Author Archives: Caron Lindsay

Caron Lindsay

Save the Date: Monday 14th January, 7pm

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 12th January 2019 - 5:04 pm

On Monday night at 7pm, the party will release a new video. It promises to be something that grabs us in the gut and will make a powerful case for a People’s Vote. The trailer looks good.

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Caron Lindsay

Jo Swinson on Question Time: Brexit is a national embarrassment and we can stop it

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th January 2019 - 1:30 pm

It’s Jo Swinson’s first week back from parental leave and already she’s done more than most of us letter mortals do in a month.

We’ll have more of that first week over the weekend but for now I want to concentrate on her appearance on Question Time last night.

She was brilliant – clear and passionate, describing Brexit as a national embarrassment and showing how a People’s Vote could get us out of the mess we’re in. The programme came from Islington, her fellow panellist Emily Thornberry’s patch but Jo got way more applause than the Labour shadow foreign secretary did.

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Caron Lindsay

Christine Jardine presents bill to allow asylum seekers to work

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th January 2019 - 11:55 am

Yesterday, Christine Jardine presented a Bill which would allow asylum seekers to work after 3 months.

From The Guardian

Jardine’s asylum seekers (permission to work) bill, if passed into law, would allow asylum seekers to work after three months of lodging their claim.

It has the backing of the Lift the Ban coalition, which has published research showing asylum seekers blocked from working in the UK could make a net contribution of £42m to the economy if restrictive rules were lifted.

Jardine said: “Right now, banning the vast majority of asylum seekers from seeking employment costs the taxpayer millions in housing and support payments. It also forces people who have risked everything to come here to live on the very periphery of society.

“Being denied the right to work, and to put food on the table for you and your family, is cruel and undignified.

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Caron Lindsay

LibLink: Ming Campbell Tribute to Paddy Ashdown

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 11th January 2019 - 10:25 am

As Paddy’s funeral took place in his home village of Somerset, Politics Home published a fantastic tribute to our former leader by another former leader of the party, Ming Campbell. He described him as “unwaveringly loyal and generous” and said that they never feel out even when they disagreed:

The first serious political test of his leadership was the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in August 1990. Given his military experience, this was the perfect opportunity for him to display his leadership. There were party members in the Commons and Lords and in the country who were nervous about him giving support to the United Nations’ authorised effort to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait. But he brought together a small group of senior military figures and diplomats to advise himself and others speaking for the party. At the next Liberal Democrat conference, he got almost total support from his party

Paddy Ashdown’s close relationship with Tony Blair in the run-up to the 1997 General Election has been well documented and had Blair not won that election so comprehensively it might have produced the realignment of the left in British politics longed for by Jo Grimond, David Steel and the Gang of Four. He pursued the possibility of realignment with the same determination as in all things. When it did not come to pass, Paddy, who had by then been leader of the Liberal Democrats for 11 years, began to think of other things to do. When he stepped down he left a Parliamentary party of more than 40 MPs with a well-established and effective third-party role in parliament.

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Caron Lindsay

Layla: Who’s side is the PM on, Putin or the People’s

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 9th January 2019 - 8:10 pm

Layla Moran had a PMQ today and she rocked it.

She paid a generous tribute to Paddy Ashdown. When I watched it live, it seemed like people were saying “shame” to her. But there’s another story to that.

The main thrust of her question to Theresa May was about it becoming clearer that people wanted a People’s Vote on Brexit while Putin wanted her to get on with Brexit and who’s side was she on.

Watch:

Now, back to the heckling. 

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Caron Lindsay

No, the Liberal Democrats aren’t going to be absorbed by anyone. We have a job to do

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 8th January 2019 - 8:36 pm

Rachel Sylvester writes in the Times today (£) about the need for a realignment in politics. Her piece is pretty much a puff piece for Lovefilm founder, Simon Franks’ new vehicle, United for Change, which will apparently launch in the Spring. she makes an astonishing statement:

It’s too soon to say whether this will become the vehicle for the much needed reconfiguration but there is clearly an appetite for something different. Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former Downing Street chief of staff, is also co-ordinating discussions about a new political party. The Liberal Democrats have indicated that they would happily be absorbed into another party that shares their values.

Excuse me?

The Liberal Democrats have indicated that they would happily be absorbed into another party that shares their values.

Oh no, we bloody haven’t. Let’s be clear about that.

If any senior figure has said such a thing, then they have no right to do so. And they certainly can’t speak for our members who might have something to say about that.

The problem with these shiny new centre parties is obvious from a quick look at United for Change’s website:

Is there anything more vacuous than this:

BRITAIN IS GREAT, ITS POLITICS SHOULD BE TOO.

WE’RE BUILDING A PARTY PROUDLY BORN OUTSIDE OF WESTMINSTER.

Heavens. Donald Trump and Nigel Farage could sign up to something like that. What the hell do they stand for? The best thing I can say about it is that it didn’t put an apostrophe in the its.

The problem is that these sorts of centrist parties tend to be authoritarian in make-up and outlook. A member of such an organisation would have much less power than they would have as a member of the Liberal Democrats, where they could put forward ideas and vote on specific policy. Liberal Democrats are used to having much more say than I expect will be offered to supporters of United for Change.

Although note the similarities. Apparently UFC wants to sign up a whole load of supporters who will then get to vote for leader. Sound familiar?

My two biggest problems with our supporters’ scheme idea are that it’s a processy distraction from what we really need to be developing – our compelling and inspiring narrative of who we are and what we’re about and that it also distracts from the fact that we are a pretty open party that gives our members power.

UFC, from what I can see neither offers their members power nor has any compelling ideas. Two months before the SDP was formed, its four founders, Shirley Williams, David Owen, Roy Jenkins and Bill Rodgers, put out the Limehouse Declaration. It kicked some ass. 

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Caron Lindsay

Government defeat! Cross Party amendment requiring MPs to consent to no deal preparations passes

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 8th January 2019 - 7:21 pm

Yvette Cooper’s cross-party amendment which ensures that the Government would have to get the explicit consent of Parliament for no deal expenditure passed in Parliament tonight. This amendment was signed by Lib Dem, SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green MPs.

I always like that moment in the Commons when the tellers line up in front of the Speaker. Those on the right are on the winning side. And if it’s the opposition MPs, you know that the Government has been defeated.

The margin was just 7 votes. 303-296.

There’s a bit of a  health warning with this, though. This doesn’t indicate how the vote on the draft withdrawal deal will go. The Tory Brexiteers would have voted with the Government and they oppose the deal. People like Nicky Morgan voted with the opposition and she will be supporting the deal. And, of course, you’ll have Labour Brexiteers voting with the Government.

If it has use, it’s about building relationships and trust across parties, amongst individual MPs which may help later.

Tom Brake said the Government must now rule out no deal:

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #538

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 6th January 2019 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 538th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30 December 2018 – 5 January , 2019), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Caron Lindsay

Theresa May’s abuse of power is the real threat to an already strained democracy

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 6th January 2019 - 12:15 pm

How dare Theresa May suggest that rejecting her deal is damaging to democracy? How on earth did we get to a place where a Prime Minister  of a minority government pushes the country to the brink, forcing false choice between two unpalatable options that most people don’t want. Two massive polls, of 25000 and 20000 people respectively, for the People’s Vote campaign and Channel 4 suggest that people want to remain in the EU.

Proceeding with Brexit without reference to the people, surely, is much more damaging to democracy. Andrew Marr could have challenged her forcefully on this to her face this morning but yet again he gave her pretty much a free pass.

She needs to be challenged as to why she is pouring billions into no deal preparations, some of them farcical,  for an outcome nobody wants, when she could go back to the people and ask them to mark her homework. It would be cheaper and would put some legitimacy back into the process. It seems she is scared of an outcome which will split her party.

She has every reason to lead on this. She is safe from challenge from her party. She has already said she’s not going to fight the next election. Does she really want her legacy to be driving the country off a cliff? Let’s be clear, her deal damages the economy, makes us all poorer and creates uncertainty. Although she didn’t actually say that she would proceed with no deal when asked to several times by Marr. MPs need to make sure that that option is taken off the table in the coming weeks.

May cannot be allowed to argue that she is defending democracy when all the evidence suggests that both her deal and no deal are unwanted by the majority of people. She needs to be ridiculed for saying that, often and publicly.

Anything less than People’s Vote is an abuse of power by a minority government. That point needs to be driven home by journalists, commentators and MPs. We can’t stand by and just let May get away with this.

And while we’re on the subject, let’s look at some things which are much riskier for democracy than, you know, asking people their opinion on the biggest issue in living memory.

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Caron Lindsay

Biggest poll since EU Referendum says Labour will be punished if it enables Brexit

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 6th January 2019 - 10:42 am

Labour would crash to a worse defeat than it suffered under Michael Foot if the party enables Brexit, according to a huge new poll. YouGov surveyed a huge sample of 25000 people and the results show that the party risks losing millions of supporters in two scenarios under which it either votes through some form of compromise deal or fails to order MPs to oppose Brexit.

These findings are consistent with the Channel 4 poll in November which showed that a majority of its 20,000 sample backed Remain.

The fieldwork was done over the Christmas holidays and was completed on Friday, so this is about as fresh as you can get.

It is amazing that current voting intention shows only 34% support for Labour, the main opposition party, at a time when the government is driving us over a no deal cliff that could see shortages of food and medicine.

The poll suggests that Labour’s vote would crash to 26 per cent – and 16 points behind the Conservatives if its MPs vote with the Tories to bring about Brexit. That would bring about Labour’s worst result since the 1930s. Maybe that’s the real reason that Corbyn has gone cool on a motion of no confidence.

The YouGov poll shows a majority for Remain under any scenario in a new referendum on the deal vs remain and no deal. 

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: How Lib Dems are fighting airport injustice

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 5th January 2019 - 9:57 am

Did you know that a disproportionate number of those stopped and checked at airports were BAME people?

Did you know that if, as a result of those checks, they and their families missed their flight, there was no compensation?

Thanks to the Lib Dem Campaign for Racial Equality, this issue is now being given the attention it deserves.

Watch Dr Mohsin Khan outline the problem and explain what LDCRE has done to try and sort things out.

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Caron Lindsay

MP slams Government for failure to improve health services for trans people

By Caron Lindsay | Fri 4th January 2019 - 10:25 am

Maria Miller, the Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, has slammed the Government for failing to improve health services for transgender people. And there’s a particular Liberal Democrat dimension to this as senior Liberal Democrats actually helped to collect the evidence on this in the first place.

Ms Miller said yesterday that basic healthcare taken for granted by the general public is “out of reach” for trans people.

From The Independent:

The committee is due to publish a new report on the care of LGBT+ people in the coming weeks but Ms Miller has already warned services are “going backwards quickly” – with trans people among the worst affected.

“Many trans people simply don’t have access to the basic healthcare that the rest of us take for granted – things like cervical smears are often things that trans men are not able to access,” Ms Miller told the Press Association.Theresa May did commit to reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to remove intrusive red tape for those legally changing gender, and launched a £1m LGBT+ health and social care fund in November.

However, Ms Miller said the focus on legal reforms has “eclipsed” efforts to improve trans people’s experiences.

“As a result there has been a debate focusing in on things that really are not as important as making sure that trans people have access to public services, and the debate has been focused in on issues that are much less important to trans people’s lives,” she said.


And that Liberal Democrat dimension? Well, almost three years ago, Ms Miller’s Committee published a report  on transgender equality. A fair bit of the evidence for the health section of that report was gathered thanks to our Sarah Brown and Zoe O’Connell, who asked for it using #transdocfail on Twitter. Zoe wrote about it on her blog in 2013:

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Caron Lindsay

Liz Jarvis explains why she joined Lib Dems from Labour

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 3rd January 2019 - 4:19 pm

I’ve been talking to Liz Jarvis, who joined the Lib Dems from Labour in the Summer a bit on Twitter. Remarkably, out of 700,000 people, we found each other to have a brief conversation at the People’s Vote march in October. She’s written for the Independent Voices website about why she joined us.

She was pretty involved in the Labour Party as a student and voted Labour throughout her adult life. When the Liberal Democrats went into coalition with the Tories, any positive feelings she had towards our party evaporated and she continued to vote Labour. But along came Jeremy Corbyn:

I might have remained “soft” Labour but for the perfect storm of Jeremy Corbyn and Brexit. The latter is quite simply anathema to me, not just because I’m the granddaughter of immigrants, but because I believe so strongly in freedom of movement, and that the evidence backs up the overwhelming truth that we are better off in the EU than we can possibly be out of it.

The Momentum-propelled adulation of Jeremy Corbyn left me cold. I was also increasingly uneasy about the accusations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, and for the first time in my voting life I started to feel politically homeless.

Last summer I explained how I was feeling to a friend who had joined the Lib Dems, and he asked me why I was still supporting Labour. After a heated debate, the conclusion was tribalism. I had been clinging on to my political heritage and the promise of what might have been, had Blair not led Britain to war in Iraq, had Corbyn not become leader, had David Miliband stuck around or Ed not eaten that bacon sandwich.

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Caron Lindsay

Happy New Year, everybody!

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 1st January 2019 - 12:00 am

Happy New Year, everyone! Enjoy the Sydney fireworks which I’m posting because my friend Tom is out there at the moment and he sent me a photo of himself a while ago with the bridge in the background.

Eat, drink and have general fun in whichever way you like today because tomorrow (or Wednesday in Scotland since we have a much-needed extra bank holiday) we get on with stopping this Brexit nonsense.

Let’s hope that we can still say that we are citizens of the European Union at the end of this year.

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Caron Lindsay

Highlights of 2018

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 31st December 2018 - 8:15 pm

As you are inclined to do on Hogmanay, I was looking back at the year. 2018 was far from a great year but there were some fantastic moments. Here, in no particular order, are six of mine.

Gabriel in the Commons

 

One of my favourite moments was seeing young Gabriel Hames in the chamber of the House of Commons. Earlier, his mum, Jo Swinson, had taken part in the debate on proxy voting. A few weeks’ earlier, Tory Chairman Brandon Lewis reneged on a pairing arrangement with her on a key Brexit vote that the Government won by a handful of votes.

Jo’s speech was very candid about the realities of working with a young baby:

She also spoke about some of the appalling comments she got on Twitter after that, including the criticism that she had gone to the Trump demo for 45 minutes but couldn’t manage to vote in Parliament, something which would have meant hanging around for 5 hours.

Jo talked about the intricacies of establishing breastfeeding and how you need to concentrate on it during the early days. Her voice cracked with emotion as she talked about the difficulties she had establishing breastfeeding with her first son. I actually cried too as I remembered what it was like to be syringing expressed milk into my baby, 19 years on. She got there, though, with all the support that she needed.

She was also open about the realities of expressing milk several times a day. I think it’s fantastic that she posted a picture of her breast pump on Instagram the other day.

She talked about the need to have proper breastfeeding and expressing facilities for all nursing babies who work on the Parliamentary estate, recognising it was easier for her as she had her own office and control over her diary.

The People’s Vote March

It doesn’t get much better than being amongst 700,000 like minds on a beautiful hot Autumn day. As someone said at the time, marches like this are rarely on the wrong side of history.

It was an amazing atmosphere. Not far off three quarters of a million people peacefully and with great humour, coming together to make their point.

And there’s young Gabriel again.

Radical Kindness

Another highlight was the fringe meeting we held at Conference, trying to inject some kindness and warmth into a horrible atmosphere which developed in the media surrounding  rights of transgender people.

Barely a week goes by without some ill-informed attack on trans people or the charities supporting them. However, in an hour in Brighton, Emma Ritch from the Scottish feminist organisation Engender and James Morton from the Scottish Transgender Alliance talked about how the atmosphere was so much better in Scotland and how feminist and LGBT organisations worked together in an inclusive way. The meeting loved the concept of “radical kindness” which underpinned their dialogue. You can read all about the meeting here. 

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Caron Lindsay

2018 – a year of missed opportunity for the country and the Liberal Democrats

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 31st December 2018 - 6:30 pm

This year was the year when hugely dramatic things should have happened. Both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition should have gone. A referendum on the reality of Brexit, with an option to remain, should have been scheduled for early in the New Year and we should be celebrating a new feeling of hope and optimism as our politics changes for the better and starts delivering for the people who are really struggling and who have been let down by successive governments for decades.

Instead this was the year that media and the internet got very excited about Impending Drama, but that drama rarely delivered. Theresa May was supposed to be deposed in every season but she survived the post Chequers and post deal resignations. The greatest irony of the year has to be Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab resigning in protest at a deal he helped to negotiate.

The Liberal Democrats have had some electoral success with decent local election results and a net gain of 18 seats, more than any other party in by-elections. We’ve seen modest increases in our national polling and our leader is often the least unpopular. We would have hoped that as everyone came round to our way of thinking on Brexit, we might have reaped more of a dividend, but there hasn’t really been a national election to test that yet.

We should be doing better, though. We have diverted too much time and energy into developing a supporters’ scheme that we haven’t been able to capitalise on the thing that will get us the supporters and members in the first place – a strong message. We’ve done some good stuff on that with the new Demand Better strapline but we need to take it further. Our campaigns staff have excelled themselves with the Exit from Brexit campaign, too, but our overall story needs a lot more heart and soul in it. Paddy is so much in my thoughts at the moment, and I’m reminded of his very direct “Join us if you want to put an end to poverty and inequality” pitch. That is what we need.

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Caron Lindsay

How dare we treat our friends and neighbours like this?

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 30th December 2018 - 8:55 am

If you go to the shop and buy an iron, say, you expect it to work and for any manufacturer’s claims or guarantees to stand. You are entering into a contract that can’t be mucked around with. I should emphasise at this point that I would never buy an iron. The quality of my life improved immeasurably when I gave up ironing. But that’s beside the point.

You wouldn’t stand for the manufacturer contacting you a few weeks’ later telling you that you had to pay another £20 for the iron, or reducing the guarantee period.

Yet this is exactly what our government is doing to many people in this country.

Every time I see that Home Office tweet telling the 3 million EU citizens in this country that they will have to apply for settled status, I get angrier.

I am furious that my friends, my next door neighbours, the surgeons who saved my husband’s life two years ago, the nurses who looked after him and comforted him through a terrifying experience, my colleague and so many of my friends’ spouses or children are being put through this.

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Caron Lindsay

Why is everyone going to Peterborough?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 29th December 2018 - 10:55 am

There’s a lot of Lib Dems heading for Peterborough at the moment.

Mark Pack went there yesterday and I’ll overlook that he described himself as the Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice in his video about his trip. I’m not precious. Really.

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Caron Lindsay

Harborough Lib Dem Zuffar Haq and Dorchester’s Molly Rennie get MBE in New Years Honours

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 29th December 2018 - 8:42 am

Leicestershire Liberal Democrat candidate and health campaigner Zuffar Haq has been awarded an MBE in this year’s New Year’s Honours.

From Leicestershire Live:

“Another recipient of the MBE was Zuffar Haq, who was awarded for public and political service

Zuffar, of Oadby, is well-known as a campaigner who helped save the children’s heart unit at Glenfield Hospital. He has also stood for election for the Liberal Democrats in Parliamentary elections and runs a medical aid charity.

He said: “I am honoured, and humbled, to receive this award.

“Born and brought up in

…
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Caron Lindsay

Merry Christmas, Everyone

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 25th December 2018 - 12:01 am

We hope that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you are healthy and happy.

We are also thinking of those who have neither. This time of year without someone you love is pretty grim, especially if it is the first time you’ve been on that particular emotional rollercoaster.

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Caron Lindsay

Heartbreaking: Homelessness among children in Scotland rises 22% over 3 years

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd December 2018 - 1:55 pm

Homelessness can happen so easily. All it takes is for a landlord to decide to sell the home you have always lived in and you have nowhere to go.

If you are a child in temporary accommodation, your toys and all of your family’s furniture will be in storage. There will be no tree to put presents under.  

You could be in a bed and breakfast with all your family in one room with nothing to cook on. You could be in a cold, damp flat somewhere you don’t know.

You could be moved somewhere else at a moment’s notice.

You’ll be away from your friends.

Imagine what that does to your sense of security and wellbeing. It’s going to damage your health, both physical and mental and harm your development.

That’s hard enough at any time of year but at Christmas it’s devastating.

I’m furious that every year the number of children going through this goes up. We cannot stand for this. Both Scotland’s Governments should be ashamed of themselves

Every Christmas, the Scottish Lib Dems ask Scottish Ministers how many children are included in live homelessness applications. This year’s see yet another rise. 12,858 children are in some sort of temporary accommodation at this time. That’s about a fifth of the size of the town where I live and it’s a 22% rise on 2015’s figures.

Both Scotland’s governments really need to get on with ending this misery. The SNP has to stop making excuses and build more social housing and ensure councils have resources to fix poor housing. There are thousands of neglected and vacant properties across the country which, with the right incentives, could be renovated to boost the housing stock.

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Caron Lindsay

Remembering Paddy

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 23rd December 2018 - 10:25 am

I know that most of you reading this will be feeling the same as I am this morning – so incredibly sad that we have lost one of the best advocates for liberalism we have ever had.

Paddy Ashdown was brilliant – a mix of compelling persuasiveness, charm, wit, and the ability to be a total pain when the occasion demanded it. He stood up for the right things at the right times whether they were popular or not. The architect of the original Lib Dem Fightback will be so, so missed.

Back in 2014, after the Euro election results when the party was falling apart in agony, I found myself in the middle of the argument. Clegg loyalists didn’t think I was loyal enough, Clegg opponents called me every name under the sun for being too loyal to him.

I went on the Today programme in the aftermath of it all trying to spread calm and peace and light. Literally within seconds of getting off air, I had an email from Paddy telling me I was terrific and calm and sane and rational. It meant so much and was a real anchor point in the tumultuous and emotionally draining days that followed.

I’ve been alternating between tears and sad smiles for most of the last 14 or so hours since the news came through as I’ve read so many people’s reflections and memories on social media. That man was so loved.

The Lib Dem family remember him as someone who was utterly authentic, generous, hilarious and nearly everyone has a story to tell about how he inspired them, how he left them with a lesson to apply in their campaign, career or an essential life skill.

Sam Barratt, the Party’s Director of Communications, gave me permission to repeat here what he said on Facebook:

Having ‘done Paddy’s press’ since he adopted me as a point person in my first couple of days in the Lib Dem press office – an experience as terrifying as it was educational – I am heartbroken that we’ve lost him tonight.

He was someone who always had his eyes on the next mountain to conquer, a conspiratorial manner of taking people with him on that mission, and an unashamed passion for his principles and politics that too many liberals shy from.

There are too many memories to begin to recount, but standing on the rooftop at Millbank with him as he decried Cameron’s ‘bastards’ on the BBC Newschannel at 2 in the afternoon is a standout highlight. Accompanying him around Millbank after the 2015 election, and the 2016 referendum were a contrast – but to see how much he cared for what he fought for, and his immediate resolve and determination to overcome the setbacks on each of those occasions was inspiring.

He was an exception to the rule that you shouldn’t meet your heroes – and our whole liberal family will be far poorer without him.

The generous tributes made by political opponents and journalists,  from as unlikely sources as Nicholas Soames, Andrew Neil Nick Robinson and Tim Shipman highlight the high esteem in which he was held. John Major’s wonderful tribute actually made me cry. I mean, really, look at this lot:

And the Archbishop of Canterbury took time out of his evening to praise an “agent of reconciliation.”

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Caron Lindsay

Paddy and the Kooks

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd December 2018 - 11:05 pm

There will doubtless be so many personal tributes to Paddy. My Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of them.

There have been so many generous tributes from across politics. Nicholas Soames, for goodness sake, and Iain Dale and Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Paddy was known for not being tribal.

Back in the Summer of 2016, he was involved in setting up More United, a cross party group aimed at getting generous spirited, internationalist people with a social conscience elected. I was initially pretty sceptical and had some questions for them. Paddy was right back at me within 24 hours.

As it happened, the MPs elected with its support have done some darned good stuff, from getting funding for access to elections for disabled candidates to developing a more liberal consensus on immigration to campaigning to restore the migrant impact fund and lots more.

Austin Rathe, once our Head of Membership, worked with Paddy at More United. He has given me permission to share the story he put on Facebook with you all.

Lots to say about Paddy, and we’ll all be to sharing memories in the coming days.

For now, I just wanted to share my favourite Paddy story, from about 18 months ago.

More United had an event for the people who had helped us launch, including Luke Pritchard from The Kooks.

Afterwards Paddy, Corinne Sawers and I go for dinner. The following conversation occurs:

Paddy: “Who was that guy with the curly hair you were talking to?”

Me: “He’s the singer in a band called The Kooks.”

“The Kooks? I’ve never heard of them.”

“Well Paddy, I promise you they’re pretty famous.”

At this point Paddy, unconvinced, turns to a guy at the next table, taps him in the shoulder and says.

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Caron Lindsay

Is the Bollocks to Brexit bus value for money?

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 22nd December 2018 - 2:55 pm

Remember those wonderful “Bollocks to Brexit” stickers we see at every People’s Vote march? Some think they’re not too classy, but I think it pithily sums up hw I feel. I have my own stash of the things and keep one on my phone at all times.

Over the last few weeks, a big and bold yellow bus has been touring the country spreading the Bollocks to Brexit message, encouraging people to contact their MPs and emphasising the Brexit is “not a done deal.”

This week it came to Edinburgh:

And photobombed some news coverage:

I certainly think that a bus tour like this gets itself into local papers and attracts attention that way, but does it change minds?

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Caron Lindsay

Of course Jeremy Corbyn should apologise

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 19th December 2018 - 7:58 pm

I first met Jeremy Corbyn back in, I think, 1985. He came to Aberdeen University to speak in a debate in Women’s Week in favour of the motion “This House should ban Page 3.”

Jeremy Corbyn genuinely gets feminism more than most men, to be honest, so I find it hard to believe that he would deliberately make a sexist comment. I do think that there is an issue with misogyny in left wing politics and I think he could do more to tackle it in his party, so this isn’t an entirely clean bill of health, but there are a lot worse than he is.

When I first saw the video of him speaking in Parliament today, it did look like he had said “stupid woman” but I’ve wasted more time than it merited watching it several times since and I think he probably did say “stupid people.”

Most of us have probably found our colleagues irritating at times, even in the best and most mature of office environments. Most of us at least have the sense to express that irritation in private and away from prying cameras. The House of Commons at PMQs is about the most childish and boorish workplace on the entire planet.

In that febrile atmosphere, even the calmest of personalities can forget themselves and say things they shouldn’t. I believe Corbyn and I’ll forgive him his little lapse today.

But I think he has a hell of a lot to apologise for. Not to Theresa May but to the entire country.

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Caron Lindsay

Wanted: A Leader of the Opposition who doesn’t help the Government wreck the country

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 17th December 2018 - 8:28 pm

It’s really hard to imagine an old revolutionary socialist keeping a right wing government in power, enabling them to take a destructive course virtually unhindered.

Really, at the moment, any decent opposition would be miles ahead in the polls. They would be taking advantage of every bit of parliamentary trickery they could to thwart the Government at every stage. Especially a government that doesn’t have a majority.

But, no. Everything Jeremy Corbyn does just helps out Theresa May.

Take his pretendy- No Confidence motion that he said he’s putting down today.. If you want to take down the Government, you do what it says in the Fixed Term Parliament Act and put down a motion of no confidence in the Government. The Commons Library has prepared a useful guide on how to do it. It’s not difficult.

He’s not done that. He’s done the equivalent of taking a marshmallow to a duel by making his motion of no confidence in the Prime Minister. It might succeed but nobody will care.

Nobody knows whether a proper motion of no confidence would succeed. The DUP might well back Theresa May but the Tory MPs from the 17th century could decide to bring her government down so that they can pursue their goal of not very splendid isolation. We just don’t know until we try. I actually think it is unlikely that Tory turkeys would vote for Christmas. Mind you, Corbyn doesn’t actually want to be in a position where he has to sort this mess out because his chances of commanding a majority in the Commons are even less than May’s. If there was an election, what manifesto would Labour fight on?

So, if he put down a proper motion of no-confidence and it failed, he would then have to go to the next thing on the list – a People’s Vote, which is the last thing on earth that an old socialist brexiteer like him actually wants. 

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #537

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th December 2018 - 9:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 537th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the five most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (9-15 December, 2018), together with a hand-picked seven you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Lauren Pemberton-Nelson explains why ethnic minority women need a People’s Vote

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th December 2018 - 7:00 pm

A couple of years ago, Lauren Pemberton-Nelson, then just 18 years old, stood for us in a by-election in the ward of Faraday in Southwark. She did well – getting an 8.2% rise in our vote share.

This week, she’s written for the Gal-Dem site outlining why women of colour really need a People’s Vote to stop Brexit.

I thought her piece deserved a bit more exposure. Here’s an extract:

Discussions about Brexit at state policy level, as with much political discourse in the UK, has so far been dominated by the perspectives of white men. The Brexit Secretary and his predecessor are both white men and the majority of the current cabinet is made up of white men. Women, meanwhile, have been critically underrepresented in the Brexit debate as well as politics more broadly, and our lack of representation has not been recognised. Only two UK members of the European Parliament and less than 4% of MPs are black and minority ethnic (BME) women. Furthermore, there are no women of colour in the cabinet: there simply are not enough BME women politicians to represent us in the Brexit debate.

As the Brexit negotiations reach a crucial point, it becomes ever more apparent that Brexit will have a major impact on our lives. However, it is also increasingly evident that marginalised people have been neglected from having a say in the process. A minority of politicians have been vocal about the impact of Brexit on ethnic minorities and women, such as Layla Moran and Chuka Umunna who said that the “price” of Brexit has been normalised hatred against BME communities. As it becomes clearer that Brexit could be accompanied with further increasing hate crime whilst reducing the rights and freedoms that ethnic minority women have, it’s more important than ever that all voices are represented in a vote on the final Brexit deal.

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Caron Lindsay

Poll suggests if Labour backs Brexit it could fall behind Lib Dems

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th December 2018 - 5:30 pm

Ok, so get your pinches of salt out, because you’ll need them, but a story in The Sunday Times (£) suggests that Labour could lose its place as the official opposition to the Lib Dems if Labour backs any sort of Brexit deal.

The YouGov survey of 5,000 voters, commissioned by the People’s Vote campaign, shows that support for Labour could fall from 36% to 22% if they helped the Tories to pass a compromise deal with Brussels like the one advocated by Theresa May.

Under those circumstances, the Lib Dems would soar from 10% to 26% — their highest rating in any poll since they entered coalition government with the Tories in 2010.

The poll shows that Labour’s supporters want a People’s Vote by a margin of almost three to one — and an even bigger proportion would stay in the European Union if they were given the chance.

Alex Cole-Hamilton urged Labour to think again:

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Caron Lindsay

The Government doesn’t have a mandate for Brexit – the state of play in current and former Lib Dem seats

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 16th December 2018 - 1:30 pm

New analysis  for Best for Britain, Avaaz and Hope not Hate which breaks down the results by constituency, has our most comprehensive picture yet of how the country would vote in a People’s Vote.

The results call the mandate to leave the EU into question. Two thirds of constituencies would now back remaining in the EU.

Our research shows that the country has moved significantly since 2016, with two thirds of constituencies in Great Britain now wanting to stay with our existing deal.

There is majority support for a final say for the people in every single one of the 632constituencies analysed in this research. This research also shows that, in the event of a people’s vote, staying in the EU would win by 56% to 44% leave – the highest level of support for staying in the EU since the June 2016 vote.

For the first time, England joins Scotland and Wales as having a majority of constituenciesthat support membership of the European Union; clear evidence that the question of the 2016 EU referendum needs to be revisited.

So how does this affect current Lib Dem seats.

Those that voted Remain have got more Remainy.

Tom Brake’s which voted to Leave would now Remain.

Norman Lamb’s North Norfolk has seen the Remain vote go up by 6% to 47.7%.

Here they all are…

Wera Hobhouse Bath June 16 68.3% November 18 73.3%

Jamie Stone Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross June 16 50.6% November 18 60.1%

Tom Brake Carshalton and Wallington June 16 43.7% November 18 53.3%

Jo Swinson East Dunbartonshire June 16 73.3% November 18 79.7%

Christine Jardine Edinburgh West June 16 71.2% November 18 75.9%

Ed Davey Kingston and Surbiton June 16 58.45 November 18 65.2%

Norman Lamb North Norfolk June 16 41.7% November 18 47.7%

Alistair Carmichael Orkney and Shetland June 16 59.7% November 18 69%

Layla Moran Oxford West and Abingdon June 16 61.8% November 18 65.6%

Vince Cable Twickenham June 16 66.3% November 18 70.4%

Tim Farron Westmorland and Lonsdale June 16 52.5% November 18 56.8%

And what about seats we have held in the past? Here’s a few random examples from across the country.

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