrahi.

Equally in Scotland, the Justice Secretary failed to take account of these three significant factors when reaching a conclusion about the exercise of compassion.

If both had paid proper attention, the Labour government would not have been so embroiled and the Scottish

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News, Scotland | Also tagged | 9 Comments

Tuition fees: which way will MPs vote on Thursday?

By Mark Pack | Published 6th December 2010 - 6:36 pm

Today saw a weird piece of media face with an impostor conning several news outlets into reporting that Edinburgh West MP Mike Crockart was going to resign as a PPS and vote against the tuition fees increase. The impostor even got as far as being interviewed by the BBC on the World at One before the hoax was rumbled. His office said that, “Mike is still waiting to see what the final offer will be before he votes and that has always been our line”.

(Ironically just before this took place, I was in Millbank to appear on the BBC’s …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , | 76 Comments

Trident: no renewal this Parliament

By Mark Pack | Published 19th October 2010 - 9:53 pm

The BBC reports that the predicted policy has won the day:

The government says £750m ($1.2bn) will be saved over four years on the Trident nuclear deterrent missile system by cutting the number of warheads on each boat from 48 to 40 and reducing the number of missile tubes from 12 to eight. The UK’s nuclear warhead stockpile will be cut from 160 to less than 120. The final “main gate” spending decision on Trident will also be delayed until 2016 – after the next general election.

Party President Ros Scott has emailed party members, saying

Trident will not be renewed

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , | 15 Comments

Ming on university funding: new system may gain his support

By The Voice | Published 18th September 2010 - 6:45 am

Former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell was one of the party’s first MPs to indicate unhappiness with the Coalition’s programme for government, stating he would vote against any increase in student tuition fees that October’s Browne review on university funding might recommend. Under the terms of the Coalition agreement, Lib Dem MPs were supposed only to abstain on any such measure.

However, this week’s Times Higher Education Supplement indicates that the Coalition’s proposals for a graduate contribution may just be enough to win Ming over:

Speaking in the run-up to the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool starting on 18 September,

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments