Liberals see the best in things. We celebrate diversity and nonconformity and if something isn’t working we try to fix it or we fight for reform.
Here, in full, is Alex Cole-Hamilton’s first speech as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. It was a belter that brought a tear to my eye. He started by talking about Maddy Planche, the young activist who introduced him. Another couple of decades and we might well be holding a big rally when she takes over the leadership.
Alex paid tribute to Willie Rennie’s 10 years of service, highlighting his achievements in getting more mental health support, expanding childcare and ensuring that disadvantaged kids get more money in school.
Then he set out the reasons Lib Dems offer new hope to Scotland. In a powerful section he invited people who shared our vision to come to us.
If you want a party that will fight the climate emergency with ferocity but without the baggage of nationalism, come with us.
If you want Scotland to make things again and capture the imagination of the world, through industry and innovation, come with us.
If you want to live in a country which offers the best education in the world, which values its carers and those they care for, then come with us.
If you want a party that stands for human rights at home and abroad. One which fights for the women fleeing Kabul and protects young people from gay conversion therapy, come with us.
If you are affected by the mental health emergency come with us.
If you are worried about state intrusion or big centralising government then come with us.
Come with us and I promise you, that Liberal Democrats in the villages and towns of Scotland will show you the meaning of the word hope once again.
"I can't hold President Biden to account in this house, but I can hold our own government to account.
I want to ask the PM, will he look our veterans and families of the fallen In the eye and tell them it was worth it now after his foreign policy catastrophe?"@EdwardJDaveypic.twitter.com/zVhs7QWy37
Ed Davey had a tough slot today, coming just after Tom Tugendhat’s powerful speech.
He did well, though. He laid bare Boris Johnson’s share of the responsibility for what had happened:
I cannot hold President Biden to account in this House, but I can hold our own Government to account. Our Prime Minister and his Cabinet cannot escape their culpability for this disaster—for both the mistaken decision to withdraw, and how the withdrawal has turned into such a catastrophe. From the Prime Minister’s self-evident lack of influence and clout in Washington, to his negligent inability, yet again, to master his brief
Ed Davey called for Parliament to be brought back from its Summer holidays to discuss the growing crisis in Afghanistan. His comments two days ago seem even more urgent now as the Taliban advance on Kabul in an entirely predictable consequence of the withdrawal of US and UK troops from the country.
I am not a fan of military action. There have been very few deployments of our troops I have been in favour of because we often seem to ultimately make things a lot worse. There have been a few exceptions to this, for humanitarian purposes, such as intervention in Kosovo, but it does take a lot to persuade me of the need for it.
On this occasion, our withdrawal before there is a strong enough political and physical infrastructure to bring stability, and a better life for the people has put the population in huge danger. Not only that, but the Taliban has form for stoking international terrorism so their presence makes the world less safe.
Joe Biden is in a difficult position. Surely he must know that Afghanistan and the world have become less safe because of the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw US forces, but he is basically worried of Trump in three years’ time if he sends them back in. The Trump administration’s peace agreement with the Taliban in February last year was a disgrace with no guarantees on human rights or even a mention of women’s rights. Subsequent talks aimed at finding a political settlement for Afghanistan between the Government and the Taliban had few women in the room.
A mischievous headline writer gave the impression that Alex Cole-Hamilton as new Scottish Lib Dem leader was prepared to work with the Tories to save the Union. That’s not quite what he said.
He was talking about offering something very different to the Boris and Nicola show:
If the choice boils down to Boris Johnson’s vision of the union versus Nicola Sturgeon’s of independence, then everyone loses. We don’t need to settle for that.
Scottish Liberal Democrats have never been satisfied with the union as it currently stands. Alex says that he is prepared to work with the Conservatives if they “recognise our union of nations is imperfect, is in need of reform and could do so much better.”
On Labour, he says that while we have much in common on issues of social justice, their instincts on things like ID cards mean that there are significant areas where we disagree. While he’s happy to work with them, we will pursue our distinctive liberal message.
Today is one of those days when it is amazing to be a Lib Dem.
Liberal Democrats sweep Highland Council by-elections in Caithness and Inverness https://t.co/3FWtECLzqB
— John O'Groat Journal & Caithness Courier (@GroatNews) August 13, 2021
We have two new Liberal Democrat Councillors in the Highlands, gaining seats from Independents in Wick and East Caithness and Inverness West.
The Wick result was particularly pleasant because our 2017 result saw us in 9th and last place with 172 votes. New candidate Jill Tilt topped the poll on first preferences by 35 votes today. I’m fairly certain we got at least that many people out to vote in our polling day Maraphone today.
Highland Council #byelection – Ward 3 results have been declared and Jill Tilt, Scottish Liberal Democrats has been elected pic.twitter.com/M2O78eryL6
On paper, Inverness was a better prospect as we already have a well loved local councillor in the ward, Alex Graham. I went canvassing there at the beginning of July when I was up on holiday and it felt promising. It was great to see the fantastic Colin Aitken become our youngest councillor in Scotland.
Highland Council #byelections – The declaration of results for Ward 13 will soon be announced
Thanks to the Liberal Democrats in coalition with Labour, we have STV for Council elections in Scotland, which means AV for by-elections. The SNP were ahead by 40 on first preferences, but Colin won it on transfers.
As the Olympic Games in Tokyo draw to a close and we look back on two weeks which has laid bare serious issues of wellbeing of athletes and blatant sexism in sport funding, as well as some brilliant performances in an incredible range of sports.
I hadn’t realised negotiating complicated climbing walls at speed was an internationally recognised sport but I swear I didn’t draw breath as I watched people take their lives in their hands.
And the cross country cycling was brutal with all sorts of obstacles thrown in the path of the riders.
I hadn’t been particularly invested in these Games but got drawn in.
Preparing to compete in the biggest of international sporting events is hard enough in the best of circumstances. Athletes have to endure crushing physical and mental pressures and make huge sacrifices. Behind every length in the swimming pool in an Olympic final are years, maybe decades of getting up at 5am to do a couple of hours in a pool before school and evening training. But the pandemic added an extra layer of complexity to their preparation with athletes having to lift weights in their gardens rather than the gym.
Because of the year’s delay to the 2020 Olympics, it’s just six months until the Olympic circus starts up again for the Winter Olympics. I may be petrified of snow and ice in all its forms if I have to walk on them, but I’m quite happy to watch people lie down on tea trays and speed down helter skelters at amazing speeds, or jump off a high ramp on skis.
The problem with this event is that it takes place in Beijing. Would our participation in these Games in the wake of the brutality of the Chinese Government towards the Uyghur Muslims be in any way appropriate?
Ed Davey thinks not. In February, he called for us to boycott the Games. From The Guardian:
Boris Johnson’s blatant avoidance of self isolation as a staffer who tested positive for Covid further undermines confidence in this Government.
I feel sorry for anyone who has to be around him over the next few days. He could pass a potentially deadly virus on to them or ultimately their vulnerable relatives. It is an anxious time for them.
The group were tested upon landing, and the official’s result was positive so they went into isolation. Some whose result came back negative were told to make their own way home, while others, including Johnson, finished the tour. The prime minister was then pictured meeting the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, and the Conservative MP Andrew Bowie.
Johnson and several members of the No 10 contingent are not isolating – but a government source said “the whole lot should be”. The Downing Street spokesperson also refused to say if he had been tested since the positive case was discovered.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, also called on Johnson to confirm he had not been asked to isolate again. Referring to the excuse Dominic Cummings used for breaking lockdown rules last spring, Davey said of the prime minister: “If it turns out he has scorned his own government’s policy on self-isolation again, the public reaction will be Barnard Castle on steroids.”
This is the second time in 3 weeks that the PM has tried to get away with not isolating after being in contact with someone who has tested positive. It’s not acceptable. If anyone becomes ill as a result of his behaviour, then he will have to take responsibility.
This comes close on the heels of the story about Alok Sharma, our climate change minister, dotting back and forth around red list countries and not quarantining despite being in risky situations of indoor mixing.
The idea of the Taliban getting closer to power in Afghanistan is very worrying indeed. That it comes at a time when we are withdrawing troops and slashing foreign aid by 78% shows astonishing irresponsibility on behalf of our government.
You can’t just walk away and leave people in the lurch as we are doing.
Ed Davey has spoken of his concerns about the advance of the Taliban:
As the Taliban take swathes of territory on their advance towards Kabul, millions of women and girls are facing the prospect of a new era of injustice, inequality and brutality – while the
Today’s Daily Record reports that a Scottish nursery refused three separate applications for children with names that might indicate they were from a minority ethnic background while simultaneously offering places to children who appeared to be from white backgrounds. The first of those was for the two year old daughter of Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and his wife Nadia. The Record subsequently conducted its own investigation.
After being contacted in July by Nadia, the Record made its own inquiries using fake names. Under Aqsa Akhtar we asked Mill on July 7 for any afternoons free for a three-year-old daughter Amira. Five days later after prompting, on July 12, Mill replied there was “no availability for a three-year-old” and in contrast to the non-ethnic cases there was no offer of a registration form, a tour of the nursery or an unprompted option of a waiting list.
That evening, we emailed under the name Susan Blake about a couple of afternoons at any point for Sophie, three. The next day, Mill sent a registration form and leaflet.
She said she wanted to see where Sophie “would fit in on our registers” and to “let you know of availability and arrange a suitable time for a show round for you”. This was in contrast to her statement the day before to Sara that there was resolutely “no availability for a three-year-old”.
On July 19, we asked for specific availability before filling in the registration form. Three days later, Mills apologised for a delay as she had not been in the office but said she could “accommodate any afternoon apart from a Friday”.
Humza said on Twitter:
I cannot tell you how angry I am. As a father all I want to do is protect my girls, yet aged 2 I believe my daughter has faced discrimination. If this had not happened to me I'm not sure I would have believed it could happen in 2021
He and Nadia have asked the Care Inspectorate to look into what has happened and establish if there is evidence of discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity or religion. The nursery denies this.
It got me thinking about what I would do if I had a child at that nursery. I wouldn’t feel comfortable about standing by and keeping silent. I would certainly ask the nursery what was going on and I would not be fobbed off with the really poor response they gave to the paper, which amounts to “we can’t be racist, we have Muslims here.”
It’s great to have local government by-elections back, especially when we have as good a night as we did last Thursday.
We have a really good chance of gaining two new councillors in the Highlands on August 12th.
Colin Aitken is hoping to gain the Inverness West seat from Independent and Jill Tilt is hoping to gain Wick and East Caithness, also from Independent.
Liberal Democrat councillors are currently in administration with the Labour and Independent groups in this vast council which stretches from the north coast to Skye , Lochaber and more than 50 miles south of Inverness.
It takes a good 2.5-3 hours to drive between the two wards, although the journey is much easier than it was when I used to do it frequently in the 80s.
Colin and Jill have been setting out what they want to achieve as Councillors for their areas.
40 covid updates to my community since March’20, on regulations that change constantly. In my last I got a date wrong and sent out a correcting email as soon as it was pointed out.
Yesterday, Scotland led the world in drug mortality (again) and yet my typo is your lead story? https://t.co/fmFdcbaQTy
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) July 31, 2021
Alex Cole-Hamilton has done a brilliant job of keeping his constituents informed about the constantly changing Covid restrictions over the past 17 months. As soon as things change, he sends out an email to his constituents to let them know.
In over 40 updates since March last year, there have been two typos. I am slightly miffed that they didn’t pick up the one last year when he referred to the Caronavirus. I mean what could the symptoms of that one be? A sudden obsession with Doctor Who and Eurovision?
He got a date wrong for the lifting of one aspect of the Covid restrictions in Scotland in his most recent bulletin. Someone pointed it out and he issued a correction in minutes. So far, so not very dramatic.
But Scotland’s nationalist newspaper, The National, never Alex’s biggest fan, decided to give this the full front page headline treatment. Clearly they see him as a threat.
It’s really bizarre when you consider that yesterday Scotland yet again a new high of drug-related deaths. We should all be talking about that and sharing ideas to sort this out. It’s not something that a newspaper that is little more than an SNP Government mouthpiece should relegate to a side story.
You always come away from a David Howarth speech with your brain fizzing with excitement. Our former MP for Cambridge did not disappoint tonight as he delivered the Social Liberal Forum’s Beveridge Lecture in a hybrid event hosted online and at the National Liberal Club. Our newest MP, Sarah Green, a former Director of the SLF, was in the Chair.
The theme for tonight’s talk was Liberal Equality – what should the liberal attitude be to equality.
He started out by pointing out that unequal societies are unhealthier and unhappier – even if you have above average income. The financial crash and the pandemic have hastened an already growing inequality.
He talked about the threat posed by the super rich to our democracy and liberal values.
He looked at how John Stuart Mill’s idea that “the best state of human nature” involves nobody being poor, nobody having the desire to be richer and nobody fearing that they could be thrust back into poverty.
He had some ideas about how we could break up concentrations of wealth and power – capping political donations, state funding political parties by giving citizens vouchers to spend on the party of their choice, capping the amount you could inherit. Before anyone in a blue wall seat has to lie down and grab the smelling salts, the amounts would be beyond the incomes of all but the ultra rich – the sort of amount it would take to buy a national newspaper.
Launching his leadership bid for the Scottish LibDems, @agcolehamilton says between the SNP and “Boris’ Brexiteer Conservatives”, Scotland is gripped by “a clash of nationalisms”. @LBC@LBCNews pic.twitter.com/okIdDcafuN
Lily Humphries is one of the Lib Dem team in the Scottish Parliament and the brains behind many of our scoops with her freedom of information requests.
She features in in today’s Guardian which reports that Lily discovered that the Queen had successfully lobbied Scottish Government ministers to get an exemption from a new law which “requires landowners to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy.”
That’s not bad for someone who owns as much land as Her Majesty does. As the Guardian reports:
Her lawyers secured the dispensation from Scotland’s government five months ago by exploiting an obscure parliamentary procedure known as Queen’s consent, which gives the monarch advance sight of legislation.
The arcane parliamentary mechanism has been borrowed from Westminster, where it has existed as a custom since the 1700s.
The article explains:
The new documents, uncovered by Lily Humphreys, a researcher for the Scottish Liberal Democrats using freedom of information laws, disclose how the monarch used her special access to Scottish legislation to intervene in the parliamentary process as recently as February.
Not only that, but the Government didn’t tell Parliament about this as Willie Rennie pointed out:
Alex Cole-Hamilton has tonight announced he is standing to be Scottish Lib Dem leader. The contest is taking place after Willie Rennie announced he was standing down two weeks ago.
Alex throwing his hat into the ring is the most surprising thing since the sun rose in the east this morning.
Our beloved former leader Sir Vince Cable took to a new right wing tv news channel last night to have a pint with Nigel Farage.
During that interview he basically said that we shouldn’t call the brutality that the Chinese authorities are inflicting on to the Uyghur population genocide. He said:
“The use of the word genocide is not right here. There is terrible human rights abuse in many countries of minorities and China is one of them and they have abused those minorities for sure but calling it genocide is hyping the language.”
I wonder if he would consider that Amnesty International were “hyping the language” in their report last month in which they described China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as “crimes against humanity.” Over 160 pages, they outlined horrific human rights abuses:
Agnes Callanard, Amnesty’s Secretary General said:
Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities face crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations that threaten to erase their religious and cultural identities.
“It should shock the conscience of humanity that massive numbers of people have been subjected to brainwashing, torture and other degrading treatment in internment camps, while millions more live in fear amid a vast surveillance apparatus.”
Tursunay Ziawudun, who fled Xinjiang after her release and is now in the US, said women were removed from the cells “every night” and raped by one or more masked Chinese men. She said she was tortured and later gang-raped on three occasions, each time by two or three men.
Earlier this year, the US Government described the treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide in its annual report on global human rights practices:
Genocide and crimes against humanity occurred during the year against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. These crimes were continuing and include: the arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians; forced sterilization, coerced abortions, and more restrictive application of China’s birth control policies; rape; torture of a large number of those arbitrarily detained; forced labor; and the imposition of draconian restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression, and freedom of movement.
With that sort of evidence, it’s not hard to see why Vince’s comments have provoked some controversy in the party, even from a senior MP.
Alistair Carmichael said on Twitter that while Vince was a long standing colleague whose views he valued, on this he was wrong:
Vince was a long standing colleague whose views I always valued, especially on the economy. But on this he is wrong. There is clear cut evidence of a genocide in Xinjiang Province and we cannot sit idly by while the Chinese government commits atrocities against the Uyghurs. https://t.co/OlZo31SxdH
— Alistair Carmichael MP (@amcarmichaelMP) July 27, 2021
Other members and party bodies criticised his comment too:
Suzanne Fletcher is one of the hardest working, humanitarian, compassionate people I have ever known. She has devoted her life improve living conditions for the poorest people with the least power.
Her local paper, the Darlington and Stockton Times, has done a wonderful profile of her as part of their series of features inspired by Middlesborugh Soroptimists’ list of outstanding local women.
Suzanne talked of her own experience of poor housing when she was small:
“We lived in an awful place, near the slag heaps,” says Suzanne. “It was difficult and dangerous as there was so much pollution in the air. Coal gas came up through the cellar, our plants died, as did my pet mouse, and the curtains rotted. My mother and father were both hardworking and did their best to keep everything clean, but when we complained the authorities didn’t listen. They considered our living conditions to be fine.
“The noise and swearing from the police cells at night kept us awake. My mother would prepare meals for the prisoners. They were sometimes sent back uneaten, but she was determined they would be treated with dignity.”
Willie Rennie has done two major interviews this weekend talking about his decision to stand aside as Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and his hopes for the future.
It is to be hoped that Mr Rennie remains active in public life. He has been a cheerful voice for a more decent politics and his brand of low-key, relaxed liberalism is more necessary than ever. After a summer running in the hills he should return to the fray, ready to play his part in building a bigger and better centre.
Willie spoke to Magnus Linklater for the paper (£) and talked about his hope that Labour and the Lib Dems would work more closely together to present a progressive, pro-UK alternative to the nationalism and populism of the SNP and Conservatives:
“I think working together with Labour on issues of common interest would be a good thing,” he said in an interview with The Times. “I wouldn’t run before we can walk. But build confidence between the parties and also amongst the electorate to show we’re getting our act together.”
This is about trying to show that for middle Scotland there is something better and stronger than the Conservatives or the SNP, that it’s got energy, it’s got momentum, it’s got ideas, and that’s the most important thing, so people know that if they vote for it, it will be worth it,” he added. “The actual mechanism is less important — it’s the energy behind it that matters.”
He talked about how much Scotland had changed in the past decade or so – and not for the better:
If you are hoping to be a Lib Dem Councillor next May, you really need to be a member of ALDC, the Association of Lib Dem Councillors and Campaigners. They have all the tools you need to win and you will be able to access all of them and attend their brilliant online training if you join.
They are having an online conference for members which includes their AGM on Saturday 4th September. There are sessions on things like how to win, how to make a difference in your community and local government in Europe.
ALDC Chief Executive Tim Pickstone said in an email to members:
After more than a decade in the role, Willie Rennie announced this evening that he is standing aside as leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Watch his statement here:
He leaves while he is still incredibly popular within the party – and the tributes he has received from outside it show how valued he is across politics.
When he took over in 2011, he inherited a party that had been given the hoofing of its life in the Scottish Parliament elections, reduced from 16 MSPs to just 5.
The small group he led had a big voice, though. Over the years, the Scottish Lib Dems have been the go-to people on issues like education and mental health. Willie’s dogged persistence, challenging Scottish Ministers week in and week out on issues like police centralisation, college places, mental health waiting times, childcare and free school meals shifted government policy on many occasions.
He stared wipeout in the eye in the Scottish Parliamentary elections of 2016. If you had told me we would emerge with 5 MSPs from that election after the disaster of 2015, I would not have dared to believe it. But he showed what he could do with a bright and optimistic campaign which include him launching the manifesto while running down a soft-play volcano and being interviewed on a slide. When his photocall at a city farm was overshadowed by two amorous pigs, journalists were given a packet of Percy Pigs each at the next big event.
His commitment to improving the party’s diversity saw him ensure that we had all women shortlists for both 2017 and 2021 elections, a gender balanced team of spokespeople and serious money invested in diversity projects in each year’s Scottish budget. He put his own neck on the line to get these measures approved by Conference. He needed a two thirds majority and he got it by basically ringing everyone who had registered and talking them round.
And he has travelled the length and breadth of the country so many times supporting candidates at every possible level of election. He’s encouraged people to stand who have now been elected. He has led campaigning with boundless energy, enthusiasm and a huge smile.
I am incredibly sad to see him go, but I can understand that after 10 years of unrelenting graft, he relishes the chance to do something a bit different. He’ll stay on as MSP for North East Fife, of course – but don’t expect him to stop speaking out on th issues he has championed.
And as a campaigner who has been responsible for many of the party’s successes over the past three decades, his skills in that direction will be in demand.
So what now?
The Scottish Executive will set a timetable for a leadership election in which any of the party’s other three MSPs will be eligible to stand.
But for now, let’s look at some of the lovely things people are saying about Willie:
When I heard that some schoolchildren in the UK are going to be asked to sing a song saying how great Britain is on Friday, to be honest, I thought someone was just having a laugh. Surely nobody could be so crass?
The Department for Education this week announced it would encourage schools to celebrate One Britain One Nation Day on 25 June.
Celebrations for the event include singing a song called the “OBON Day Anthem 2021”, which ends with the children repeatedly chanting, “Strong Britain, great nation”.
It also includes the chorus: “We are Britain and we have one dream, to unite all people in one great team.”
Yesterday Scottish Conference Convener Paul McGarry announced in an email to members that our online Autumn conference will take place online on 8th and 9th October.
So the key deadlines are:
Drafting advice: 16th July at noon
Constitutional amendments: 16th July at noon
Motions deadline: 12th August at noon
You can get your ticket here. And the first timer rate for Scottish members is but a mere pound.
Orkney’s Lib Dem MSP this week lodged a bill in Holyrood which would enable assisted dying in Scotland. This would enable terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have an assisted death.
This is a subject that is obviously emotive and needs to be handled with compassion and sensitivity. I can’t think of anyone better than Liam to do this.
He is very thoughtful and wise and will take concerns about the measure very seriously and try to address them as best he can.
I have been a supporter of assisted dying for a long time. I don’t feel that I can say to someone that they must endure unbearable suffering before their inevitable death if they don’t have to. I went to a Dignity in Dying event at the start of the Holyrood campaign where Prue Leith described how horrendous it was for her brother David who died in great pain because of a brain tumour. At that same event, sisters described the intolerable suffering which preceded their mum’s death from oesophageal cancer. I really think that people should be able to choose a more controlled, dignified death.
I do get, though, that we need to make sure that disabled people, who are already marginalised don’t feel even more so. Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy had this to say:
Who would have thought that we would have turned a a huge Conservative majority and to one of over 8000 for us?
I am sitting here blubbing like anything. My first thought went back to Murray Walker’s comment about having to stop because he had a lump in his throat when Damon Hill won the F1 world championship back in the day.
I am not just ecstatic that we have won the most audacious and spectacular by-election win for generations. I am thrilled to bits that Sarah, who is pretty much where I am on most issues, is going to be a brilliant addition to our parliamentary team.
The first of six council by-elections declaring tonight was a good start – a hold, albeit by a mere 6 votes in Somerset West and Taunton’s Old Cleeve and District
Great news from Somerset – Lib Dems HOLD Somerset West and Taunton Old Cleeve and District: Lib Dem Steve Griffith 500 44.9%
Conservative 494 44.3%
Independent 120 10.8%
And so close in Devon
So close. Mid Devon DC Upper Culm
Conservative 361 Lib Dem Sean Ritchie 346 Green 74 Labour 31 Conservative hold.
There should be another result from Tandridge but I can’t find it anywhere right now. We’ll update this post tomorrow with that, the Kent result and East Garioch (pronounced Geary) …
Every so often a by-election campaign comes along that will be remembered for generations. Orpington in the 60s, Edge Hill in the 70s, Hillhead in the 80s, Littleborough and Saddleworth in the 90s, Dunfermline in the 2000s, Eastleigh in the 2010s. Many of them came at critical moments for the party, maybe at times when we were a bit down in the dumps. And at those times the party comes together and runs a spirited and joyful campaign that everyone talks about for years afterwards.
Chesham and Amersham comes on top of, to be honest, unspectacular elections in Scotland, Wales and English Councils in May. It would be a massive ask to win it. This is true blue territory, after all. A year and a half ago, we got less than half the Tory vote, finishing in second place. In 2017, just 4 years ago, we got 13%. We need the sorts of swings we were getting in the 90s to win.
But we’ve given it our best efforts. We’ve run a good old fashioned Liberal Democrat by-election campaign at full pelt in the middle of a pandemic. I’ve seen so many comments about how the warmth of the welcome was matched by the efficiency of despatch with leaflets or canvassing pack.
I have loved every minute of this campaign.
From the doorstep conversations to the warm welcomes visiting local businesses and community groups.
Whatever happens tonight, people in Chesham and Amersham know they will no longer be taken for granted.
From as far apart as Edinburgh and Cornwall, activists flocked in their thousands to help Sarah Green’s campaign. It was clear that this was a campaign everybody wanted to be a part of. My tiny contribution was to help host the nightly maraphones, where people from Orkney to Cornwall made thousands of calls.
I was very touched that Simon Foster from Southampton dedicated 50% of his sterling contribution putting up stakeboards to me as I couldn’t get there. But the loveliest gesture was friends of Erlend Watson, our campaigning legend who has been a key and beloved presence at so many by-elections, taking his place in this campaign. Natasha Chapman and Olly Craven from Lincoln were Team Erlend. Erlend himself is recovering well from major surgery and we hope to see him back at a by-election or Conference before too long.
The positive feedback from voters was incredible. Phoning voters and asking them to put up stakeboards is far from my favourite sort of campaigning activity, yet I couldn’t believe how easy a sell it was.
The Tories have been doing all sorts of expectation management.
"They are shitting bricks" – a Tory local govt source on the mood in CCHQ over the Chesham and Amersham by-election today. Lib Dems quietly confident of scoring an upset in the safe seat.
Sometimes you can do every single thing right in a campaign and not get the result you deserve. Sarah Green and her campaign team richly deserve a victory. Let’s hope that they get it. She’s been a fantastic candidate – impressing voters on the doorsteps and motivating her army of helpers. One activist, bitten by a dog the other day, was very surprised that she took time out of her day to phone them and make sure they were ok.
In an email to members tonight, Ed Davey expressed his pride in the campaign we ran:
I was smiling a lot on Monday. On World Blood Donation Day, in the middle of Pride Month, the blood donation rules changed so that they were the same whatever your sexuality.
A decade ago, men who had ever had sex with men were completely banned from giving blood. The rules have been gradually relaxed since then but we now have a more equal system based on a level playing field.
This means that many gay and bisexual men can now give blood, whereas before we lost out on their donations.
— Euan Davidson 🔶🏳️🌈🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@euandavidson) June 14, 2021
Euan was involved with the then Liberal Youth Scotland’s Freshers campaign to end the blood ban in 2010. The year before, LYS had brought a motion to Scottish Conference calling for an evidence based, scientific approach to this issue.
They kept pushing on this. Euan and his co-President Hannah Bettsworth led a campaign on the issue when they were co-Presidents of LYS a few years later.
It made me really happy that their campaigning over years worked. These things are now decided on the basis of scientific evidence because people campaigned and took up the issue.
The Liberal Democrats have been working to bring this about for 15 years.
There is nowhere I would rather be at the moment than Chesham and Amersham. Well, maybe not doing what is becoming known as the “Mark Pack” delivery run which is apparently vertiginous, taking in both sides of a valley. Our party president tackled it the other day and other alumni include Kevin Lang, who was Wendy Chamberlain’s campaign manager.
A Lib Dem by-election campaign at full pelt with the prospect of a win is a thing of joy and you really, really want to be part of it.
One previous by-election victor is there:
Not just one, but two stakeboards in Chesham and Amersham. Conservative voters are turning to us – please help all you can to get @SarahGreenLD elected. pic.twitter.com/68ZHQcwRa2
— Jane Dodds AS/MS 🔶🏴 (@DoddsJane) June 11, 2021
People are heading there from all sorts of places. I know three people who are there from Edinburgh this weekend, on top of another three who have already visited.
Sadly, I can’t leave home at the moment, but I am spending time making calls and hosting some of the daily Maraphones. Last night, I was phoning people who had already been there, thanking them and asking them to go again. That was not the most difficult sell in the world and it was great to see people changing their plans and saying they’d jump on a train or a tube to go and help get Sarah Green elected.
It was particularly lovely that so many of them volunteered how impressed they had been with the campaign team. They loved the efficiency of the operation and the warmth of the welcome. It’s also clear that Sarah Green is an exceptional candidate. People who had been canvassing with her said how brilliant she was on the doorsteps.
Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds used her first question as a Member of the Senedd to the First Minister to demand action on ending violence against women and girls.
This comes at a time when Operation Encompass, an initiative set up to notify schools if domestic abuse has taken place in pupils’ homes, report that there has been a huge rise in Public Protection Notices to do with domestic abuse to 2254 from September 2020 to March 2021 compared to 1043 during the same period in the previous year. The impact of Covid-19 appears to be severe.
What actions, Jane asked, will the Welsh Government take to end violence against women and girls, particularly within black, Asian and minority ethnic communities?
After Mark Drakeford talked about an increase in funding that the Government had put in place, she followed up with:
Can I just follow that through with a focus on what’s been happening in this COVID time? We all know that there’s been a significant increase in the need for refuge places, in the need for services, and better, more focused responses to those women and children who are coming forward after these lockdown periods. I’m particularly interested to hear what issues and services will be targeted into rural areas, where we know that there are particular shortages of those effective responses and services.
When I first arrived back in Scotland in 2000, Matthew Clark worked in the Lib Dem staff pool in the Scottish Parliament, then deputy to a certain Willie Rennie. He went on to serve as a senior special adviser in those happy days of the Lib Dem/Labour coalition. Out of Government, he became Chief of Staff to the Lib Dem Group, a role he’s held since 2007.
He actually started out as a very young councillor in Southampton and he and Willie first met at the Christchurch by-election where Willie was the campaign manager and Matthew had the job of developing the railway survey. In 1993 he became, at he age of just 25, chair of the Hampshire Police Authority.
I can’t quite believe that I’m about to go to his leaving do. He’s decided that he’s going to retire – and, after 6 Scottish Parliament elections, 2 referendums, and 6 General elections, all of which he’s had a major role in producing our manifestos and messages for, he certainly deserves a break.
I’m struggling to imagine how the party will cope without him. They say nobody’s indispensable, but he might well be the exception that proves the rule. He knows pretty much everything there is to know about Scottish politics.
I just marvel at the way he brings so many disparate sources of information together and makes coherent messages out of them. He’s been a total powerhouse of policy, assisting on every major policy initiative and pulling together things like Menzies Campbell’s commission on Federalism, and its predecessor the Steel Commission back in the day.
John Hall Seventy percent of Gaza has been ethnically-cleansed on orders of the Zionist Israeli Government which is openly seeking to do the same with the other thirty pe...
Dr Ruvi ZIEGLER I am proud to be a member of Yachad's board and to fully endorse its statement.
https://yachad.org.uk/ukbansettlementrade/
As Jonathan notes, this organisatio...
paul barker Its good to see an MP standing but I don't see this Manifesto winning over many Young or Ethnic Minority Voters, it sounds to me to be aimed squarely at comfort...
Jonathan Brown I see former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert has come out in support of UK policy towards the settlers, agreeing that what the settlers are doing to Pales...
Pawel Urbanski Good on Sarah for doing this. Stepping forward for a London contest that will be fought hard between Labour and the Conservatives is exactly the kind of move we...
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
A website on Alec Guinness's two BBC series as George Smiley
Another ward becomes a Reform vs Lib Dem contest
Back to reality on datacentres
John Hall 
Dr Ruvi ZIEGLER 
paul barker 
Jonathan Brown 
Pawel Urbanski 