Author Archives: Andrew Chamberlain

Liberal Democrats should commit to abolition of all global borders

By Andrew Chamberlain | Tue 11th August 2015 - 10:25 am

The upcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union is both an opportunity and a threat for the Liberal Democrats. The party has an opportunity to define itself clearly as the most forward-thinking, internationalist force in British politics. However, if it fails to do this then it risks looking like an irrelevant, also-ran defender of the status quo.

The 2014 European election campaign shows the threat that the party faces. It was insufficient to simply argue that the European Union must be retained because it preserves jobs and helps our on-going effort to prevent climate change. If we want to galvanise support then we have to offer a vision of the future, not simply a defence of the present.

Similarly, the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum ended up creating the impression in far too many voters’ minds that the Liberal Democrats and the other unionist parties were simply interested in defending the UK as it exists now. That vote might have been won, but it was won in a fashion that did the victorious parties no good at all in Scotland.

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged eu and international | 60 Comments

Opinion: “Orange Bookers” are the boldest thinkers in the party. They need also to be the most progressive

By Andrew Chamberlain | Wed 25th June 2014 - 11:44 am

“No return to soggy socialism” was the message that David Laws chose to end his keynote address to Centre Forum’s Orange Book Ten Years On conference yesterday.

It’s a message that is bound to antagonise people in the party who define themselves in opposition to the Orange Book and its endorsement of liberal economics. However much Laws and his co-editor Paul Marshall emphasised that their support for economic liberalism was predicated on the belief that it would promote progressive ends there will still …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged centre forum orange book 10 years on, david laws, masjid nawaz and paul marshall | 55 Comments

Opinion: Could there be a “Tory SDP?”

By Andrew Chamberlain | Wed 22nd May 2013 - 2:28 pm

The right of the Conservative party, who have protested so destructively over gay marriage, might do well to remind themselves that their party itself is a marriage and marriages sometimes split up.

The damage that has been done to the Tories’ standing in the country over this issue can be seen in the latest Survation poll that has UKIP on 22% of the vote. This is only two per cent behind the Conservatives and if repeated at the next general election would result in a loss of around a hundred Tory seats.

UKIP would be unlikely to elect more than one …

Posted in News | Tagged conservative party and ukip | 11 Comments