Tag Archives: nick harvey

Stephen Tall

Eastleigh by-election: your essential round-up of the latest campaign news (12 Feb)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 12th February 2013 - 8:20 pm

Here’s a round-up of news from the past 24 hours in the Eastleigh by-election…

mike thornton eastleigh jon aylwinNick Clegg offered Lib Dem candidate Mike Thornton his full backing on a visit to Eastleigh on Monday. Here‘s the Guardian report:

“I am confident we will keep hold of this seat but not because I say so but because the people of Eastleigh are telling us that,” said Clegg. Focusing on the party’s local dominance – it is the only place in the country where every councillor at district and county level is a Liberal Democrat – he said voters would focus on its “record of action” and said the party had “to be quite clear where our differences lie”. … Speaking after meeting students at the local college, Clegg said: “Cutting council tax, promoting more apprenticeships, creating jobs, protecting green spaces – those are things that Liberal Democrats haven’t just talked about, they are things they have actually done and it’s a record of which we are tremendously proud.”

It’s not just Nick Clegg who’s been doing his Eastleigh stint, though. Pictured above (with thanks to Jon Aylwin) is North Devon MP Nick Harvey out canvassing with Mike and some of his supporters.

Want to join the hundreds of Lib Dems who are doing their bit to help get Mike elected as the next Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh on 28th February? Here’s a reminder of how YOU can make a difference:

  • Volunteer to help in Eastleigh itself
  • Make phone calls for the party if you can’t get there in person
  • Give a donation to help fund the campaign.

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    Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 5 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Trident: it’s déjà vu all over again

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 30th October 2012 - 12:45 pm

    The latest flurry of excitement about the Trident nuclear deterrent — as the Daily Mail puts it with typical tabloid restraint: Tories and LibDems at war over contract to build Trident sub: £350m deal is jumping the gun, warns Clegg — is one of those stories which pops up twice a year. The last time was six months ago, in May, when the Ministry of Defence announced £350m-worth of design contracts for the Trident successor submarines had been signed. As then Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey pointed out on LDV at the time:

    is being portrayed as the Coalition Government moving a step closer to a

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
    Paul Walter

    What on earth is the Mail up to?

    By Paul Walter | Mon 17th September 2012 - 8:54 am

    Defence Minister: Clegg axed me because I won’t support attack on Iran – was the headline of a Mail story yesterday, which began:

    A Liberal Democrat Defence Minister has claimed he was sacked to avoid a damaging Coalition split over a pre-emptive strike on Iran.

    Former Armed Forces Minister Sir Nick Harvey told friends that he was fired in the reshuffle to allow Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to sign Britain up to

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    Posted in News | Also tagged and | 26 Comments
    Tim Farron MP

    Tim Farron MP writes… My thoughts on the Cabinet reshuffle

    By Tim Farron MP | Thu 6th September 2012 - 6:38 pm

    The first proper reshuffle for our party since the 1920s was always going to be a weird situation. I am extremely sad to see Sarah Teather, Nick Harvey, Paul Burstow and Andrew Stunell leave the government. Sarah’s work on the Pupil Premium will leave an outstanding legacy for the next generation, Andrew’s work on releasing empty homes to meet the needs of those in desperate circumstances will make the difference to thousands of people and Nick Harvey’s tenacity in ensuring that a like for like replacement for Trident is kicked off into the long grass has been a quite immense …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , and | 30 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Lib Dems should have had no part in ‘Knights of the Long Knives’ reshuffle honours

    By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th September 2012 - 11:50 pm

    Nick Harvey’s had a tough week. On Tuesday his ministerial career was brought to an abrupt and surprising halt when Nick Clegg told him he was ‘trading’ his post of armed forces minister for a Lib Dem foothold in another department.

    The North Devon MP has been a victim of his own success. So shrewdly has he overseen the Trident nuclear weapons review — the crunch defence decision which divides Lib Dems and Tories — that it is highly likely to produce more effective, better value deterrent options, with a final decision not needed until 2016, after the next …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 21 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 3 Comments
    Mark Pack

    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 , , , , , , , , , , , and | 18 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    What the three departing Lib Dem ministers have said as they leave government

    By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th September 2012 - 8:05 pm

    You can catch up on the rolling LibDemVoice live-blog of today’s reshuffle here and the current list of official Lib Dem appointments here.

    Three Lib Dem ministers are at the time of writing departing the Coalition Government for the backbenches. Each of them has issued statements as follows:

    Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central:

    It has been a huge privilege to serve as an education minister in the coalition government over the last two and a half years. I’m hugely proud of the part I have been able to play in ending child detention, and rolling out the

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    What do we Lib Dems want from a reshuffle?

    By Stephen Tall | Mon 20th August 2012 - 9:45 am

    While the massed ranks of the mostly right-wing political commentariat obsess about the imminent Cabinet reshuffle, Lib Dem interest has been relatively muted.

    In one sense this isn’t surprising.

    As it stands, 18 of the party’s 57 MPs are on the government payroll, so Nick Clegg has little room for manouevre even among the middle ranks of government. And with only five cabinet positions (four if you exclude Nick himself as Deputy Prime Minister) there’s even less wiggle-room at the top table. Nonetheless, this reshuffle will most likely be …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , and | 39 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    In other news… Trident, MI6, DECC, defections & other stories

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 22nd July 2012 - 5:25 pm

    Here’s a round-up of stories we haven’t had time to cover on the site this past few days…

    Coalition set for new split on cut-price Trident plan (Scotsman)

    COALITION splits over Britain’s nuclear deterrent are set to be reopened after an internal Ministry of Defence review suggested a slimmed-down version of the £25 billion Trident replacement could be an option. … The report, led by Lib Dem armed forces minister Nick Harvey, looks set to reopen coalition divisions with many Tory back-benchers concerned that Britain’s replacement for Trident could end up being sacrificed for political reasons. However, with final decisions not

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , and | 5 Comments
    Nick Harvey MP

    Nick Harvey writes on yesterday’s Army re-structuring announcement

    By Nick Harvey MP | Fri 6th July 2012 - 7:51 am

    With Britain’s combat role in Afghanistan coming to an end, so ends the predictability of our Army’s main effort. Looking beyond 2014, we need to restructure our armed forces to face an increasingly uncertain world: ready to intervene to protect our national interest, with the agile and adaptable ability to project force and prevent conflict, as set out in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR).

    So yesterday’s Army 2020 announcement was about restructuring the British Army for the future. Contrary to many claims, it is not about personnel cuts.

    Of course, we cannot avoid the fact that the economic situation …

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    Posted in News and Parliament | Also tagged and | 15 Comments
    Kate Hudson

    The Independent View: The Trident review risks being a damp squib

    By Kate Hudson | Sun 24th June 2012 - 4:55 pm

    This week the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced a £1.1 billion contract with Rolls Royce for building nuclear submarine reactors. This has caused quite some controversy and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was immediately called to answer an Urgent Question in the Commons on the implications of this spending and whether it preempts a future decision on whether or not to replaceBritain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.

    The contract itself will see £500m spent on the refurbishment of Rolls Royce’s Raynesway plant in Derby, while £600m will go on building new nuclear reactor cores to powerBritain’s submarines. Most of these will be …

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    Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Also tagged | 4 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    LDV Caption Competition: Nick Harvey “Pleased to see me?” Edition

    By Stephen Tall | Sat 23rd June 2012 - 3:50 pm

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

    Here’s Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey ensuring British troops are tooled-up. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about him?

    And the winner of our last caption comp is…

    Some fantastic entries for our most recent caption competition, Clegg at Leveson “Through the glasses darkly” Edition.

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    Posted in Caption Comp | 22 Comments
    Toby Fenwick

    Opinion: A response to the Minister on Joint Strike Fighters

    By Toby Fenwick | Thu 31st May 2012 - 5:24 pm

    We can all welcome Nick Harvey’s work with Phillip Hammond in producing what appears to be the first balanced MoD budget since at least the 1997 Defence Review: time will tell if their projections hold water. However, Mr. Harvey’s article is redolent of MoD Press Office spin, and has several important elements that need debating. Moving back to the vertical take off and landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) – known as the F-35B – is hardly the panacea the Minister pretends: there were several reasons that the military warmly welcomed the switch to a conventional cats ‘n’ traps …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 20 Comments
    Nick Harvey MP

    Nick Harvey MP writes on Carrier strike capability

    By Nick Harvey MP | Wed 30th May 2012 - 2:17 pm

    Earlier this month the Defence Secretary announced that the MoD’s budget was in balance, for the first time in a generation. A number of tough but necessary decisions meant that the £38bn black hole inherited from the last Labour government had finally been eliminated – a major part of which was the decision to deliver Carrier Strike capability using a different type of Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jet because of unacceptable cost growth and project delays. In particular, the Government has decided to change the type of jet which will fly off the Navy’s two new aircraft carriers – from …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged and | 8 Comments
    Stephen Tall

    Lib Dems push Coalition to abandon ‘Moscow criterion’ in latest anti-Trident move

    By Stephen Tall | Sun 20th May 2012 - 8:55 am

    Writing in the Financial Times, former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has urged Britain to drop the so-called ‘Moscow criterion’ — which commits us to maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent capable of obliterating the Russian capital — in order to open up the possibilities of a more targeted, and cheaper, nuclear alternative to the renewal of Trident:

    Nuclear weapons have no intrinsic merit. Their significance is in deterrence. If you ever have to use them it can only be because they have failed in their primary purpose. But nuclear policy ought always to be assessed in its political context. It is

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 7 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Which of the five Lib Dem reshuffle options will Nick Clegg pick?

    By Mark Pack | Mon 14th May 2012 - 2:23 pm

    Five scenarios for your delectation:

    The Lib Dem night of the long beards

    The drastic, dramatic and painful option. Clegg says the Liberal Democrats need David Laws’s expertise and media savvy at the heart of economic decision making, restoring him to Chief Secretary to the Treasury and expressing tearful regret that Danny Alexander is off out of the Cabinet, with a resting place as a new Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Cabinet Office where he will not have to handle quite so many tricky TV interviews.

    Education, education, education

    Too problematic to bring back Laws in a tax and cut role? Bring him …

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    Posted in Humour and Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , and | 45 Comments
    Jasper Gerard

    Jasper Gerard writes… The Clegg Coup – and the serialisation horror

    By Jasper Gerard | Wed 19th October 2011 - 9:25 am

    To those who fear the future marching over the horizon, this must feel suspiciously like enemy occupation. Liberal Democrats, with their new and sinister continental ways, have seized power. If conservative opinion believed it had the measure of Labour, it can’t quite get to grips with Britain’s newest rulers. For not only are Liberal Democrats in office for the first time, they have given us an apparently foreign form of government, a coalition.

    Traditionalists have to trawl back more than a century for the homely comfort of precise precedent. Such has been the opposition to peacetime partnership, where two united parties …

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    Posted in Books and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 37 Comments
    Mark Pack

    How coalition government means better government

    By Mark Pack | Fri 24th June 2011 - 1:53 pm

    Last night I headed over to Enfield to hear Nick Harvey talked to a packed restaurant of Liberal Democrats about his experiences of a minister. It was an impressive turnout from one of our smaller local parties in London and an impressive speech from Nick, who cut his political teeth in the borough.

    One part was about how coalition government made for better government. Nick Harvey gave the example of how troops were deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

    As a defence minister learning about one of the most important issues facing him and colleagues, he had wanted to get his head …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 12 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    LibLink | Nick Harvey: Forget a cyber Maginot line

    By Helen Duffett | Wed 8th June 2011 - 2:54 pm

    Nick Harvey, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, writes over at Comment is Free about potential threats to digital networks, and calls for a global consensus on cyberspace security:

    Threats do not just come from malicious viruses or organised criminals stealing people’s identity or money. Digital networks are now at the heart of our transport, power and communications systems, and our economy as a whole. This reliance brings the capacity for warfare to cyberspace. The consequences of a well-planned, well-executed attack against our digital infrastructure could be catastrophic. In this way, a single networked laptop might be as effective

    …

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    Nick Thornsby

    Nick Harvey profiled in Total Politics

    By Nick Thornsby | Tue 31st May 2011 - 1:27 pm

    Last month’s Total Politics magazine featured a profile of Liberal Democrat Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey. The piece looks at Nick’s life before politics, his time as a pre-coalition MP, and the various issues that now end up on his desk as a minister in the Department of Defence.

    Here’s a sample:

    “This is a difficult and challenging time for the Ministry of Defence and it’s vital that we meet the needs of our service personnel,” said Nick Harvey following his appointment as Minister for the Armed Forces in May 2010. At a time of unprecedented budgetary constraints it promises to be

    …

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    Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 1 Comment
    Julian Huppert MP

    Julian Huppert MP writes on Trident: We don’t need to keep fighting the Cold War

    By Julian Huppert MP | Wed 18th May 2011 - 3:53 pm

    I have believed for a long time that we don’t want nuclear weapons, we can’t afford them, and they weaken our moral authority to persuade other people not to obtain them. I proposed the emergency motion on this which we passed last year.

    So how do I feel after today’s statement on the Initial Gate for Trident replacement?

    Disappointed – but also encouraged and heartened by what we have achieved. Nick Harvey, our Minister, has helped to secure a 25% reduction in the overall number of warheads, and cost reductions to ease the financial burden. But this is not enough to …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 19 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Nick Harvey talks up closer nuclear cooperation with the French

    By Mark Pack | Fri 1st April 2011 - 2:53 pm

    In a speech yesterday Minister for the Armed Forces Nick Harvey both showed how ministers can stake out clearly different ground from the Conservatives and also gave a hint of major debates over nuclear weapons yet to come.

    In his speech to the Franco-British Council Defence Co-operation Conference Nick Harvey said,

    As you will know, the two parties in the UK coalition Government have a different approach to the renewal of the current Trident system, but we are jointly pledged to maintain Britain’s nuclear deterrent…

    As a Liberal Democrat Minister in this UK Coalition Government, I have the freedom to explore and argue

    …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged | 6 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    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 , and | 6 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Nick Harvey outlines the UK’s objectives in Afghanistan

    By Mark Pack | Thu 16th December 2010 - 9:43 pm

    Minister of State for the Armed Forces and Liberal Democrat MP Nick Harvey set out the government’s objectives in Afghanistan in a speech he gave during his visit to Denmark this week. He made clear the limits to what the government is now seeking to achieve:

    We do not seek a perfect Afghanistan, but one able to maintain its own security and prevent the return of Al-Qaeda.

    This is primarily a mission of national security.

    We are neither colonisers nor occupiers.

    We are there under United Nations Security Council endorsement and at the invitation of the Afghan Government.

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    Posted in News | Also tagged , and | 21 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Tackling cyber threat is central to nation’s security – Nick Harvey

    By Mark Pack | Wed 10th November 2010 - 12:26 pm

    Yesterday the Armed Forces Minister and Lib Dem MP for North Devon, Nick Harvey, gave a speech to Chatham House about the cyber-based threats to Britain’s security.

    Nick Harvey’s speech started with a welcome nod in the direction of liberal optimism with technology often offering the opportunity to increase people’s freedom and choices. However, he quickly moved on to darker territory:

    As a liberal, I am excited about the capacity of the internet and digital technology to increase the freedom and opportunity available to our citizens – to enhance people’s ability to control their own lives and make their own choices –

    …

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    Posted in News | 3 Comments
    Linda Jack

    So how was it for you?

    By Linda Jack | Fri 24th September 2010 - 9:05 am

    Well fellow Lib Dems, Bloggers and Tweeps… what did you make of conference then? Having been granted the honour of being “Guest Editor” (quaking in me boots it has to be said!) I thought, given the timing, it may be an opportunity to reflect on the last week in Liverpool.

    What I want to do is to try and get a feel from members across the spectrum of our party, has conference left them feeling uplifted, confused, motivated, anxious, hopeful, proud?
    I hope what follows today, especially for those of you who weren’t there, will give you a bit of …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , , and | 27 Comments
    The Voice

    Lib Dems pass motions on Trident and diversity

    By The Voice | Wed 22nd September 2010 - 3:27 pm

    News of two motions passed by Lib Dem conference today…

    Diversity: Hughes to propose “radical changes” to promote candidate diversity

    Simon Hughes, the party’s deputy leader, commented:

    “I am glad that Conference agreed today that there will be a full set of proposals for candidate diversity and that we will have the chance to take decisions to change the face and mix of the Liberal Democrats.

    “I will be presenting a paper to the Party’s Federal Executive next month which will propose radical changes in the way we select our candidates.

    “This proposal will include the aim that half our candidates will be women …

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    Posted in Conference | Also tagged , , and | 4 Comments
    Mark Pack

    What next on Trident?

    By Mark Pack | Sun 11th July 2010 - 10:47 pm

    The previous Labour government had a habit of taking as gospel views from senior members of select professions. Whilst many professions were instinctively seen as self-interested dinosaurs when speaking up for their professions, both senior police and senior military were however often treated as if unimpeachable experts.

    It’s been a welcome sign from both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat members of the new government that senior military are seen as they should be – often expert, certainly experienced but by no means infallible and often to be questioned. That’s the right attitude, but it’s one that is clearly ruffling some feathers …

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    Posted in News | Also tagged | 21 Comments
    The Voice

    Lib Dems set pace in signing up for Royal British Legion pledge

    By The Voice | Sun 28th March 2010 - 2:50 pm

    The Royal British Legion is asking candidates from all parties to sign up to its manifesto ahead of the coming election campaign. Nick Clegg, along with the other two party leaders, has signed up to the Legion’s pledge, meeting recently with its Director General; while defence spokesman Nick Harvey has spoken at Legion fringe events.

    The Legion has been keeping a tally of the proportion of MPs from each of the parties who have signed up to its manifesto – and as they comment, “Lib Dem MPs are setting the pace!”

    …

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