Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace on 25 years of devolution

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 4th February 2026 - 8:36 am

Today is going to be a bit of a Jim Wallace Day here. There have been so many wonderful tributes to him from people in and beyond the Liberal Democrats, a testament to how loved he was and how important he was a figure in Scottish life, not just politics.

But we start with his own words, a speech he gave in 2025 to Scottish Conference, three days before the election was called, marking 25 yesrs of the Scottish Parliament:

Grateful for the invitation to speak. Fascination with anniversaries which end in a 5 or a 0. I once heard the late Rev Gilliesbuig Macmillan, Minister of St Giles Cathedral, say how often he was invited to preach at a 50th, 100th, 125th anniversary of a church congregation, but added that if he’d been invited to speak at 129th anniversary he’d have accepted by return.

But 25 years is as good as any to reflect on the Scottish Parliament – what Donald Dewar described as ‘a new voice in the land’ – its successes or where it has fallen short of our expectations; and what contribution our party has made during these 25 years – and indeed before 1999 in helping to create and shape the Parliament.

When I was thinking about this, three particular memories came to mind.

Firstly, as an 11 year old in my final year of primary school, I was fascinated by the 1966 General Election and used to wait outside the school gates to get the autographs of the candidates arriving for their election meetings. Recognising this political interest, my father decided to take me to a meeting. It was the Liberal candidate, Roy Semple’s eve of poll meeting. As I recall my father saying, “It will be safe, there won’t be many people there.”

One vivid memory of that evening was the learning of the Liberal Party’s commitment to a strong Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom. I thought it was a good idea then – and it still is today. 

Six years later, I joined the Scottish Liberal Party, having read Russell Johnston’s pamphlet ‘To be a Liberal’. And one of the real privileges of my life was to lead the party I joined, aged 17, into the Scottish Parliament, which distinguished predecessors had campaigned for, and which we, as a party through the Constitutional Convention, had done so much to shape. And not only into Parliament, but into government too. 

I have another memory of sitting on the Terrace of the House of Commons in about 1997 or 98, being lobbied by those who sought implementation of the Scottish Law Commission’s Report on facilitating the legal procedures relating to adults who lacked the capacity to enter into legal transactions. The prospect of the Westminster Parliament finding the time to legislate for such an exclusively Scottish reform seemed remote; but within weeks of the Scottish Parliament obtaining its powers on 1st July 1999, I had the privilege of bringing in the Bill to advance such a reform.

And my third memory was walking with my daughters from the place of the old Parliament, adjourned in 1707, to the site, albeit temporary, of the new Parliament for the official opening by our late Queen Elizabeth. We had campaigned for a family friendly Parliament and many of us were determined that our children should accompany us to the opening. The Presiding Office, David Steel, was under pressure from the GOC Scotland not to have children in the procession as it could upset the careful timing of the event. My wife wrote an impassioned letter to David making the case for the inclusion of children As David Steel admitted to me, when under pressure from GOC Scotland, om the one hand, and Rosie Wallace on the other, there was only one possible outcome and our children processed with us.

At long last we had the Parliament for which Liberals and Liberal Democrats had campaigned for over a century. And as the Scottish Liberal Democrat who had the privilege of leading the party into that Parliament and then into government, I recognise how much we owe to people like Jo Grimond, Russell Johnston, David Steel, Johnny Bannerman and countless other stalwarts who kept the fire of Home Rule burning through some very difficult and unrewarding times.

But as time marches on, I often feel that we need to remind people why we campaigned for a Scottish Parliament within the United Kingdom. 

Just over ten years ago, as Advocate General for Scotland, I was invited to address a class of first year law students at Aberdeen University. Before going in, the head of the Law School took me aside and said, “Just to be aware. Most of your audience can’t remember a Scotland without a Scottish Parliament.” And that was ten years ago. We have a new generation of young Scots who take the Parliament’s existence for granted. 

We have a generation who may well be politically aware, but who have no memory of the time when if Westminster, if we were lucky, might deal with two exclusively Scottish Bills in a year. We were proud of our distinctive legal system, but conscious in these days that it was a distinctive legal system without a distinctive legislature. 

Let’s recall that the first Act of the Parliament plugged a legal loophole which had led to a man who’d pled guilty to killing a neighbour being released from the State Hospital. Most commentators agreed that Westminster couldn’t and wouldn’t have acted so expeditiously. 

And in the years which followed Liberal Democrats in government contributed to an overhaul of mental health legislation. We implemented Scottish Law Commission reports on the abolition of the feudal system, which England had done in 1290; and modernised the law relating to tenanted property. We gave communities the right to buy land and gave individuals the right to responsible access over land; we established National Parks; introduced free bus travel for older people, free eye and dental checks abolished tuition fees, and introduced free personal care for the elderly and proper proportional representation for local government elections.

Perhaps most significantly, particularly in public health terms, was the ban on smoking in public places. We blazed the trail and the rest of Britain followed.

Nor was the 1998 Act a static settlement. It is a home rule settlement which has shown itself to be flexible in meeting Scotland’s needs and opportunities from the early devolution of powers which allow Scottish Ministers to develop our renewable energy resources; through the subsequent transfer of powers which paved the way for renewing Scotland’s rail infrastructure and enacting a more liberal freedom of information regime. And the powers of the Parliament were further increased by the Scotland Acts of 2012 and 2016.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey’s message for LGBT History Month

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st February 2026 - 7:40 pm

It’s 1st February today so Ed Davey has written an article on the Lib Dem website in which he highlights this year’s theme, science and innovation and looks at the Lib Dems’ strong record in advancing the cause of LGBT+ rights.

He said:

This LGBT+ History Month we celebrate the contributions of LGBT+ people throughout history, reflect on the struggles they have faced and reaffirm our determination to make progress on equality.

LGBT+ people have always existed. From artists, activists and athletes to scientists, innovators and pioneers, they have helped shape our country and our world, even when their sexuality and stories were erased. This year’s theme, Science and Innovation, highlights the vital contributions LGBT+ people have made to fields from healthcare and engineering to environmental science and technology and reminds us that diverse voices have driven progress for everyone.

From Barbara Burford, a medical researcher who established NHS equality and diversity guidelines to Alan Turing, a mathematician who conceived modern computing and played a crucial part in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, to Robert Boyle, a founder of modern chemistry and the modern scientific method, history is littered with the contributions of LGBT+ scientists. However, this month also calls for honesty. For too long, science has been misused to pathologise and marginalise LGBT+ identities, causing real harm. Still today, many LGBT+ people face discrimination in healthcare, education, housing and employment, as well as being victims of hate crime and hostility. No one should be made to feel unsafe, invisible or lesser simply because of who they are.

The Liberal Democrats have a proud legacy of leading the fight for LGBTQ+ equality. From repealing Section 28 – the Conservatives’ law which prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” by local authorities – thanks to a clause moved by Ed Davey, to Lynne Featherstone’s tireless efforts to legalise same-sex marriage, and the former Liberal Democrat MP John Leech securing pardons for those unjustly criminalised for their sexuality, our party has always stood on the right side of history. That same commitment drives us today.

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Caron Lindsay

Jenni Lang replies to the Toast to the Lassies

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 1st February 2026 - 10:30 am

Yesterday, we brought you Charles Dundas’ Toast to the Lassies from the Edinburgh South Burns Supper.

The reply below comes from Scottish Party Convener Jenni Lang.

She mentions the “Naughty Table” which is a bit of a tradition started by me and a few friends about 15 years ago. We even brought our own sign to show where the most fun was to be had. Jim Wallace was doing the Immortal Memory that year and he started off saying “Ladies, gentleman, and, pretending to look at us disapprovingly, “the Table there.”

Jenni makes a lovely tribute to Jim, the man on all our minds last night. He was exactly the sort of person the world needs in abundance right now.

Enjoy:

Good Evening, and firstly, thank you so much to Charles for his kind words, and thank you to the SELD organisers and Faith for inviting me to make the reply on behalf of the lassies tonight, unexpectedly for the second year in a row! Here’s me thinking I was off the hook and allowed on the naughty table…but no!

It’s been quite the year since I last joined you, and frankly, the world feels significantly more fragile.

You look around at the carnage, at the chaos. And then you look at the global picture and wonder…..what’s missing?

The Women. The women are missing.

Remember the ‘Before Times’? The era of Angela Merkel, the world’s governess, who could stare down a dictator with nothing but a sensible blazer and a look of profound disappointment. She treated the G7 like a difficult parents’ evening.

Or Sanna Marin, a woman who could successfully navigate a Finnish winter, join NATO, and still find time to go to a party without the world ending. She proved that you can run a country with one hand and hold a glow-stick in the other, which is still infinitely more dignified than anything most male leaders do with an X account.

Or Jacinda Ardern, who managed to run a country, raise a child, and show basic human empathy all at the same time.

Since the women have stepped down, it’s like the adult supervision has left the building. We’ve traded ‘steady hands’ for ‘shaky egos,’ and ‘global stability’ for ‘whatever happens when a billionaire gets bored at 3:00 AM.’

Now, for those of you who were here last year, you may remember my fond reflections on the different species of Liberal Men I’ve encountered in the party over the last 25 years. The Liberal Gentlemen, like the wonderful Charles; the Policy Geeks; and the Super-Campaigners who can’t look at a letterbox without feeling an uncontrollable urge to shove a leaflet through it.

But let’s be honest….those are the ‘domesticated’ varieties.

It feels only right that we widen our scope this year to the Alpha Males currently roaming the global stage.

Over the years, I’ve realised that these male world leaders fall into a few distinct archetypes. Much like whisky regions, each has its own distinct aroma, its own fiery finish, and, in most cases, a very high probability of giving you a massive headache the next morning.

So I decided to highlight a few of note……let me know if any sound familiar…..
First, we have the Narcissist Billionaire…..the only man on earth who can look in a mirror and see a victim of radical leftist conspiracy looking back.

He is a man who has never met a ‘Fact’ that couldn’t be improved with a gold-leaf border and a bit of imagination.

This leader operates on the principle that success is measured entirely by the size of your skyscraper, the height of your hair, and the sheer, aggressive boldness of your font.

He runs a country the way he runs a golf course: loudly, expensively, and with the firm belief that ‘par’ is whatever he says it is. To him, ‘cheating’ is just another word for ‘winning,’ and ‘the Truth’ is something that happened to other, less successful people.

He believes diplomacy is best conducted via capital letters on social media, preferably at 3:00 AM, in a fever dream of AI-generated images showing him as a Roman Emperor or a muscle-bound Rambo.

In his world, Facts are optional extras, like the sunroof on a car. Advisors are purely decorative…like the salad that comes with a steak. And if something goes wrong, it is never his fault. It is the fault of the media, the judges, the deep state, or….as we know all too well in Scotland……. windfarms that are ‘killing all the birds’ making us poor, and ruining the view from his 9th hole.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have the European Technocrat.

This leader does not ‘rule’…..he administers. He doesn’t have a ‘base’; he has a ‘stakeholder group.’ And he doesn’t give speeches so much as he issues software updates for society.

He believes deeply in three things:

Committees.

Sub-committees to monitor those committees.

And a Bold Vision for 2047, pending consultation.

He will never shout, he will never boast, and he wouldn’t dream of threatening you. Instead, he will ‘express grave concern,’ commission a three-year feasibility study, and ‘harmonise a framework’ until everyone in the room falls asleep.

He has the unique ability to make a declaration of peace sound like instructions for assembling IKEA flatpack furniture. He doesn’t ‘seize power’; he ‘coordinates a multi-level, transitional regulatory alignment.’

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Caron Lindsay

A toast to the lassies!

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 31st January 2026 - 5:00 pm

One of the highlights of the Edinburgh Lib Dems social calendar is the South Edinburgh Burns Supper which I’ve been going to for probably 15 years now.

I have seen Alex Cole-Hamilton dressed as a mouse being chased by one time LDV contributor John Knox reciting the programme To a Mouse. I kid you not.

It’s always guaranteed to be a good night. If you are ever in Edinburgh, the food at Mortonhall Golf Club is brilliant and the bar prices are incredibly reasonable for a city venue.

I thought you might be interested in reading the Toast to the Lassies by Scottish Campaigns and Candidates Convener Charles Dundas and the reply, which I’ll post tomorrow, by Scottish Convener Jenni Lang.  There’s a lot of relevant political observation amidst the gentle roasting.

One person very much on all of our minds was Jim Wallace. I was relieved to be able to spend time with the Lib Dem family as we come to terms with his sudden loss. Everyone had so much love and admiration for him and there were few dry eyes in the house when Jenni Lang talked about him in her reply.

Anyway, enjoy Charles’ toast. His fears of imminent cancellation are premature, I feel.

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Caron Lindsay

Jim Wallace has died

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 29th January 2026 - 9:28 pm

I know that everyone reading this will be as shocked and sad as I am to hear of the terrible news that Jim Wallace, a giant of this Party, died today. We send our love to his wife Rosie, and his daughters Helen and Clare.

Jim’s death was announced by Alex Cole-Hamilton:

The Scottish Liberal Democrats today announce with great sadness the passing of Jim Wallace, Lord Wallace of Tankerness, former Deputy First Minister of Scotland and a towering figure of modern Scottish liberalism.

Jim Wallace was born in Dumfriesshire and educated at Annan Academy before attending Cambridge and Edinburgh universities. He was called to the bar in 1979, practising mainly in civil law cases, and became a QC in 1997.

Jim was elected to parliament in 1983 as MP for Orkney & Shetland, succeeding Jo Grimond, and held the seat for 18 years, earning a formidable reputation as a diligent constituency champion and a respected voice at Westminster. After becoming leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats in 1992, he led the party through the Scottish devolution referendum in 1997, having also been a member of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which created the blueprint for devolution and a Scottish Parliament.

Upon the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, Jim was elected as MSP for Orkney and became Deputy First Minister of Scotland, serving in government from 1999 to 2005. He became acting First Minister while Donald Dewar underwent heart surgery in April 2000, after Dewar’s death in October 2000 and again following the resignation of Henry McLeish in 2001.

He also held the roles of Minister for Justice and later Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, playing a central role in the early years of devolution and helping to shape Scotland’s modern political settlement. He also established a world-leading freedom of information regime.

He entered the House of Lords in 2007 as Lord Wallace of Tankerness, where he remained an authoritative and thoughtful contributor on constitutional, legal and Scottish affairs, including serving five years as Advocate General for Scotland.

Jim also served as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022.

Alex Cole-Hamilton, who worked for our MSPs in the Scottish Parliament when Jim was leader, said:

Jim Wallace was one of the architects of modern Scotland and one of the finest liberals our party has ever produced.

He believed deeply in devolution as a way to give people better services and more control over their own lives and he lived a life of public service right up until the end.

For me personally, he was a mainstay of support throughout my adult life. Even as he went into hospital for the final time, he was still sending me words of advice and I will always try to live up to the standards he set.

Throughout his career, Jim was widely respected across party lines for his integrity, calm judgement and deep belief in liberal values: fairness, the rule of law and respect for communities, no matter how remote.

Scotland is a better country because of Jim Wallace, and the Liberal Democrats are a better party because of his example.

Alistair Carmichael, Jim’s succsssor as MP for Orkney & Shetland, said:

Jim Wallace gave his adult life to serving the people of the Northern Isles, Scotland and the United Kingdom. His sudden and tragic death leaves a huge gap in public life. For those of us who knew him as a friend and for his family that gap is one that we shall struggle ever to fill.

In the world of politics, having people on whom you can truly depend is a rare and precious thing. For me, Jim was someone who was there through good times and bad and I am bereft at his passing. I shall miss his acute political analysis, his warm and occasionally waspish wit and, most of all, his easy company and friendship. He was never someone for whom I had to present a front.

My thoughts are with his wife Rosie, his daughters Helen and Clare, his mother and his brother Neil who I know are heartbroken at this moment. I hope that they may eventually take some comfort from the knowledge that the man that they loved in their family was loved by so many others too.

Liam McArthur, Jim’s successor as MSP for Orkney, said:

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Caron Lindsay

Orange throwing at the Federal Board? That’s new!

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 28th January 2026 - 4:40 pm

The new Federal Committees took office on 1st January and we always like to know what’s going on in them.

In the internal elections last year, Janey Little was elected, alongside Prue Bray and Hannah Kitching as one of the three directly elected members.

The Board had its first meeting recently and Janey took to Instagram to give us a flavour of what it was like.

I spent 10 years on the Federal Board and its predecessor, the Federal Executive, and not once can I remember any fruit being harmed in the pursuance of our Liberal Democrat values. The orange throwing ice-breaker sounds intriguing and fun, though I’m glad I never had to do it. My hand-eye co-ordination is, shall we say, sub-optimal. I’m just slightly disappointed that there is no video.

Enjoy Janey’s video below.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey on Kuenssberg: Lib Dems have a moral obligation to win

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 25th January 2026 - 12:55 pm

Ed Davey did his traditional start of year interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg this morning. The conversation started with Donald Trump backing down on his disgraceful comments about British troops in Afghanistan.

Ed said he was grateful to the King for his intervention but said that this didn’t change his view of Donald Trump who has supported Putin on Ukraine.

They moved on to discuss defence spending. Ed acknowledged that we do need to act.

Liberal Democrats have argued that we need to increase defence spending. We’ve called on the Government to issue war bonds. The Government hasn’t shown how to increase defence spending by the end of the decade.

We’re in a cold war type scenario.

We need to increase defence spending quickly.

There has to be a question on whether we can rely on the US. With Trump in the White House they are no longer a reliable ally.

Kuenssberg asked him how this would work? Was it Govt borrowing with a fancy name on it?

Ed said that  we should do this over two years and  cap it at £20 billion

Institutional investors and public would be able to buy these to give the  defence industry needs to know that the money is behind it to make plans.

So let’s just step away from the interview for a moment. This seems to be another example of a new policy being announced – a bit like the 7 day guarantee for GP appointments – without any sort of due process in the party. There have been plenty opportunities to talk about, to consult on such an idea internally. Given the amount of surprise I am picking up in the party about today’s announcement, I feel that this could have been handled better

It’s not necessarily a bad idea, but there are ways of ensuring that there is buy-in from the party before making an announcement like this. Then you avoid people feeling like they are being disrespected. There have been concerns about power being grabbed to the centre with no accountability for some time.

Back to the interview now, Ed said that there were other things we need to do on defence given the dramatic changes since the last election which requires a step change. He wants to see things like pushing the Joint Expeditionary Force further and faster and invite Canada to join it.

Kuenssberg asked him whether  we were avoiding a conversation on the amount we are spending on welfare and the NHS

Ed replied:

We are up for these conversations. We have talked about a digital services tax, a European rearmanent bank and we have called for cross party talks on how we get (defence spending) up to 3.5% beyond 2030.

Ed has been pretty bullish on his language on Trump, much more than Starmer has been. Kuenssberg asked him if he would be the same if  he were PM. Would he call him a bully and an international gangster

My language might be a bit more nuanced but my approach would be the same.

He highlighted areas where the UK Government could do more, such as rejoining the Customs Union.

How did Trump back down on Greenland? EU standing together with a bazooka of retaliatory measures.

Trump is so unpredictable. I really worry for America – he is doing huge damage to their economy and their world standing.

He was then challenged on our glacially improving poll ratings and the fact that we have only a third or so of the members of Reform and the Greens. – we have ten times the number of MPs but Green at 170,000 and Reform on 210,000. Ed pretty much said he didn’t care about either.

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Caron Lindsay

Party legend Vera Head dies at 97

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 21st January 2026 - 11:18 am

The sad news that party legend Vera Head had died came via Candy Piercy on Facebook:

Sad news. The redoubtable Vera Head died last week at the age of 97 after a long illness.

Long time campaigners and members of Lib Dem Women will remember her dedication to Women’s Rights and to getting women elected.

Vera taught me so much as an agent. And I still quote her in training sessions today.

When I was a Campaigns Officer in 1992 I asked Vera to agent Liz Lynne in Rochdale. I could not think of anyone else who would stand up to Cyril Smith and make sure Liz won her seat. And of course Vera delivered a famous victory.

Again in 1997 I asked Vera to be the agent for Jackie Ballard in Taunton. Again Vera pulled the campaign together and Jackie was elected. Another great win.

There are so many stories about Vera. We will put them all together soon. But to end on, until this May Vera was a councillor on Amershsm Town Council.

Still enjoying scaring the living daylights out of the local Tories as one of the oldest councillors in the country!

Oh, and scaring a few Lib Dems along the way too!

A fierce friend and a ferocious political adversary. And I suspect you are now giving St Peter a hard time about his organisation of Heaven!

Vera, we shall miss you. RIP.

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Caron Lindsay

Time for Lib Dems to stop using X/Twitter?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 11th January 2026 - 12:18 pm

Back in 2008 when I first joined, Twitter was a lifeline for me. I had Glandular Fever which knocked me out for months and it was incredibly isolating. But here was a community of people I could communicate with in real time, many of whom became friends in real life.

There was the Formula 1 crowd. My life was made when then Brawn driver Rubens Barrichello replied to me.

Of course there were the growing community of Lib Dems – and Jo Swinson was quickly recognised for her authentic use of the platform not just as a broadcast mechanism, but a means of engagement.

Back then, it was truly fun, though looking back, I can’t believe I did one of these things:

Where else, before you’ve even got out of bed in the morning can you:

discover that the Lib Dems have won a by election in St Austell and Newquay, where Tory PPC Caroline Righton recently smeared Liberal Democrat candidate Stephen Gilbert;

give Nadine Dorries some advice on how to tweet pictures from her Blackberry (not in the same league as my friend Sarah (@soggous) who recently helped Jenson Button’s girlfriend fix her Mac, mind you);

engage in intelligent discourse about the relative merits and demerits of Google Wave which included the phrase, from Charlotte Gore, “It’s collaborative, rich media, non-linear communications!”?

However, in recent years, it has become a much darker, more sinister place where dangerous misinformation and prejudice is spread with impunity.  This week, confirmation of a new low came.

From The Guardian:

The posts offer a new level of detail on how the images are generated and shared on X, with users coaching one another on prompts; suggesting iterations on Grok’s presentations of women in lingerie or swimsuits, or with areas of their body covered in semen; and asking Grok to remove outer clothing in replies to posts containing self-portraits by female users.

Among hundreds of posts identified by Nana Nwachukwu as direct, nonconsensual requests for Grok to remove or replace clothing, dozens reviewed by the Guardian show users posting pictures of women including celebrities, models, stock photos and women who are not public figures posing in snapshots.

While the platform later clarified it would limit this facility to paid users, this really is not enough. Think about it? You can abuse women’s privacy if you can afford to pay a relatively small sum per month.  That is not ok.

All this was too much for the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee who announced that it would be withdrawing from the site. The Committee’s vice chair, our own Christine Jardine has also left as reported in The Guardian:

Another, the Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine, said she was leaving the platform, calling the images generated by Grok “the last straw”.

Jardine said she had taken the view that X was a good way to communicate with constituents. “But I cannot in all conscience continue to use a platform which seems unwilling to act against this grossly offensive and abusive online behaviour towards women and girls,” she said.

In the past couple of days, Lib Dem MPs including Lee Dillon, Martin Wrigley, Tom Morrison, Vikki Slade, Caroline Voaden, Danny Chambers have said that they won’t be posting any more.

Our Mark Pack used a House of Lords question tochallenge the Government to reduce its use of X.

This is the first post in probably 15 years where my Twitter profile has not been linked to my profile on here. I have severely cut back on my Twitter use in recent years and hardly ever post, preferring Bluesky instead.Similarly, at Lib Dem Voice we have been winding down our use of X and preferring our Bluesky profile instead.

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Caron Lindsay

Why is Trump getting away with Venezuela strikes? Thank heavens Lib Dems are condemning him?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 3rd January 2026 - 3:35 pm

It’s not the done thing for the leader of a powerful country  to send his people in to arrest the leader of another country, regardless of how awful a human being he is and ship him and his wife back to said powerful country to face trial.

I am not an expert in international law, but this does not seem to follow any kind of due process.

One of the most depressing things about the first year of the second Trump presidency is that Trump and his officials have got away virtually unchecked with horrific abuses of process carried out by his administration particularly in the treatment of immigrants, whether they have documents or not.

Congress has been unwilling to hold him accountable for misuse of his presidential powers over tariffs.

And the international community has treated him with cloying obsequity in the hope of getting a few crumbs from his table.

This is by far the least of the administration’s outrages, but when its Vice President comes over here and attacks this country and European neighbours for suppressing freedom of speech and gets the hospitality of our Deputy PM rather than the riposte he deserves, it is a pretty sad state of affairs.

What Trump should have had from across the world today is a chorus of condemnation. What he’s had is some vapid word salad from Keir Starmer:

Asked if he condemned the US action, as a number of other UK politicians have, he told reporters he wanted to “establish facts” and speak to Trump first about the “fast moving situation”.

The EU’s top diplomat pulled her punches too, though at least she acknowledged the illegality. From the BBC:

The European Union’s top diplomat said the situation in Venezuela was being closely monitored.

Kaja Kallas said the EU had repeatedly stated that Maduro “lacks legitimacy” but defended a peaceful transition.

She said that “under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected”.

Ed Davey, on the other hand, has been a lot more robust:

Keir Starmer should condemn Trump’s illegal action in Venezuela.

Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate dictator, but unlawful attacks like this make us all less safe.

Trump is giving a green light to the likes of Putin and Xi to attack other countries with impunity.

Just imagine if Xi ordered his troops to arrest Lai Ching-te, the leader of Taiwan.

Or if Putin went in to Kyiv and nabbed Zelensky.

Other Lib Dem MPs have also commented.

Al Pinkerton said:

As if the recent US National Security Strategy wasn’t clear enough, today’s illegal invasion and kidnapping in Venezuela sends a stark signal to dictators everywhere: force works.

That is a lesson Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be only too happy to learn — and one for which we may all end up paying a very high price.

Make no mistake: Nicolás Maduro is a brutal and illegitimate leader. But that does not and cannot justify acting unilaterally, without allies, and outside international law.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems in the New Year Honours list

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 30th December 2025 - 8:20 pm

I’m just breaking into our festive break to offer our congratulations to the four Lib Dems honoured by the King in the New Year’s Honours.

Tilly McAuliffe, the Party Treasurer with the job of bringing the money in, gets a CBE for parliamentary and political service. I first met Tilly at Autumn conference in Glasgow either 12 or 13 years ago. She is bright, engaging and she gets things done and I’m thrilled to see her work recognised.

Peter Dunphy was a brilliant chair of the Federal Finance and Resources Committee when I was Scottish Party Treasurer. We worked together really well …

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Caron Lindsay

Scottish internal election results

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th December 2025 - 10:39 am

The federal and all the State parties have been having internal elections.

The Scottish Party announced its results on Friday with a brilliant mix of people being elected to office bearer roles and committees. Except the President – watch out for her, she’s bound to be trouble.

Returning Officer John Lawrie emailed all members:

President – Caron Lindsay
Convener – Jenni Lang
Policy Convener – Neil Casey
Conference Convener – Fraser Graham
Campaigns & Candidates Convener – Charles Dundas
Treasurer – Mike Gray
Executive Committee Members (12 Members) – Willie Wilson, Alan Reid, Jill Reilly, David Evans, Stephen Harte, Amanda Clark, Christine Murdoch, Greg Foster, Daniel O’Malley, Grant Toghill, Lauren Buchanan-Quigley, Jacquie Bell
Policy Committee Members (5 Members) – Sally Pattle, Andy Williamson, Amanda Clark, Jack Clark, Eloise Martin
Conference Committee Members (6 Members) – Paul McGarry, Mel Sullivan, Ross Stalker, Noah McGarry, Leo Dempster, Jacquie Bell
Federal Council (3 Members) – Stephen Harte, Fraser Graham, Christine Murdoch
A member of The Federal Policy Committee – Daniel O’Malley
A member of The Federal Conference Committee – Paul McGarry
A member of The Federal People Development Committee – Caron Lindsay

Congratulations to everyone elected and commiserations to everyone who didn’t make it this time.

We have our youngest committee member in Noah McGarry, who is 14 but wise beyond his years. He has been elected to Conference Committee after impressing so many conference go-ers with his speeches and supporting role to his Dad, Paul, the former Conference Convener. He wants to make Conference accessible and enjoyable for young people.

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Caron Lindsay

The Federal Election results are out!

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 3rd December 2025 - 4:09 pm

I am just quickly posting this now in between appointments and I will do some commentary later.

The Federal Returning Officer Crispin Allard sent this email out giving the results of the Federal Committee elections:

I can confirm that today we have completed the count for the internal federal elections, following an initial delay.

The results can be found below:

Federal Board:
Hannah Kitching; Janey Little; Prue Bray

Federal Board – Councillor Rep:
Lucy Nethsingha

Federal Council:
Adrain Hyyrylainen-Trett; Aiden Van de Weyer; April Preston; Candy Piercy; Caroline Leaver; Caron Lindsay; Charley Hasted; Dominic Martin; Donna Harris; Gareth Roberts; Hannah Perkin; Humaira Sanders; Janice Turner; Jenny Wilkinson; Keith Moffit; Rachel Barker; Richard Cole; Sarah Cheung Johnson; Simon McGrath; Teresa Cooper; Victor Chamberlain

Federal Council – Councillor Rep:
Sudhakar Achwal; Tim Pickstone; Thalia Marrington

Federal Policy Committee:
Abrial Jerram; Antony Hook; Duncan Brack; Katie Mansfield; Laura Gordon; Lucy Nethsingha; Martin Horwood; Mohsin Khan; Nick Harvey; Phil Bennion; Rebecca Jones; Richard Cole; Rosie Shimell; Simon McGrath; Zoe Hollowood

Federal Policy Committee – Councillor Rep:
Susan Juned; Thalia Marrington

Federal Conference Committee:
Alison Jenner; Callum Robertson; Chris Adams; Chris Maines; Eleanor Kelly; Gareth Epps; Jennie Rigg; Jess Brown-Fuller; Kath Pinnock; Nick da Costa; Sarah Teather; Shaffaq Mohammed

Federal International Relations Committee:
Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett; Allessandra Rossetti; Ann Keeling; David Chalmers; Eleanor Rylance; Hannah Bettsworth; Irina von Wiese; Khadija El Morabit

ALDE Delegation:
Chloe Hutchinson; Helen Belcher; Irina von Wiese; Jacqueline Bell; Phil Bennion; Rowan Fitton

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that, on 12 November, Josh Babarinde was elected as President, and Victoria Collins was elected as Vice President with responsibility for ethnic minorities.The Federal Returning Officer team extend our sincere thanks to all candidates for putting themselves forward, and to every member who engaged in the process and made their voice heard.

A few quick thoughts:

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Caron Lindsay

What are Lib Dems saying about the Budget?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 26th November 2025 - 8:27 am

I don’t know if you feel the same, but it seems to me that this is the longest run-up to a Budget that I can remember.  We’ve been talking about it forever. At times the Government’s communications around Rachel Reeves’ second budget have made the Omnishambles Budget of 2012 look competent.

First we were raising income tax rates then we weren’t, the Black Hole in the country’s finances has been of varying sizes and suddenly there now seems to be billions down the back of the sofa to stave off a break in the manifesto promise.

I don’t mind paying more tax. In fact, if I want decent public services and to tackle poverty,  I think a household on our income should be paying significantly more than we are. I really hope that our reaction to today’s announcements is more than “Aaaargh…..tax.”

So what do Lib Dems want to see from the Budget?

We’re looking for energy bills to be cut, cutting VAT for hospitality and getting a better deal with the European Union. We quite like the increase in the minimum wage, but we want to see more opportunities for businesses to grow as Treasury Spokesperson Daisy Cooper said:

Increasing the minimum wage is always welcome news for millions of low-paid workers but unless businesses are able to grow, there is a danger that this will result in fewer jobs being available overall.

The government must make people’s money go further by slashing energy bills, boosting our high streets with a cut to VAT for hospitality until 2027, and going for growth with a better deal with Europe.

We’ve opposed the two child benefit cap brought in by the Conservatives from the start so we should welcome its abolition.

After Lib Dem instigated research from the House of Commons Library showed that the costs of Brexit to the nation, namely a staggering £90 billion in tax revenue in 2024/25, Scottish spokesperson Susan Murray said:

The economy is at a standstill. Despite years of promises from the Conservatives and now Labour to kickstart growth and clamp down on crushing household bills, the British people are facing a cost-of-living permacrisis and yet more betrayals from those in charge.

The Government must not load struggling households or high streets with yet more tax rises to pay for its own mistakes. Rachel Reeves must take bold action to slash the cost of living, rescue our high streets, and start fixing the mess left by Brexit – by negotiating a new Customs Union with the EU, to grow our economy and bring in tens of billions for the Exchequer.

Anything else would be tantamount to a dereliction of duty.

Steve Darling, our DWP Spokesperson, has been talking about the impact of freezing tax thresholds on pensioners. I agree with him that we need to worry about those on the lowest incomes having to find extra money because they’ve been dragged into income tax.

This is a stealth tax bombshell that will hit pensioners hard, leaving those affected £800 a year worse off – and Labour is poised to make that nightmare even worse.

Rachel Reeves once called extending these tax thresholds a policy that would ‘hurt working people’. Now it’s clear she’s getting ready to copy the economic vandalism of the past.

The Chancellor must stand by her word, rule out an extension to this outrageous tax freeze at the Budget, and stop hammering pensioners who have already been left out in the cold by skyrocketing energy prices and the disastrous Winter Fuel Payment scandal.

According to a blog post from Independent Age for Equal Pay Day, many of  the poorest older people are women so it is improtant that we take an intersectional approach to this:

While poverty affects almost two million of all older people across the UK, older women are disproportionately impacted. Behind closed doors and on fixed incomes, hundreds of thousands of older women are finding it harder to make ends meet. The statistics are stark:

Poverty among older women is projected to rise from 20% in 2022 to 26% by 2040
Women aged 55 to 59 have 48% less private pension wealth than men in the same group
Older women too often face a future shaped not by rest and recognition, but by rising costs, shrinking incomes and a system they feel overlooks them. At Independent Age, we are determined to ensure that all older people in financial hardship receive better support which they are entitled to.

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Caron Lindsay

Internal elections update: the results edge closer as gender and LGBT quotas disapplied

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th November 2025 - 8:06 pm

The Lib Dems moved closer to being able to count our election results this afternoon.

In an email to candidates, party Chief Executive Mike Dixon said:

We have now received legal advice from a second King’s Counsel who specialises in election law and discrimination cases. We asked them to review the recent Federal Appeals Panel judgement about the internal elections and recommend how to proceed at a detailed operational level.

The KC advice is that in the light of the Supreme Court judgement and our Federal Appeals Panel judgement, we must suspend rule 2.5 and rule 2.6(c) in the Federal Constitution for these counts.

We will now arrange with our supplier for the count to take place as soon as possible. (The date will now depend on their team’s availability.)

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone for bearing with us through this process. It has been important that we get this right, both to ensure the results are fair and to protect the party from potential legal risks.

This outcome breaks my heart. I worked hard for years to argue for these quotas and helped put them together back in 2016 as I wrote recently.

They have helped make our party more diverse over the years and I want to see them continue. And I will be fighting alongside many colleagues in the party to ensure that the law is changed so that they can be reinstated.  It’s so infuriating that anti trans groups with the means to take legal action have forced this on us. They have harmed women and LGBT people and, perhaps, when we see the outcome of the elections, the diversity of our party.

LGBT+ Lib Dems issued a statement this evening saying:

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Caron Lindsay

Josh Babarinde asks The Question in Parliament

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 17th November 2025 - 7:31 pm

Every week Lib Dem MPs ask questions in Parliament, aiming to hold the Government to account.

But last week proved to be busier than usual for newly elected President Josh Babarinde.

He asked The Question of his partner Connor in the House of Commons chamber, with the permission of the Speaker and the help of fellow MP Jess Brown-Fuller. And our Earl Russell was on hand to take these beautiful photos.

We think Josh is the first MP to actually propose in the Chamber itself, though photos of that private moment can’t be published.

How cute is this?

Josh said on Twitter:

Last Thursday, I asked a very special question in Commons after official business had finished for the day – not to the Prime Minister, but to my partner Connor (on his birthday!)

…and his answer was YES! 🤩

We marked it with a photo just outside the chamber afterwards.

🙏Thank you to Mr Speaker
@CommonsSpeaker, his team, the Sergeant-at-arms, the doorkeepers, events team and all those who helped make this surprise happen.

And a huge thanks to one of my top pals, @JessBrownFuller, for being my wingwoman in helping me plan this and pull this off over the last few weeks and months!

Connor and I couldn’t be happier and we will never forget it 🙏

📸: Lib Dem member of the House of Lords (and pro photographer)
@EarlRussellLD – thank you John!

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Caron Lindsay

The presidential and vice presidential results are out…..

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th November 2025 - 11:45 am

As I said earlier, the party’s presidential and vice presidential elections have been counted.

Josh Babarinde and Victoria Collins have been elected as President and Vice President respectively.

The presidential result was as follows:

Josh Babarinde 3742   69%

Prue Bray 1698  31%

Turnout 9.1%

The vice presidential race was closer

Victoria Collins  2788 57%

Kamran Hussain 2102 43%

Turnout 8l2%

Congratulations to both Josh and Victoria who take up their new roles on 1st January. The President chairs the Federal Board and is there to be the voice of the members to the leadership. The Vice President is responsible for increasing diversity in the party.

All four candidates contributed to an illuminating, positive and interesting campaign.

After the count, Josh said:

I’m so grateful to Liberal Democrat members for electing me to serve as our next Party President.

With the traditional parties failing to stand up to Reform’s division, I’m fired up to help ensure our party is ready to be the last line of defence against them.

I’ll be working across the party to broaden our reach, apply my youth work experience to engaging young voters ahead of votes at 16, and get battle-ready for next May’s elections for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and councils and Mayors across England.

Ed Davey added:

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Caron Lindsay

Presidential and Vice Presidential counts to get underway at 10 am but all committee counts postponed

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 12th November 2025 - 9:33 am

Today the counts get under way for the federal internal elections.

Online voting ended at 2pm yesterday but the voting period was dominated by the changes to the diversity quotas announced the day before polling started on October 28th.

On that day, presidential candidate Prue Bray wrote that she was so angry she could barely type.

It is far from clear what the law is exactly at this point, but even if we are not compliant with it, the party should have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do this! If we give up without a fight, not only will we be letting trans and non-binary people down and violating one of the core values of the party, namely, our opposition to discrimination of any kind – we will also do ourselves immense damage. We will lose the trust of many of our LGBTQ+ members and voters and their allies. Some may choose to quit the party altogether. The stupidity of the way that this has been done, without any explanation to those involved, without any priming, without any expression of regret..! I am not sure whether I feel furious – or heartbroken.

Her fellow candidate Josh Babarinde said shortly thereafter that he stood with trans an non binary Lib Dems.

What has happened in the last 24 hours represents the mere tip of the iceberg of the kind of thing trans and non-binary people face when going about life day-to-day, never mind when putting their heads above the parapet to stand in elections to represent us.

We’ve got to do more to support our trans and non-binary candidates, and ensure they feel safe and valued making contributions to public life. I’ve already had discussions with trans and non binary members about what this practically needs to look like, and I’m fired up to continue these discussions and drive action accordingly, irrespective of the Presidential election.

Since then, there has been an extraordinary and brilliant display of joint working between Josh, Prue and the official diversity organisations within the party, LGBT+ Lib Dems, Lib Dem Women, Lib Dem Campaign for Racial Equality and the Lib Dem Disability Association. They met the KC who had provided the party with the legal advice which had kicked this all off on Friday and issued a detailed statement on Monday which we reported here.

At the same time, Lucas North, a candidate in the elections, challenged the Returning Officer’s decision at a Federal Appeals Panel hearing on Monday. The decision was published yesterday and found in Lucas’s favour. The 2 page decision is published in full below.

The Federal Returning Officer David Crowther announced his resignation this norning:

Following the decision by FAP I don’t believe my position as FRO is any longer tenable and so I have resigned with immediate effect.

I’d like to put on record my thanks to Rachel Minshull and Mike Dixon for their support and endless hard work that made the volunteer role at all possible.

David was in an impossible position. As a volunteer, going against the party’s legal advice would have been extremely risky. We should be grateful to him for his service in this role.

There will have to be a review of what happened because there is much to learn from this. It should be carried out in a spirit of transparency and humility and we should make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.

How we deal with the quotas going forward will need to be addressed too, but the willingness we have seen for all the key players to work together over the past few weeks is an extremely good sign.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Donna Harris leads Lambeth Council in rejecting committee seat for sex-charge councillor

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 5th November 2025 - 3:34 pm

Headshot of Cllr Donna HarrisWhen a review of Lambeth Council’s committee structure proposed putting a councillor who had been arrested  on charges of sexual assault, exposure and controlling and coercive behaviour on a committee that investigates wrongdoing, Lib Dem leader of the opposition Cllr Donna Harris was having none of it.

Donna, who is the chair of  Lib Dem Women, the official body in the Lib Dems representing women, led the efforts to get this stopped. For a week she tried, unsuccessfully, to block the move behind the scenes.

However, when the appointments came to Council recently, she spoke against them and they were ultimately rejected unanimously.

Donna said that the appointmentsent the wrong message to every woman who expects our public institutions to be safe and fair:

I stand here today not only as a councillor, but also as the national party’s Chair of Liberal Democrat Women.
And I must say — clearly and firmly — that what I’m about to raise cannot be ignored.

This must be addressed on behalf of women everywhere who expect their councils to act with integrity, accountability, and respect.

The proposal to offer the independent member a seat on the Investigating Committee is deeply concerning.
It sends entirely the wrong message — to residents, to council staff, and to every woman who expects our public institutions to be safe and fair.

The independent member has been charged by police and faces a pending court case.
I fully recognise, as we all must, that he is innocent until proven guilty.
But while those proceedings are ongoing, it is wholly inappropriate for him to be given a committee seat —
especially one responsible for investigating the conduct of others.

Over the past week I’ve tried everything to prevent this, putting forward constructive alternatives.

The administration may say the current position is lawful — but laws can and should change.

Let’s be clear: this is not about prejudice.

It’s about safeguarding — about protecting the reputation of this council, maintaining public confidence, and ensuring everyone who works in or visits the Town Hall feels safe and respected.

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Caron Lindsay

What is a liberal party for?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 2nd November 2025 - 4:04 pm

We’ve talked a lot about the changes the party has made to diversity quotas for the forthcoming presidential election this week. Presidential candidates Prue and Josh have had their say, as have Rebecca, Iain and Jack.

I have wanted to amplify other voices, but so many people have asked me for my view that I thought I’d give it to you too.

My heart is in a million pieces this weekend. To be fair, it’s been that way since the Supreme Court Judgement effectively ruined the lives of too many people I love for me to be silent on this issue. Ever.

Over the past four and a bit decades, I have seen on so many occasions the absolute joy that comes with being accepted as the person you are. When someone is recognised as the man or woman or person they have long known themselves to be, it is a real privilege to watch them become themselves rather than hide their true identity. To see them set free to live their best life as their true self, to live peaceably doing their own thing and not getting in anyone’s way.

That’s been the direction of travel for most of my adult life and I was proud that we lived in a country which was one of the best places in the world for trans people.

And then a fringe group, fuelled by £70,000 from a billionaire, were successful in winning their case at the Supreme Court in April, obtaining a judgement that in a very narrow set of circumstances, woman and man in the Equality Act had to be interpreted as this weird and according to doctors at the BMA “scientifically illiterate” definition of biological woman or man.

This judgement makes not one woman safer. In fact the amount of time we have spent talking about these issues over the past few years actively harmed woman’s safety, wellbeing, legal status and wellbeing because it has distracted from the real problems women face in every aspect of their daily lives. The judgement, does, however, make the lives of trans people extremely difficult. And not just trans people. Any woman who doesn’t satisfy narrow criteria on what a woman should look like is now likely to be challenged when doing something as basic as going to the toilet. It’s truly disgusting and demeaning and as liberals we should not stand for it.

What has rendered my heart into its broken state has been seeing the impact on those same people that I love. They are no less who they are, but they feel the weight of prejudice, they fear even the most mundane aspects of daily life. Nobody should be in that situation.

With a few notable exceptions, though, we’ve been silent. We’ve not stood up as we should have done for a marginalised group under fire. We’ve not told the human stories of those affected. We’ve not talked about how this is a dangerous distraction from the real issues facing women.

This, despite our Conference voting in massive numbers just 7 months ago, in favour of a policy paper that is fully in support of the right of trans people and all LGBT+ people to be who they are. Just six weeks ago, our Conference overwhelmingly for the second time against a constitutional amendment which would have required our trans and non binary colleagues to be counted as the sex they were assigned at birth.

I want to give you a bit of background on the quotas. I have spent most of my adult life banging my head against a brick wall trying to get this party to a place where it took women’s representation seriously. But then finally, about 10 years ago, in a windowless room in the party’s former HQ in Great George Street, we got a decent way forward, after much wrangling. I found myself in a room with constitutional wonks like Mark Pack, Jeremy Hargreaves and Jon Ball and we came up with a workable framework for ensuring better and more balanced representation for a number of under-represented groups. The gender quota has also been used on occasion to increase the number of men on a committee when more than 60% of women have been elected. I don’t love that so much because, to be honest, women have been under-represented for so long that we could literally have every place on every committee for the next 2000 years and still not redress the historical imbalance but that’s by the by. But we got these quotas in and I think that they have made a difference even when they have not needed to be used. Our federal committees are more diverse and that is a good thing.

I want these quotas to stay and be used for as long as it takes for there to be a world free of discrimination. But how would I feel about benefitting from their use when my trans and non binary siblings cannot without the indignity of being counted as who they are not.

And now this week, on the eve of ballots being issued, the party issued a statement instituting pretty much what Conference rejected. Did I say it was just 6 weeks ago?

The establishment line, from talking to many people about this in recent days, seems to be:

a) we have advice and we can’t do anything else or the anti-trans groups or individuals will sue us

b) we can’t do as the Scottish Greens have done (with great reluctance) and suspend our gender quota until the legal landscape is clearer for a justification that makes no sense to me.

My feelings on the points above:

a) Try harder. There is more than one legal view on this and we are very likely to get sued from the other perspective to. Our approach seems to be inconsistent with several other laws, including the Human Rights Act and GDPR as far as I can see. Of course I don’t want to see one penny of our members’ money going to anti-trans litigants but I feel like we could be doing a lot more to build a successful challenge.

b) But Conference emphatically rejected the changes announced last week so surely there is no authority to impose them. And any pushback on how the Scottish Greens can do this and we can’t just gets meaningless word salad in return.

c) The communications around this would make an omnishambles look competent and have been woefully inadequate. The initial announcement was slipped out on our internal elections website without candidates being alerted. Not only that, but we should have had a clear statement that this was horrific and that we wanted to see clear changes in the law to ensure that everyone’s rights were respected.

While I am sure that the email sent to candidates late on Friday was well-meaning, it spectacularly failed to show any understanding of how people are actually feeling. It was described to me by one frustrated person thus:

As you’ll notice, we’ve been forced to stand on your fingers as you dangle from the edge of a cliff. We hope you’re not affected by this, but if you are, here’s a helpline where you can access our leaflet, “Dealing with Gravity”. We hope this will be comforting as you plummet hundreds of feet. Have a great weekend!

d) Acquiescing to this is not an isolated incident. We have been consistently throwing the people our preamble requires us to speak for under the bus in this ill-thought through exclusive pursuit of soft Tory voters.

Which is doubly stupid as soft Tory voters are likely to be socially liberal and horrified at what is happening on many levels.

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Caron Lindsay

Ed Davey invites “one nation” Tories to join Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 8th October 2025 - 3:00 pm

As Kemi Badenoch frightened a lot of progressive horses with her plans to get rid of the Climate Change Act, leave the European Convention on Human Rights, put the Human Rights Act on a bonfire and be even more vile to asylum seekers and immigrants, Ed Davey invited “one nation” Conservatives to join the Liberal Democrats.

Certainly a lot of moderate Conservatives will be disgusted with Robert Jenrick’s full mask-off racism and his attack on the judiciary.

In an open letter to those who feel that the Conservative Party has speeded away from them, he said:

Dear friends,

Our country is at a crossroads.

The Conservative Party under Kemi Badenoch is becoming more extreme and out of touch, chasing Nigel Farage instead of focusing on the issues that really matter to people. Meanwhile, Reform UK is growing in strength – threatening the tolerant, decent values that hold our communities together.

I know many One Nation Conservatives are deeply concerned about the lurch to the hard right in our country and under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership. Her plans to tear up the Climate Change Act and withdraw from the ECHR show she is abandoning traditional British values of tolerance, decency and the rule of law.

So my message to the millions of One Nation Conservatives who feel let down by their party and reject the divisive politics of Badenoch and Farage is to come and join us. Help us save our country and defend the values we all hold dear.

We will stand strong where others back down. We will not pander to Reform. We will fight to protect our environment, stand up for decency and the rule of law, and stop Trump’s America from becoming Farage’s Britain.

So if you share those values, now is the time to join the Liberal Democrats.

With best wishes,

Ed Davey

The party has also put a poster van near the Conference venue in Manchester.

It is perfectly understandable that he should make this sort of plea during the Conservative Conference. I think that we do need to be a bit cautious about the strategy though.  We need to be careful that the people in or who vote for other parties don’t hear from this messaging that we are a one nation small c conservative party. Because we are not. Nor will we ever be.

We don’t want to stick to the status quo, we want to reform just about everything about how our government operates.

We need to make sure that we emphasise that everyone who believes in the freedom of all to be who they are, human rights, civil liberties saving the planet and reforming the immigration and asylum system to make it decent and humane is welcome in the Liberal Democrats.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems react to shocking Police revelations

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 4th October 2025 - 11:22 am

You want to trust the Police. You want to feel like they have your back if you need them. You want to know that if you or anyone you love found themselves on the wrong side of the law, they would be treated fairly and humanely.

You would hope that in a relatively liberal democracy a quarter away through the 21st century all of the above would be a given.

And then Wednesday’s Panorama comes along highlighting yet another utterly toxic culture in a Police station. And of course racism and misogyny features highly.

Some horrific examples of behaviour from the BBC:

  • Sgt Joe McIlvenny, an officer with nearly 20 years’ service in the Met, who was dismissive about a pregnant woman’s allegations of rape and domestic violence, after a colleague raised concerns about the decision to release the accused man on bail. He replied: “That’s what she says.”

  • PC Martin Borg, who enthusiastically described how he saw another officer, Sgt Steve Stamp, stomp on a suspect’s leg. PC Borg laughed when he described how he had offered to make a statement saying the suspect had tried to kick the sergeant first. It was unclear from CCTV footage if the claim was true.

  • PC Phil Neilson, who told our reporter in the pub that a detainee who had overstayed his visa should have “a bullet through his head” and “ones that shag, rape women, you’d do the cock and let them bleed out”.

Senior Lib Dems have reacted to the shocking footage.

London AM Hina Bokhari gave her thoughts on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hina Bokhari OBE AM (@hinabokharild)

She and fellow AM Gareth Roberts called on the Mayor to show some leadership in dealing with these revelations, saying:

The Met Police is broken and the culture of prejudice and abuse within its ranks continues to put vulnerable Londoners at risk.

They called on Sadiq to take concrete action to lead real reform.

Lib Dem Women Chair and Lambeth Councillor Donna Harris said:

The suspension of Met officers over alleged abuse and extremist sympathies shows why our ⁦@LibDemWomen amendment at conference was so vital — policing must be transparent, accountable, and free from prejudice if it is to earn public trust.

That amendment called for three things:

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Caron Lindsay

What does Ed Davey’s reshuffle tell us?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 1st October 2025 - 3:00 pm

Yesterday Ed Davey reshuffled his top team ahead of the new parliamentary term and added 5 new roles meaning that 38 out of our 72 MPs now have spokesperson roles.

There aren’t very many huge surprises. Probably the biggest is the replacement of former Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council leader Vikki Slade as housing, communities and local government spokesperson. She was a champion for local government and had experience of handling massive budgets and delivering services and it is hard to understand why she has found herself as a backbench MP. She is replaced at local government by Zoe Franklin, also a former Councillor and ALDC staff member. Gideon Amos, who was housing and planning spokesperson takes the Housing and Communities brief.

Lisa Smart leaves her Home Office brief for something a lot more strategic and wide-ranging. She’ll be shadowing Darren Jones as First Secretary of State. She is a key part of Ed Davey’s inner circle.

She’s replaced at Home Affairs by old friend of this site Max Wilkinson, the MP for Cheltenham. It will be interesting to see how he handles the digital ID debate. While the party has come out unequivocally against Keir Starmer’s expensive and ineffective proposals, there are some who feel that it is possible to introduce a system like Estonia’s – and many others who see the inherent dangers in terms of impact on marginalised groups and civil liberties. And that’s before you get to the safety and competence of Government databases.

We also have Will Forster in a newly created immigration and asylum role and I am confident that he will be very good at articulating a solid, liberal position.

Lisa’s other role of Women and Equalities spokesperson, which she had held since Christine Jardine’s shock sacking in July, goes, surprisingly, to Marie Goldman. While the equality AOs are looking forward to working with her, many people had expected this role to go to NE Hampshire MP Alex Brewer, who is one of our representatives on the Women and Equalities Committee.

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dems on Starmer’s digital ID: Nope.

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 25th September 2025 - 8:07 pm

Keir Starmer is expected to announce a compulsory digital ID card for British citizens tomorrow. Thankfully, our Science and Technology spokesperson Victoria Collins has committed the party to opposing it. In a statement she said:

Liberal Democrats cannot support a mandatory digital ID where people are forced to turn over their private data just to go about their daily lives.

People shouldn’t be turned into criminals just because they can’t have a digital ID, or choose not to.

This will be especially worrying to millions of older people, people living in poverty and disabled people – who are more likely to be digitally

…

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s Conference Diary: Lobsters and an MP barking “at the f***ing tide”

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 21st September 2025 - 12:01 pm

The sun rises over Bournemouth PierIt’s 10 am on Sunday morning as I write this. I’ve already been to an 8am consultation session, of which more later.  So far my Conference has been everything I’ve wanted it to be – a wonderful catch-up with friends, meeting lots of new people and playing shops at the stalls with the enthusiasm of a 5 year old in a room full of lollipops.

I arrived from drizzly Scotland to the warm, sunny and temperate climes of the south coast on Friday morning. I had planned an afternoon on the beach but then remembered that there is a hop-on, hop-bus tour that goes from West Cliff Road. My friend came with me. We “hopped off” in the very chic Sandbanks, home to Harry Redknapp and a Rick Stein restaurant.

Jazz Café, SandbanksWe had the most delicious smoked salmon sandwich I have ever had in my life at the Jazz Cafe. Perfect sunshine, right next to a golden beach and lovely wine. What more could you want? Though the inevitable happened – Scottish person steps into the sunshine for 5 minutes and turns into a lobster. My nose will be peeling by Tuesday no doubt.

The bus tour is really interesting if you fancy a break from Conference and you can also get to Sandbanks on the 50 bus.

Saturday started with Vikki Slade MP and Cllr Millie Earl, her successor as leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council opening Conference.

The following report back session from Federal Conference Committee and Federal Policy Committee annoyed me slightly. There were many questions listed in Conference Extra but they only got to 2 of them. There could have been more time for answers if the Committee Chairs had spoken for less time. Something to think about for the future?

Then came the thing that I had been worrying most about. A constitutional amendment proposed by members of a fringe anti-trans group to limit the quota places in Federal Committee elections to what they refer to “biological” and women and erasing the provision for non binary people completely.

It’s worth mentioning that this motion only appeared on the agenda because it had to. Constitutional amendments have to be taken, even if they are dreadful. The Federal Conference Committee can simply reject policy motions that are inaccurate wrong, but they don’t have that power with constitutional amendments.

This fringe group  tried this once before, in York a couple of years ago. Conference voted overwhelmingly then to Move to Next Business, something that had happened only once before in living memory on a motion to give the leader a veto on policy voted for by Conference.

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s catch-up – a worrying week

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 14th September 2025 - 7:27 pm

There has been much this week to worry us. Israel continues to shock and horrify, not just in Gaza, worrying escalations of the Ukraine conflict in Ukraine itself and Poland make that whole situation more dangerous and yet more political murder in the US.

Yet we’re all talking about Peter Mandelson and whether the beleaguered Prime Minister can survive. If you’re not a political nerd, it all sounds as chaotic as, say, a Boris Johnson administration.

Obviously Mandelson should never have had that job in the first place and only found himself in the running because the Government thinks sucking up to Donald Trump is the  only way to limit the damage he inflicts, particularly in terms of trade. It should concentrate on building ties with European neighbours stop debasing itself and quietly stand firm against his excesses.  I doubt that rolling out the red carpet for someone as erratic as Trump will help us beyond the end of his State visit.

If he had left the previous ambassador in post, Keir Starmer would most likely not have so many  people in his own party questioning his position to the press.  Next year’s local elections are now being openly spoken about as a deadline for improvement.

He also now has a Deputy Leader election to worry about. Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell are unlikely to give us the drama of the 1981 Benn/Healey contest but it will give those in the party who are dissatisfied with him to send him a message.

I hope that as a party we are properly thinking about where we might realistically make gains from Labour in those critical local and national elections in May. We need to make sure we have both our feet on the ground when assessing these things but we will be in a position for the first time in 15 years to challenge them in some places and we need to take full advantage of it.

Charlie Kirk

Every right minded person will have been  horrified by Kirk’s murder this week and all our hearts go out to his wife and tiny children. Yes his views were terrible, yes he stoked fear and division but nobody deserves to die for expressing their views.

Yet the President does not condemn all such incidents equally. Where is the posthumous Medal of Freedom for murdered Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman? Flags were not flown at half mast when she and her husband were killed in June.

If any MP from any party had had a family member attacked in this country, I can’t imagine Keir Starmer being anything other than sympathetic and supportive. In the US, Donald Trump mocked Nancy Pelosi months after her husband Paul was brutally attacked in their own home.

What was needed was a call for calm, for respect, for people to express their differences robustly and peacefully. For the country’s leader to behave like a grown-up. No such luck. Trump tried to pin the blame on the left and stoked rather than tried to end the division.

It’s what he does and what he will continue to do while he uses the tools of the state to repress and intimidate.

All political activists will feel a bit more anxious now that political violence or the threat of it seems to be on the rise, particularly on the US but if those of us who want a fair, free and open society stop doing what we are doing, everything gets worse.

100,000 racists in London

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Caron Lindsay

Hina Bokhari challenges London Mayor’s decision to stop funding Southall Black Sisters

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 13th September 2025 - 11:55 am

This week Lib Dem AM Hina Bokhari has challenged Sadiq Khan’s inexplicable decision to cut funding for Southall Black Sisters. For nearly half a century, this organisation has been helping marginalised women, including those who are subject to the cruel “no access to public funds’ restrictions, flee gender based violence.

They Mayor has changed the funding model so that this vital organisation has had to struggle to find funding for the second half of the financial year and faces future problems.

The group protested the cut to their funding at City Hall on Thursday and Hina was there to support them.

Today Southall Black Sisters battled the tube strike to be there at City Hall when I asked the Mayor why their funding had been cut – putting the survival of their vital service in danger. Sadly, it was an incredibly disappointing response from Labour & Sadiq Khan. Here’s why⬇️

— Hina Bokhari OBE AM (@hinabokharild.bsky.social) September 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM

She has a petition on the London Lib Dems website where you can find out more about the background to this.

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Caron Lindsay

Max Wilkinson: Why is the BBC following Farage around like a lost puppy?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 10th September 2025 - 9:49 am

Our Culture and Media spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP, has written to the head of OfCom requesting that the BBC carries proportionate coverage of political parties.

It’s hardly surprising. We have 72 MPs, Reform have 5. Yet the BBC pumps out wall to wall Farage like he is some rock star. I thought Chris Mason knew better, but he wrote about the Reform conference with the excitement of a child in a sweetie shop next to a McDonalds. 

While Reform spit like sausages in a pan, our MPs get on and get stuff done – from Josh Babarinde getting the Government to agree to a specific offence of domestic abuse, to Roz Savage getting the Government to agree the principles of her Climate and Nature Bill, to Max himself getting renewable energy into every new home via his “sunshine bill.” Then there’s Christine Jardine achieving recognition and support for bereaved children. That’s just off the top of my head – four things that make a tangible difference for people and planet.

While these might not be as adrenaline pumping as the fire and brimstone Reform vomits over everyone they disapprove of, Lib Dems bring a lot more good in the world and get sod all recognition. That is not good enough. And it is not down to lack of trying on our part.

I’ve been critical of our core messaging being too timid and I stand by that. We do need to be more punchy in standing up to the racist mob.  But I also think that we are not being given our fair share of the media pie and that our public service broadcaster needs to do better.

In an email to party members, Max Wilkinson said that the BBC follows Farage around like a lost puppy:

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Caron Lindsay

Caron’s catch-up – What a week!

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 7th September 2025 - 3:30 pm

There’s been a lot going on this week. I mean not one, but two government resets, the second caused by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

I like Angela Rayner. She is funny, doesn’t mince her words and was one of the Labour Government’s best communicators. While there was no way she could stay after the ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus said she had broken the Ministerial Code, he delivered his verdict with “deep regret” saying:

I believe Ms Rayner has acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service.

I get that it was complicated and that she should have sought the advice. However,  I do wonder whether any person in her circumstances should have to pay extra tax because of circumstances which arose from making long term arrangements for her disabled child.  Should there not be exemptions in this sort of case? We shouldn’t be seeking to further penalise carers who are already giving so much.

I was also very impressed that Ed Davey did not join in mudslinging. On Wednesday he said:

I understand it is normally the role of opposition leaders to jump up and down and call for resignations – as we’ve seen plenty of from the Conservatives already.

Obviously if the ethics advisor says Angela Rayner has broken the rules, her position may well become untenable.

But as a parent of a disabled child, I know the thing my wife and I worry most about is our son’s care after we have gone, so I can completely understand and trust that the Deputy Prime Minister was thinking about the same thing here.

Perhaps now is a good time to talk about how we look after disabled people and how we can build a more caring country.

I am much more sympathetic to Angela Rayner than to any of the Tory ministers who clung on to office in unedifying circumstances, often with their Prime Minister’s backing.

I might not share her politics, but I think her heart is in the right place and I hope that some day we see her back on the front line.

Reshuffling the deckchairs

The ensuing Cabinet reshuffle had some interesting changes. Yvette Cooper may be relieved to escape the poisoned chalice of the Home Office, though having to deal with Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu is no picnic. David Lammy, as Deputy Prime Minister will still be able to have cosy fishing chats with US Vice President J D Vance, though he should make sure he has the right permit.

There is some consternation, I understand, amongst Scottish Labour members about the replacement of Ian Murray as Secretary of State for Scotland with Douglas Alexander. Ian was the only Scottish Labour MP between 2015 and 2017 and 2019 and 2024. He knows how to campaign and has built quite the fortress in his Edinburgh South constituency which he won despite a ferocious challenge from us  in 2010 by just 316 votes. He is well-liked and can’t really be blamed for the nosedive in popularity for the Labour Party north of the border. They made 36 gains in the UK General Election last year yet a More in Common poll this week forecast that they would lose 4 of their already low 22 seats.

Douglas Alexander is seen as a big hitter with the ability to at least limit the damage. He has a massive political brain but he can show some spectacular lapses. He was blamed for the appalling Better Together party political broadcast which gave even some of its strongest supporters what we call up here the “dry boak.” Those of you with long memories will understand what I meant when I called it “Rosie Barnes and the rabbit without the political intelligence.”

That same More in Common Poll is much better news for us, predicting that we could end up with 14 MSPs, an increase of 10. Yes it’s just one poll, but we are doing a massive amount of work on the ground, much more than at this stage in previous years. We are also, for the first time, asking for people’s votes on the list at an early stage.

We have wrestled with how to make the case for the list for a long time. We’ve over-complicated it so much. In fact, poor Alex Cole-Hamilton was the unfortunate staffer who had to turn some very complex messaging into graphics for the 2003 election. He did well with what he was given, but maybe we should have done then what we are doing now – simply asking people to vote for us.

Digital ID – really?

Lisa Smart, our Home Affairs spokesperson, wrote the most read article on LDV this week. She posed the question whether we should change our position on ID cards in this digital age. Our commenters weren’t so sure with several picking up on her saying that it could “help identify undocumented migrants.”

I am way more profligate with my data than I probably should be. A glance at my wallet on my phone will show loyalty cards for various supermarkets and hotel chains and booking sites.

I have chosen, maybe unwisely, to sacrifice my data for some convenience – and to spend less on my weekly shopping though I curse the loyalty card discounts. Why should I get £1.25 off my butter when the elderly person who wouldn’t know one end of a smartphone from the other wouldn’t?

Capitalism is all about various corporate entities pretending to serve you with various iterations of corporate bovine scatology.

Our relationship with the state is different. It exists to serve the people, not for it to control the people.

However nice and voluntary Lisa Smart’s scheme would be, imagine what that would mean in the hands of Farage. At a glance he would know where every gay, trans, non white or disabled person was.  I am sure you would agree that that is not ok.

It would be bad enough in the hands of authoritarian Labour. There is no way it would be voluntary for long.

We also must not use it as a pass to access our public services, particularly healthcare. We cannot turn our nurses and doctors in to government gatekeepers.

Back to school

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Caron Lindsay

Joint Young Liberals and Lib Dem Friends of Palestine statement on Gaza

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 29th August 2025 - 10:25 am

The Young Liberals and Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine released this statement following a debate on Gaza at the Young Liberals’ Conference last week.

Young Liberals set new a party precedent by calling out “Genocidal” Israeli activity in Gaza, and urge the UK government to take urgent steps to promote a just and lasting resolution.

Cambridge, 22nd August 2025 – At their Summer Conference 2025, the Young Liberals overwhelmingly passed a motion calling on the UK government to take urgent and concrete steps to confront Israel’s genocide in Gaza, end the illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, and support a just, secure and liberal future for both states. 

The motion highlights the immense suffering caused by Israel’s military assault on Gaza and deliberate blockade of humanitarian aid to the Strip. It notes the International Court of Justice’s January 2024 ruling that there are plausible grounds to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, condemns its refusal to comply with the binding measures ordered by the Court, and affirms that it is now right to plainly describe Israel’s actions as genocidal. The motion has fired a starting gun on a new conversation within the party regarding the use of the term genocide, only weeks before the national Annual Conference takes places in Bournemouth.

The motion warns that the failure to justly resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict has eroded democracy and civil society on both sides, leaving Palestinians and Israeli civilians trapped in cycles of violence and insecurity, and affirms that only a negotiated political settlement can deliver a just and lasting peace that respects the right to dignity, freedom and security for both peoples. 

The Young Liberals urged the UK Government to uphold international law and end its complicity by:

  • suspending all military and security cooperation with Israel;
  • banning all trade with illegal settlements;
  • prosecuting British citizens credibly accused of committing war crimes in Gaza; and
  • launching a public inquiry into UK involvement in the conflict.

The motion further calls for:

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