Tag Archives: tim farron

Opinion – Twitter: powerful campaign tool or waste of effort?

By Alan Muhammed | Published 9th February 2012 - 2:55 pm

The simple tweet “F*ck” at 10am with the reply “Agreed” last Friday was the only source and all the evidence I required to know that Chris Huhne had been charged. Two words tied emotion with cognition. I followed Nick Clegg’s tax cut speech live through the medium of 140 character paraphrase: a sort of Focus-speak reduction I can only imagine would have the speech-writers crying. The utterance “Borgen – Danish West Wing” was all the persuasion necessary to watch it religiously.

Twitter is free, fast and tragic. And if it wasn’t powerful in facilitating the fall of …

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Farron on Davey: An outstanding environmentalist

By Paul Walter | Published 6th February 2012 - 8:54 am

In case you missed it, Tim Farron’s interview on yesterday’s Andrew Marr Show is here in full on BBC iPlayer (starting at 35:43) or here in a shorter clip.

Standing, well wrapped up, in snowy Cumbria, Tim is in typically robust form. He pays tribute to Chris Huhne and says he “wants and expects” him to be back in government soon. He says that the LibDems are concentrating on being “collegiate not destructive” in coalition by ‘behaving like grown-ups’. He pays warm tribute to Ed Davey’s environmentalist credentials and covers a wide range of policy issues.

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LibLink: Tim Farron – Fighting for jobs and health care – and against second-home council tax perks

By Mark Pack | Published 31st December 2011 - 3:35 pm

It is the turn today of Liberal Democrat President Tim Farron for a personal reflection on the year in The Guardian:

In 2011 Westmorland and Lonsdale has had some of the lowest unemployment figures across the whole of the UK. On the surface this sounds like a fantastic statistic; however, it does not take into consideration the fact that we have among the highest rate of workers on minimum wage across the whole of Britain. The average salary in the South Lakes is just £24,928 while average house prices are over £250,000. We’ve gone someway to try and tackle this injustice with the

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Which four Liberal Democrat ministers have most improved their standings in 2011?

By Mark Pack | Published 28th December 2011 - 11:55 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. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.

Jeremy Browne, Vince Cable, Ed Davey and Lynne Featherstone are the four Liberal Democrat ministers to have significantly increased their standing in the eyes of party members over this year, according to the surveys of party members carried out by Liberal Democrat Voice four times in the year.

When asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with a range of party …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tim Farron MP writes: Sorry Dave, but you’re no Mrs. T…

By Tim Farron MP | Published 16th December 2011 - 2:00 pm

I have yet to watch Meryl Streep’s portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. I’m sure it will be fascinating, but I just fear that it might also be a bit too painful – I find it hard to divorce my views on the politics of that era from my memories of avoidable hardship experienced by the community I grew up in. Then again, perhaps I should try and get over my Thatcherphobia and view her record a bit more dispassionately. Where better to start than Mrs T’s record on Europe?

Sat behind me in Parliament, amongst the ranks of my valued coalition colleagues, …

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Opinion: Individuality on EU is the start of the Liberal Democrat recovery

By Callum Morton | Published 14th December 2011 - 8:55 am

Lib Dems would have winced when the news broke about Cameron’s EU veto, but it’s the biggest chance yet to express our party’s individuality.

Since the tuition fee rise and EMA’s abolition, I haven’t liked Nick Clegg. Although I agreed with the coalition being formed, I didn’t agree with the coalition negotiation team he chose. I haven’t agreed with a lot of what he’s done as leader. And I’ve sat grumbling about it for months. But over the past few days my respect for Nick has significantly improved.

Why? Well I’m starting to see something different from Nick and our party. I’m …

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Ed Davey: someone getting the messaging right

By Mark Pack | Published 29th November 2011 - 10:54 am

Having previously criticised other Liberal Democrat speech makers for having speeches which have positive things to say about the past but only gloom about the future, it is only fair to point out that there is one I have heard who does painting a picture of a positive liberal future well – Ed Davey.

I’ve heard Ed speak a handful of times now, but it was his latest speech that was the most striking in this regard as it was at a South West London Lib Dem fundraiser for Munira Wilson, just after Tim Farron had spoken. Tim’s …

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Tim Gordon appointed new Liberal Democrat Chief Executive

By The Voice | Published 28th November 2011 - 1:01 pm

Here’s the news from the party:

Tim Gordon brings to the role a lifetime of commitment to the Party, as a volunteer, campaigner and candidate, but also a strong commercial background and clearly demonstrated leadership qualities.

Tim Gordon has been a Party activist since his teens, when he first volunteered for the SDP “Yes to Unity” campaign, and has since campaigned in every major election. He stood as parliamentary candidate in Rotherham in 2005. He worked as a researcher for David Steel when he was Foreign Affairs spokesperson, and has been a member of several policy working groups over the years. He …

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Opinion: Why Liberal Youth is worth funding

By Tom Wood | Published 25th November 2011 - 4:53 pm

On Saturday morning the English Council will debate their budget for the year ahead which, for the first time in at least ten years, will not include a rebate for Liberal Youth membership.
 
The English party is the Youth party’s single largest source of funding. Immediately cutting off this funding with such short notice will leave our organisations unable to meet its most basic operating costs and permanently cripple our youth party.
 
I know, like everyone else, these are tough times financially for our party; however Liberal Youth performs a vital role for young people and for the party

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Posted in Op-eds, Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Opinion: What right do politicians have to decide rules on their own jobs?

By Phil Ling | Published 24th November 2011 - 2:25 pm

The party funding report by the Committee for Standards in Public Life was barely off the printers and politicians from all parties were saying they were broadly supportive, but more importantly could not back the main suggestion that state funding of political parties be increased.

Party funding will always be tough to square given the reliance of Labour on union money and the Conservatives (and increasingly the Liberal Democrats) on major donors. State funding is inevitable to reduce sleaze, real or inferred, and trust in politics. It only costs  the equivalent of a couple of first class stamps a year, …

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Clegg and Farron on party funding: yes to action now, no to more taxpayer contributions

By Stephen Tall | Published 23rd November 2011 - 6:20 am

Sir Christopher Kelly’s report for Parliament’s Committee on Standards in Public Life was published yesterday, Political Party Finance – Ending the big donor culture: you can read it and the evidence considered by the inquiry here.

Here are the main proposals:

  • A cap of £10,000-a-year on donations from any individual or organisation — including trade unions — to any political party with at least two MPs or two representatives at the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies. Trade union affiliation fees could be counted as a collection of small individual payments, but only if members are required to

    • …

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    Farron: There’s a steady awareness we’re an incredibly effective bar to “swivel-eyed” Tories

    By Paul Walter | Published 19th November 2011 - 10:25 am

    There’s an in-depth interview with LibDem party President Tim Farron on the Guardian website. Conducted by Andrew Sparrow, much of the dialogue is published verbatim.

    As we have come to expect, Tim is up-beat and, at times, outspoken.

    Some highlights from the interview are:

    -Tim Farron says Miliband is “ineffective” and that the Labour five-point plan is “absolute rubbish”.

    -He says we are picking up votes from the other parties, even from students, who have nowhere else to go in search of a progressive party.

    -”Swivel-eyed” right-wing Tories have been prevented from running the country by the LibDems.

    -The plan for elected police commissioners is …

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    Posted in News | 49 Comments

    Jake Holland writes: Connect is here to help you win

    By Jake Holland | Published 16th November 2011 - 3:25 pm

    All Liberal Democrat campaigners will agree that there’s no worse feeling at the end of a hard-fought election campaign than losing by a handful of votes.

    In the 2010 General Election, we were less than 1000 votes away from winning in 10 constituencies. Analysing these results, it was clear that our campaign technology had fallen behind the other two main parties. Tasks that our opponents took for granted, such as linking a campaign system directly to a website, or organising a nationwide volunteer phone bank, were beyond our capabilities.

    Connect is the cutting edge in campaign technology that will put us …

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    Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Also tagged , , | 6 Comments

    PMQs: Tim Farron asks “Question of the week” – Ed Balls signals four runs

    By Paul Walter | Published 4th November 2011 - 7:53 pm

    In my ever-earnest toil to prepare this review, this week I have been reviewing web sites which explain cricket umpire signals. I also checked the umpire signals for netball, American football and baseball.

    There is no doubt about it. Ed Balls was signalling a four at Prime Ministers’ Questions. His hand was a bit lower than normal, but it would pass to signal a boundary at Morley Cricket Club.

    For a change, I’m going to stand this review on its head this week and concentrate on questions from backbenchers, starting with Liberal Democrats.

    Question of the week came from Tim Farron:

    The world population

    …

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    Posted in Parliament, PMQs | Also tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

    Andrew Stunell MP writes: Lib Dems should welcome localist reforms of Council Tax

    By Andrew Stunell MP | Published 31st October 2011 - 4:23 pm

    Liberal Democrats have long called for reform to local government finance. No matter what alternative systems we’ve proposed, the key element has always been that the revenue was raised locally, and decisions about how to spend that money were taken locally. As you would expect of a Government with a Liberal Democrat influence, the Coalition is adopting that same approach. The consultation on the relocalisation of Business Rates has just ended, and today’s announcement by DCLG of the Technical Consultation on Council Tax contains a number of positive news stories for Liberal Democrats.

    Take second homes for instance. You …

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    Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , , | 17 Comments