Author Archives: Helen Duffett

Helen Duffett

Peer and 3 former MPs facing criminal trial

By Helen Duffett | Fri 11th June 2010 - 1:15 pm

A judge has ruled that three former Labour MPs and a Conservative peer may not avoid trial for expenses fraud, rejecting their claims to parliamentary privilege.

Parliamentary privilege is a 300-year-old immunity from legal proceedings arising from actions within Parliament; however the judge ruled that individual expense claims are “not covered by parliamentary privilege and… triable in Crown Court”.

From the BBC:

Mr Justice Saunders rejected arguments by Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, Jim Devine and Lord Hanningfield that only Parliament could hear their case.

There was no bar to a trial, he said.

The four, who all deny charges of false

…

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Helen Duffett

Simon Hughes elected as Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader

By Helen Duffett | Wed 9th June 2010 - 8:38 pm

Simon Hughes was elected as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats this evening following a ballot of MPs.

Simon received 38 votes; Tim Farron received 18.

Speaking after the vote, Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said:

I am delighted Simon has been elected as Deputy Leader.

Simon has been a huge figure in the Liberal Democrats for decades. He’s a tireless campaigner, a relentless fighter for the vulnerable and marginalised in our society, and one of the hardest working MPs Parliament has ever seen.

There are huge challenges and opportunities ahead for our country and our party, but with Simon by my side I am sure that we can meet those challenges and work to build a fairer, more equal Britain.

Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes said:

It is an honour and a privilege for me to follow Vince Cable as the new Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats. This is not a responsibility I will ever take lightly.

I will fight every day for the principles which underpin our party: fairness, freedom, openness, equality, stewardship of our environment and standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

I will work tirelessly with Nick Clegg and all other Liberal Democrats to help liberal democracy blossom and flourish throughout the land.

Here’s a video of the announcement: (turn your speakers up!)

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Helen Duffett

Redundancies announced at the Parliamentary Office of the Liberal Democrats

By Helen Duffett | Wed 9th June 2010 - 6:06 pm

Lib Dem Voice has learned the sad news from Cowley Street:

The Liberal Democrats are having to begin a redundancy process to reduce the number of POLD staff by over 20 positions. This is following the confirmation that the party will not be receiving Short Money.

The losses will take place in the Policy and Research Unit, Media Office, and the Leader’s Office. The party will retain a Media Office and a scaled-down Policy department.

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Posted in News and Party policy and internal matters | 25 Comments
Helen Duffett

Simon Hughes’ 10 proposals for Lib Dem MPs under Coalition

By Helen Duffett | Mon 7th June 2010 - 8:50 am

From Simon Hughes’ website:

In a letter to Lorely Burt MP, Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons, Simon Hughes has set out his proposals on how Liberal Democrats should organise themselves in this parliament in order to provide the best supportive but independent voice in a parliament of coalition government:

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Helen Duffett

The “menu” for political reform – Nick Clegg to outline progress tomorrow

By Helen Duffett | Sun 6th June 2010 - 4:15 pm

I blogged last week about the new set of responsibilities transferred to the Deputy Prime Minister from the Secretary of State for Justice.

It’s a formidable to-do list – principally concerning political and constitutional reform – and tomorrow Nick Clegg will reveal the progress made so far.

Speaking at the Hay Festival in Mid Wales, Mr Clegg said he would detail some of the early developments in his “menu” to change the political system.

He told the audience: “I will be making some announcements tomorrow in the House of Commons about some early progress on the big building blocks in the

…

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 4 June 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 4th June 2010 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. David Laws issues statement on his expenses and sexuality (221) by Stephen Tall
2. David Laws: what should happen next? (80) by Stephen Tall
3. David Laws: should I stay as an MP? (69) by Mark Pack
4. Danny Alexander issues a statement on his Capital Gains Tax affairs (97) by Helen Duffett
5. Is the Mail on Sunday in a different time zone? Or how it got a string of facts wrong (19) by Mark Pack

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

No Lib Dems on QT yet again
Election 2015
Welfare Reform
Liberal Democrats – Party of the Middle 80%
How long is a PPC a PPC . . .

5 most active groups on ACT

1. Scottish Policy Discussions
2. Byelection Campaigning group
3. Liberal Youth
4. Support for David Laws
5. Say No to Trident

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Helen Duffett

By-election results 3 June 2010: four cheers for the Lib Dems

By Helen Duffett | Fri 4th June 2010 - 7:50 am

Liberal Democrats are celebrating four by-election wins this week (two gains, two holds) in Newquay, South Oxfordshire and St Albans.

Cllr Dave Sleeman wins in Gannel ward, Newquay TC

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Helen Duffett

What does the Deputy Prime Minister do? Nick Clegg’s new responsibilities

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 8:54 pm

As a result of the formation of the coalition Government, a number of responsibilities will be transferred from the Secretary of State for Justice to the Deputy Prime Minister.

Nick Clegg has already been given special responsibility for political and constitutional reform; now Prime Minister David Cameron has listed the powers which will help Clegg bring this into effect:

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Helen Duffett

Lembit Öpik’s standup debut – a star is (re)born?

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 7:20 pm

“Thanks to 13,976 Tory voters for kick-starting a career I didn’t even know I wanted.”

-Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik performed his first standup comedy gig last night, winning plaudits for his delivery, if not his jokes.

Julian Hall of the Independent gave him two stars:

There was a kind of bittersweet irony that, on the day of the first Prime Minister’s Question Time of the coalition government, the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik was performing an open-spot stand-up gig in a tiny basement comedy club. Opik, it could be argued, has performed comedy in a niche environment on both

…

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Helen Duffett

Outstanding service to the Lib Dems: your nominations, please

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 6:10 pm

The Liberal Democrats are seeking nominations for their two party awards, to be presented at September’s Autumn Conference.

One award will be given to a party member who has been elected to public office; the other to a member who has never been elected.

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Helen Duffett

David Laws speaks frankly about privacy, acceptance and low Lib Dem pay

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 4:54 pm

David Laws has spoken of his relief now that his sexuality has been revealed, and explains his motivation was privacy rather than profit.

From the Daily Mail:

We were conscious this was a much more expensive way of managing our lives than if we had just been honest about our relationship, because if we had, we could have claimed a significantly greater amount of money than we did.

We would often say to ourselves ‘this is ridiculous’, as a consequence of having this bizarre private life, we are costing ourselves far more than if we had just been honest about things.

To me in particular it seemed that was a price worth paying to protect our privacy.

To me, what is really important for people to understand is that none of the things that we did were done to make financial gain. They were done to protect our privacy.

I guess it was pretty stupid really, because all of the people I have spoken to since have accepted it without hesitation: my parents, family and friends. Not being honest with them has meant a huge price over recent years.

David Laws also said that he used the money from his City career to fund his political one:

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Helen Duffett

Vince Cable tops popularity poll; Clegg ahead of Cameron

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 2:51 pm

A nationwide survey by PoliticsHome shows that Vince Cable, Business Secretary and outgoing Lib Dem deputy leader, has a higher approval rating from the public than David Cameron.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg enjoys a clear popularity gap ahead of the Prime Minister, holding an approval rating of 17, compared to David Cameron’s rating of 11.

While the two men both attract the approval of 39% of the public, fewer disapprove of Mr Clegg (22%) than Mr Cameron (28%).

From the Guardian:

The strong rating for Cable will hearten his fans, who were concerned when he announced last week his resignation as

…

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Helen Duffett

Deputy leadership contest: Hughes “backed by more than 50% of Lib Dem MPs”

By Helen Duffett | Thu 3rd June 2010 - 1:17 pm

Nominations closed at 5pm yesterday for the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Democrats, and it’s going to be a contest between Tim Farron and Simon Hughes. Already the Independent is calling it for Simon:

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat left-winger, was on course last night to become the party’s deputy leader.

The former party president is understood to have secured the backing of more than half of its 57 MPs. Although he voted in favour of forming a power-sharing deal with the Conservatives, he is likely to prove a thorn in Nick Clegg’s side.

Following the close of nominations, he will be

…

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg – working partner; working parent

By Helen Duffett | Wed 2nd June 2010 - 9:20 am

The Independent today features a relationship-focused interview with Nick Clegg. It looks mainly at two areas for balance: work/family and his working partnership with David Cameron:

Mr Clegg… insists he is determined to keep family life and government work as separate as humanly possible.

In this aim he has found an ally in the Prime Minister, who is also the father of small children. Both agreed to change the timing of a cabinet meeting to fit in with the school run. “I try – I haven’t entirely succeeded yet – as much as I can to take the kids to school,”

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Helen Duffett

Allegations of electoral fraud in Halifax

By Helen Duffett | Tue 1st June 2010 - 5:15 pm

Police are investigating allegations of electoral fraud in Halifax after unusually high numbers of postal ballots were hand-delivered to polling stations on May 6.

From the Independent:

More than 4,000 ballots arrived in the West Yorkshire town on 6 May, with the majority being delivered directly to polling stations. Although there are no rules forbidding the delivery of postal ballots by hand, such a large number arriving on the day of the election itself is considered unusual and risks overwhelming the already-stretched safety checks aimed at minimising fraud.

Local Tory officials raised questions over the validity of some of the postal ballots after they discovered that a number of empty and derelict addresses in one particular ward had voters registered to them. They allege that Labour Party activists spent the days before the election “farming” postal ballots to deliver directly on 6 May and have asked both the police and the Electoral Commission to investigate.

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Helen Duffett

Danny Alexander issues a statement on his Capital Gains Tax affairs

By Helen Duffett | Mon 31st May 2010 - 12:36 am

Danny Alexander has made a statement, following an article in the Telegraph on Sunday night, which reported that he had avoided paying Capital Gains Tax on a south London property in 2007:

My wife and I bought our property in Elspeth Road in 1999, we sold it and moved to the current property in June 2007.

Until the spring of 2006 this was the only property we owned. I had rented a place in Aviemore until then, we subsequently bought a place there and moved into it.

I have always listed London as my second home on the basis set out in

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Helen Duffett

David Laws’ resignation letter to the Prime Minister – and David Cameron’s response

By Helen Duffett | Sat 29th May 2010 - 8:42 pm

From the BBC:

Dear prime minister,

The last 24 hours have been very difficult and distressing for me, and I have been thinking carefully about what action I should take in the interests of the government, my constituents and – most important of all – those whom I love.

I am grateful for the strong support which I have received from my friends, family, and from you, the deputy prime minister and the chancellor.

This support has been incredibly important, but nonetheless, I have decided that it is right to tender my resignation as chief secretary to the Treasury.

I

…

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 28 May 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Vince Cable stands down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats (55) by Helen Duffett.
2. Bright spots of the 2010 election result: growth in number of winnable seats (26) by Mark Pack.
3. Tim Farron runs for deputy leader; Campbell and Munt back him (28) by Mark Pack.
4. The Liberal Democrat special advisers (16) by Mark Pack.
5. NEW POLL: Who do you want to see as the next Lib Dem deputy leader? (47) by Stephen Tall.

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

Choosing our London Mayor and AMs . . .
Membership numbers
September conference – How long should I go for?
LDV forum design/layout
Rape defendant anonymity

5 most active groups on ACT

1. Women Liberal Democrats
2. LibDems for free university tuition
3. For a truly liberal asylum & immigration policy
4. Sustainable Futures: Energy, Development and the Environment
5. LD2010

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Helen Duffett

Lib Dem landslide in Kendal Town Council elections

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 3:20 pm

The winning Kendal Town Councillors

Liberal Democrats are celebrating after they won all 28 seats in Today’s deferred Kendal Town Council Elections – gaining three seats from Labour, re-gaining one from the Greens and one from an Independent.

Liberal Democrats gained Strickland, Fell and Romney from Labour and won in Underley from the Independents. The Lib Dems also re-gained Far Cross ward from the Green Party.

Tim Farron, Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said:

Four years ago we didn’t even have a majority on Kendal Town Council, now

…

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Posted in Council by-elections and News | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Helen Duffett

Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins issues a legal challenge over Oldham election result

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 1:40 pm

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Oldham East and Saddleworth in the 2010 General Election has challenged the result.

Elwyn Watkins has submitted a petition for a hearing of an election court, alleging a breach of the Representation of the People Act (1983).

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , , and | 22 Comments
Helen Duffett

Simon Hughes stands for Deputy Leader as “the life and soul of our party”

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 11:00 am

Simon Hughes' Deputy Leader flyer
Simon Hughes, MP for Southwark and Old Bermondsey has announced his intention to stand for the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

From his campaign flyer:

Labour have made it clear they want to rewrite history, ignoring the reality of their time in office. They claim to be the only home for progressive voters. I will not let them get away with it.

My experience representing an inner city constituency tells a different story: of too many broken promises and too many people

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 28 May 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 7:00 am

As Big Ben chimes seven, it’s time to celebrate the day 151 years ago, that the famous bell was drawn on a carriage pulled by 16 horses from Whitechapel Bell Foundry to the Palace of Westminster.

To show that cuts in Westminster are nothing new, the cost of the bell was reduced by recycling the metal from the previous, faulty bell:

George Mears, then the master bellfounder and owner of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, undertook the casting. According to foundry records, Mears originally quoted a price of £2401 for casting the bell, but this was offset to the sum of £1829 by the metal he was able to reclaim from the first bell so that the actual invoice tendered, on 28th May 1858, was in the sum of £572.

If you’d like to know what Big Ben itself has to say today, you can follow it on Twitter: @big_ben_clock.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

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Helen Duffett

Thirsk and Malton delayed election: Lib Dem Howard Keal takes second place

By Helen Duffett | Fri 28th May 2010 - 4:16 am

The result of the Thirsk and Malton delayed election has just been announced:

Anne McIntosh has been elected as the Conservative MP for the new constituency, having previously represented Vale of York.

The votes cast were as follows:

Conservatives: 20,167 (+1%)
Liberal Democrats (Howard Keal) 8,886 (+4.5%)
Labour: 5,169 (-9.9%)
UKIP: 2,502 (3.5%)
Liberal 1,418

From the notional figures, this result shows a 2.6% swing from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems, and a swing of 11.6% from Labour, with the Liberal Democrats moving from third place to second.

Mike Beckett, Chair of Thirsk and Malton Liberal Democrats said:

This result is an endorsement of the coalition,

…

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Posted in News and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , , , and | 44 Comments
Helen Duffett

Lib Dems hold Haverstock ward, Camden

By Helen Duffett | Wed 26th May 2010 - 11:36 pm

Haverstock celebrates a triple win
Last night the Liberal Democrats won all three seats in Camden Council’s delayed Haverstock West election, beating Labour and improving their share of the vote by six percent.

This means that the Liberal Democrats are now the official opposition to Labour on Camden Council.

Full results, courtesy of ALDC:

LD Jill Fraser 1462 / Matt Sanders 1326 / Rahel Bokth 1291 (45.3; +1.7)
Lab 1257 / 1202 / 1114 (39.0; +4.6)
Con 259 / 250 / 236 (8.0; -3.1)
Green 246 / 240 / 181 (7.6; -3.2)
Majorities

…

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Helen Duffett

Vince Cable stands down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats

By Helen Duffett | Wed 26th May 2010 - 8:19 pm

Vince Cable has stood down as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats in order to concentrate on his role as Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The text of Vince Cable’s letter to Nick Clegg is below:

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg to get his own Deputy Prime Minister’s Question Time

By Helen Duffett | Tue 25th May 2010 - 4:08 pm

The Times reports that Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is to get his own Question Time:

The event, which has the broad agreement of the Speaker but is yet to be signed off by the new government, is likely to take place on Thursdays and be “bolted on” to Business Questions, where the agenda for the Commons is outlined. This will be seen as a sop to the Lib Dems who now sit on the government benches and lose the rights of opposition parties to cross-question the Prime Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions will take place once a month rather than …

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Helen Duffett

The LDV Friday Five: 21 May 2010

By Helen Duffett | Fri 21st May 2010 - 5:00 pm

It’s Friday. It’s five o’clock. Here’s a fistful of lists that sum up the LDV week:

5 most-read stories on LDV this week

1. Confusion reigns over 55% – the reality is rather different (243) by Iain Roberts.
2. Opinion: For those about to defect – we don’t salute you (121) by James Staff.
3. Opinion: I’ve joined the Liberal Democrats (148) by Chris Jones.
4. Arise, Lord Paddick? 95 new Lib Dem peers set to be created (89) by Stephen Tall.
5. So. Farewell Then Labservative.com (7) by Stephen Tall.

5 active LDV Members’ Forum threads

Short money
How do you contact Nick Clegg?
For those concerned about the coalition with the Tories
Lib Dem & Govt drug policy & some PolTheory w/To Nic
High Profile Defection?

5 groups on ACT

1. Lib Dem Doctor Who Geeks
2. “Politicks + lib dem speak” glossary
3. Byelection Campaigning group
4. DELGA: LGBT Lib Dems
5. Lib Dem Staff at Westminster

5 top reader search returns to get to LDV

(excluding Liberal Democrat Voice or its variants)

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Helen Duffett

Poor planning and restrictive laws prevented 1,200 from voting on 6 May

By Helen Duffett | Thu 20th May 2010 - 2:43 pm

The Electoral Commission has published its interim report into problems at polling stations on 6 May, when queues left voters unable to cast their votes before the 10pm deadline.

At least 1,200 people were still queuing at 27 polling stations in 16 constituencies at 10pm.

There were scenes of confusion as polling station queues and ballot paper shortages led to problems and protests in several cities. These included students in Sheffield trying to stop ballot boxes being removed, lock-ins in Birmingham, lock-outs in Newcastle and a sit-in in Hackney.

Following the polling day problems Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission announced a review, saying,

There is a real need to look at our Victorian system and modernise it fit for a 21st-century democracy.

The Electoral Commission consulted Returning Officers, and appealed to voters to report any difficulties they had experienced on polling day.

Today’s report explains the roles, responsibilities and laws connected with providing and manging polling stations, the scale and nature of problems on 6 May and makes recommendations for change:

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg to continue with Town Hall meetings

By Helen Duffett | Wed 19th May 2010 - 6:17 pm

He’s Deputy Prime Minister now, but it’s good to see that Nick Clegg plans to continue his practice of holding meetings where members of the public can come and ask him questions directly.

Nick’s starting off with a public meeting in his constituency of Sheffield Hallam. From www.nickclegg.com:

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Helen Duffett

A power revolution: Nick Clegg’s “New Politics” speech in full

By Helen Duffett | Wed 19th May 2010 - 2:21 pm

Revolutionary Nick Clegg graffiti

Today Nick Clegg made a speech setting out the Government’s plans for political reform, at the City & Islington College Centre for Business, Arts and Technology.

As Iain wrote this morning, the media are viewing Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats as revolutionaries, and drawing parallels with the Reform Act 1832.

Nick’s speech expands on three more R’s: repealing infringements on freedom, reforming politics and redistributing power.

Here it is in full:

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