Author Archives: Mark Pack

Mark was the Liberal Democrat Head of Innovations until June 2009 and is now at Blue Rubicon. He also lectures at City University and is co-author of 101 Ways To Win An Election. He blogs at www.markpack.org.uk and is on Twitter as @markpack. He likes chocolate. Lots of it.
Follow @markpack

Mark Pack’s final report to members

By Mark Pack | Fri 19th December 2025 - 9:35 am

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year

Once again, we end a year with more Liberal Democrat councillors than at the start, with more Lib Dem council leaders than at the start and with a greater spread of Lib Dem candidates across the country outside target wards. Both in the areas where we can most immediately win, and across the country more broadly in terms of candidates, canvassing and delivery, we’ve taken big steps forward.

We have now made net gains in the May rounds of local elections seven times in a row, the best winning streak in our party’s history, and we’re in sight of even beating the benchmark set during the heyday of the SDP/Liberal Alliance.

Our continued progress in local council by-elections since May means we are the only party other than Reform posting significant gains (and it’s worth noting that the Greens are pretty much only treading water, even after Zack Polanski’s election).

Many people across the country, volunteers and staff, deserve the thanks and praise for those achievements. Last time I talked about the progress in County Durham and what the whole party can learn from it. This time, it is worth calling out the success in Devon where our recent by-election gain in Seaton makes it 13 (!) by-elections won this year in the county – as well as making gains and becoming the largest party in the May county council elections. Most impressive.

And that’s a wrap

Barring any last-minute crisis, the thirty-seventh Federal Board meeting I chaired a couple of weeks back was the last in my time as Federal Party President, with Josh Babarinde taking over from 1st January.

So a huge thanks to all the staff and colleagues on the Board who worked so hard to make a success of our meetings, and the Board’s work between meetings too. A particular thanks to my Vice Chairs during this time – initially Elaine Bagshaw and Jeremy Hargreaves, and then Jeremy along with Jenni Lang and Amna Ahmed.

The very best wishes too to the new Board and to Josh.

Posted in Op-eds | 5 Comments

Mark Pack’s November report to members

By Mark Pack | Fri 28th November 2025 - 6:07 pm

What other Lib Dems can learn from County Durham

Ahead of the local elections in May, Liberal Democrats in County Durham were facing all-up elections on new council boundaries, requiring more candidates than the party had ever stood before.

They rose admirably to the challenge, standing a record number of candidates, making a net gain in the face of a Reform wave, becoming the official opposition on the council – and continuing to make progress since, including with a by-election win off Reform.

A very impressive record of progress, based in part on flipping around one of our usual approaches. Often we talk about how growing our membership is important to help smaller local parties grow and succeed. But in County Durham they did it the other way round. They identified the most pressing need: for more local election candidates. Then they searched widely for people willing to take on the role, and only then, for those who were not yet members of the party got them to sign up. In other words, they prioritised specific recruitment of people to fit the most needed local roles, and membership growth followed from that.

People who had grown up in areas without any Lib Dem local election candidates were strongly motivated by their personal experiences to want to change that. Membership growth was the later consequence, rather than the initial focus.

Alongside that, they followed our best practice in how to get more members volunteering – breaking down big tasks into small steps people could take on, having a regular schedule of when help would be needed and advertising internally for ways people can help other than, or in addition to, leafleting and canvassing.

That is an important lesson for us to learn more widely, as there has been an odd duality of the story about grassroots strength in the last few years. On many measures, there has been clear and sustained progress – more councillors, fewer councils with no Lib Dems on them, more canvassing taking place outside target seats, fewer council wards going without a Lib Dem candidate and more extensive delivery networks. Yet alongside that our membership total is back to where it was before the (anti-)Brexit boom in membership.

Part of the reason for these contrasting pictures is that the immediate incentive across the party is to find people to help share the workload with. Hence, for example, asking a keen supporter on the doorstep to become a leaflet deliverer rather than a member, as helping get those leaflets out is the immediate priority.

What County Durham shows us, perhaps, is that rather than focusing on membership itself but instead focusing on recruiting people to needed roles may be the way forward – both to bigger local campaign organisations and higher party membership.

Good news for Lib Dem leaflet designers

A new version of Affinity – the software package widely used in the party to design leaflets – is out. Even better, it is now free. There are some advanced paid-for features, but you can do everything needed to produce cracking leaflets with the free version.

Posted in Op-eds and Party Presidency | 2 Comments

Mark Pack’s September report to members: Beating Reform

By Mark Pack | Fri 19th September 2025 - 2:27 pm

What makes us different

With the Labour government becoming deeply unpopular so quickly and with Reform on the rise, the need for us to expand into being a credible force across more of the country has never been more pressing.

We are the party that stands up against populist extremists, willing to call out Donald Trump and willing to take on Nigel Farage.

With the pernicious volume of extremist views – aided by Elon Musk’s love affair with extremism – there’s a crucial role for the Liberal Democrats in being willing and proud to stand against such extremism.

While both Reform and the Conservatives spend so much time trying to excuse it or benefit from it, and Labour prevaricates, we simply oppose it.

Rather than putting our energies into telling people how many fellow Brits we dislike and relentlessly seeking to stoke anger and division, our focus is on improving people’s lives through improving our NHS, fixing social care, reining in the excesses of water companies and tackling the cost of living crisis.

Central to growing our economy – to fund the better public services we need – is improving our trade relations with the European Union. Those promises made by Brexit campaigners have turned to dust. They broke their promises – and our economy.

That is why continuing to up our game is so important. We can see in local council by-elections week in, week out, the results where we do. We consistently can take on and beat Reform, even in wards where we were not in contention the previous time, while Labour and the Conservatives nearly always lose out to Reform.

That should give us optimism – and spur us to do more.

Balanced media coverage shouldn’t just be for election time

The BBC is our national broadcaster, people expect and deserve balanced news coverage.

It’s clear to everyone the BBC is giving Nigel Farage and Reform far too much coverage. Reform UK only have 4 of the 250 opposition MPs, but Nigel Farage accounts for 60% of the BBC website’s mentions of opposition leaders.

The BBC should have to balance its political news so it doesn’t boost Nigel Farage’s dangerous, divisive politics.

There are special Ofcom rules on balance at election time, these rules should apply all year round so people can trust the BBC.

That is the message for the new Liberal Democrat ‘Balance the BBC’ petition, which you can sign and share here.

(As usual, the data from this petition flows into the usual party systems, so local parties can integrate it into their work too.)

Internal elections

The big three-yearly round of Federal Party elections – such as for my successor as President and also to various party committees – is now underway. All members for who the party has the correct, opted-in email address (important caveats!) are receiving a series of emails from the Returning Officer and from Civica (previously known as Electoral Reform Services), the firm who is running the online nominations and voting system for us.

Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | 1 Comment

Mark Pack writes…Conference is nearly here

By Mark Pack | Tue 26th August 2025 - 4:10 pm

Our Bournemouth Conference (20-23 September) is nearly here. It may be only our second Autumn Federal Conference since the start of Keir Starmer’s time in 10 Downing Street, but already politics has moved on hugely. With the dramatic failure of Labour to fail to get to grips with government, the rise of Reform and Kemi Badenoch being… well, Kemi Badenoch, there are new and important political opportunities for the Liberal Democrats.

We see that week in, week out in council by-elections where it is only the Liberal Democrats who can consistently take on and beat Reform. Even in former Labour seats where we start a long-way behind, it is so often us who surge in support, making the contest a Reform versus Liberal Democrat one.

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged Mark Pack | Leave a comment

Mark Pack’s monthly report to members: Three lessons from the 1920s

By Mark Pack | Tue 22nd July 2025 - 7:50 pm

The wild rollercoaster of the 1920s

The 1920s are rather the forgotten decade of British politics. The ‘long 1920s’, from the general election of 1918 until that of 1931, was a wild rollercoaster of gyrating election results. It saw the British political party system changed fundamentally as first past the post butted up against politics not being a two-party affair.

Outside of the two World Wars, this was probably the most consequential decade for British politics since the battle of Waterloo. (Which thankfully showed that Wellington was a rather better general than politician.)

The election of 1918 saw a coalition landslide, then 1922 saw one of those coalition partners slip to third (the Liberals) and a large majority for the other coalition partner (the Conservatives) on its own. But that majority then evaporated in the election just a year later, which saw a new party (Labour) in power for the very first time, as a minority government. That government then also lost office in an election only a year later as the 1924 election resulted in a massive Conservative landslide. But did that last? Heck no, for when the next election came in 1929 it was a hung Parliament again, with Labour winning more votes but fewer seats than the Conservatives. A minority Labour government then became a coalition government which won a landslide two years later.

Across those six elections, British politics was completely remade. 1918 and 1928 were the landmark years for women’s political equality with the minority male population. Labour replaced the Liberals as one of the big two parties in British politics. 1918 saw the last general election victory for a government headed by a Liberal. By 1931 the party was split three ways, with under a 100 MPs and not going to get back above 20% of the vote until the 1980s.

That is without even getting into perhaps the most important faked document in British political history (the Zinoviev Letter).

In other words, first past the post really cannot cope when more than two parties are in contention – and a landslide at one election is no guarantee of a long-lasting period in power.

That gives lesson number one for us. While first past the post cannot cope with volatility in our party system, the persistent pattern was that doing well on seat numbers, not on vote share, was what gave parties political success.

Just as we showed so spectacularly at the 2024 general election – and at both the 2024 and 2025 local elections – we do best when we focus on winning under the rules in front of us. Targeting and seats are what matter most under first past the post.

The other two lessons come from the fact that the 1920s were also home to two things that the party collectively still loves.

One is the party’s electoral posters of the time, such as:

Wander around a Liberal Democrat Federal Conference, and chances are you will find merchandise on sale with a poster such as this on it.

We really like the message of posters such as these. So too the policies of this decade. For even with all the problems of changing times making some old policies look horribly dated, the 1920s are still one of the most idolised periods of Liberal policy-making.

The contributions of John Maynard Keynes, William Beveridge and Lloyd George’s ‘Yellow Book’ (formally titled Britain’s Industrial Future) are all still seen touchstones for liberals, with calls for a new Beveridge or the titling new publication in honour of the Yellow Book still common now. The 1929 Liberal general election manifesto has even been described by the (non-Liberal Democrat) historian Robert Skidelsky as the most intellectually distinguished manifesto ever put before British voters.

That may sound impressive… but then think back to what happened politically to the Liberal Party in these years. Lovely posters, great manifesto – and a party split three ways, trounced in elections and pushed out of serious contention for decades to come.

That 1929 manifesto and approach, much like the formation of the Alliance ahead of the 1983 elections, produced a surge in votes that did not convert into enough seats to be a political success in a system where the number of MPs elected under first past the post to the House of Commons is the dominant measure of success or failure.

Remembering those other two lessons then – that messaging has to appeal not only to ourselves but to the voters, and that there is more to a successful campaign than a collection of great policies – served us well last year, and will do so again in this Parliament, if we continue to apply them.

Thank you, Mike Ross

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | 4 Comments

Mark Pack’s June report to members

By Mark Pack | Tue 24th June 2025 - 7:30 am

It’s the Lib Dems who can beat Reform

Here are some statistics that should both encourage us and spur us on. They are for principal authority council by-elections since May 1st where a Reform candidate finished as one of the top two:

Reform and Conservative in the top two : 0% Conservative wins
Reform and Labour in the top two: 17% Labour wins
Reform and Lib Dem in the top two: 78% Lib Dem wins

In fact, the figures are even better than that, because those other 22% of contests where Reform finished first and the Lib Dems second were all contests in previously Labour held seats and where we had moved up from further behind to second. Even though we did not win in those, they were still good results for us, taking significant steps forward.

In other words, just as liberalism is the philosophical answer to populism, so Liberal Democrat campaigning is the practical answer to populism.

Thank you, Dick Newby

The Leader of the Liberal Democrat group in the Lords, Dick Newby, has announced that he is standing down as leader of the group after almost a decade in post. That period has been a real rollercoaster for the party, and included a long stretch when the Lib Dem Lords group had to take on a big extra burden of work due to the shrunken size of the Commons Parliamentary Party.

Huge thanks for everything you have done, and for making me so welcome as one of the newest members of the group.

Constitutional amendment

The Board is still consulting on the wording of a ‘tidying up’ omnibus amendment to submit to Autumn Federal Council. This is designed to tidy up slight ambiguities of wording, missed cross-references and the like rather than to make any substantive change. Such periodic housekeeping does however end up saving time and making things easier.

So please grab your constitutional magnifying glass, ready your pedantic skills and take a look at the consultation.

Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | 9 Comments

Mark Pack’s May report to members

By Mark Pack | Tue 27th May 2025 - 3:48 pm

Thank you…

It is always good to start with thanking colleagues, and this month marked the final full council for Gareth Morgan. He has served an amazing 52 (!) years as a councillor, having been first elected to then Montgomery County Council in 1973 as a Liberal.

Given all the political ups and downs for our party and its predecessors in the years since, that is a particularly impressive run. It is also a run that enabled Gareth to do so much good for local residents’ and for promoting our values.

Thank you, Gareth.

Posted in News | Tagged Mark Pack | 1 Comment

Mark Pack’s report to Members

By Mark Pack | Wed 30th April 2025 - 2:23 pm

Thank you and good luck

Due to an impressive collective effort, our candidate tally for this May’s elections is our best showing since May 2009. That is, the proportion of seats we are contesting this time, compared with the proportion Labour and the Conservatives are contesting, is the best since before the 2010 Coalition government.

We still have more progress to go to get to matching their numbers of candidates, but this year is another important step forward. It shows a continuing spread of our grassroots campaign efforts beyond simply our held and target Westminster constituencies.

Thank you to everyone who has played a part in that, especially those standing for the first time this May and the many agents who have taken on agenting for extra candidates.

A particular shout out to the team in County Durham, where we are standing at least one candidate in every ward across the whole council for the first time ever, ensuring that there is a Lib Dem alternative to Labour, Reform and the Conservatives in every single community.

If we can also go on to make net seat gains in the local elections that will make it seven rounds of net gains in a row – again an important spreading of our grassroots strength, and the longest run of such gains since the 1980s. Even more importantly, it will mean more Liberal Democrats in office, able to implement more of our policies in order to make people’s lives better.

In a neat demonstration of both these points – the importance of putting up candidates and of winning more political power to improve people’s lives – we already have the first Liberal Democrat council gain in. It is Melksham Town Council, guaranteed to have a new Lib Dem majority after not enough other candidates got nominated.

Lib Dems secure limits on emergency new government powers

While supporting the government’s emergency legislation to safeguard the Scunthorpe steel works, the Lib Dems successfully pressed in Parliament for important safeguards on the use of the emergency powers the law grants the government.

In the Commons, Daisy Cooper secured a promise from the relevant minister that, “the powers that he is giving himself will be repealed as soon as possible, within six months at the latest, and if they are still required after that, whether he will come back to this House to ask for another vote”.

Following up on that in the Lords, Chris Fox got an assurance from the relevant government minister that the powers granted in the bill would be debated in six months in a substantive motion that will be voted on – further locking the government into allowing Parliament to have a say in their continuation or cessation.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, Mark Pack, party president and president | Leave a comment

Mark Pack writes: The biggest prize in May’s local elections

By Mark Pack | Mon 14th April 2025 - 10:52 am

There are hundreds of important prizes at stake for us in the May local elections.

Wards where we are standing our first candidate in years. Wards where winning would give us our first breakthrough in an area. Wards where winning would make us the main opposition on the council. Wards where winning could give us leadership of the council for the first time. Wards where winning would cement our record in power locally.

But perhaps the biggest prize at stake for the Liberal Democrats is one that has never been on offer before: the new Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor.

It brings together two areas with impressive local Liberal Democrat teams: the Hull team that took power from Labour even while the Conservatives were in power in Downing Street, and the East Riding team that has ridden an impressive run of by-election wins to be a growing political force locally.

There is important political power at stake to improve the lives of residents in the area.

For the party more widely too there is the chance to show our relevance in northern England, to get a new Liberal Democrat in important local and regional media markets and to show how we can win against Labour.

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2025 local elections, featured, hull and east riding and mike ross | 3 Comments

Mark Pack’s Monthly Report to members

By Mark Pack | Wed 2nd April 2025 - 9:45 am

Our electoral system cannot cope

Securing 30% of the vote in a general election used to be a general election losing vote share for Labour or the Conservatives. But it is now quite possible that the winner of the next Westminster general election will not top 30%, and that we will have four political parties within 10-15 points of each other. First past the post is really not designed for that…

This comes with two important implications for ourselves. One is the continuing importance of local elections, both in their own right and also as a way of establishing credibility for Westminster Parliament (and indeed Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd, along with Mayor) contests. Even if we finished a long way back on vote share in the previous election, gains at local election level can put us in the race – and show voters that we are in the race.

The other is the continuing importance of bar charts. Tactical voting was not just a one-off to remove the Conservatives from 10 Downing Street last year. As we have seen in council by-elections since last summer, it continues to be important – just as it continued to be so after the 1997 Conservative landslide defeat too. (In fact, anti-Conservative tactical voting was still a big factor in 2005, two general elections and one Iraq war on from 1997.)

So don’t mothball those bar chart templates quite yet.

Speaking of bar charts, here is one that shows how impressively our local campaign teams over-perform in council by-elections:

Federal Conference…

Many thanks to everyone involved in putting on such a well-run Federal Conference in Harrogate. Another impressive team effort by staff and volunteers!

Among the important measures passed were F9, Free to be who you are, which reaffirmed our support for trans rights and F10, about reforming our Parliamentary candidate process. This reached the two-thirds majority required (it looked like it passed about 80%-20%) and so now moves to the stage of state party approval.

I know it is an issue which raised many passions, and people were particularly heartfelt about the need for consultation – an important point for us all as we move on to the next stage.

Much of the debate focused on the two-thirds of constituencies which did not get to select their own candidate in the last Parliament. Helping more of them select, and in enough time to train and support their candidates, is an important task for this Parliament. Helping more of our non-target seats get candidates in place sooner, and then properly supporting and training those candidates, could be a massive step change in how we spread the breadth of our success across the country.

Conference also ratified the new set of election regulations for our big internal elections due this autumn (timetable here). The Board has also reappointed David Crowther to a new three year term as Federal Returning Officer.

If you did not make it to Conference – or did but want to relive any of the moments – you can watch again on the party’s YouTube channel.

Extra thanks to Jeremy Hargreaves, Nicholas da Costa and Daisy Cooper for kindly stepping in to cover things for me after I had to miss the event due to a bout of ill health.

See you all in Bournemouth in September!

Our fabulous Party Awards winners

Harrogate also saw our latest round of Party Awards, with a fabulous quartet of colleagues having their contributions recognised:

Albert Ingham Award

Named in honour of one of our party’s election agent greats, this award goes to Ed Thornley for his work on a cracking by-election win in Edinburgh in November. Thanks to Ed’s dedication, skill and commitment over five long months, we started in fourth place on 12% of the vote and ended up with more than treble that – with nearly double the vote of the second place candidate.

Bertha Bowness Fischer Award

This award is named after the pioneering female Liberal election agent and this time is awarded to someone who has already made their mark despite only recently joining us – Lou Timlin. Lou joined in 2023 but has already been a campaigner, diversity officer, Fleet super user, press officer and elected a councillor too. Following someone’s bereavement, she even stepped in at no notice to be agent in Wokingham for the general election – helping us win the seat on a 19% swing.

Laura Grimond Award

Posted in News | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | 3 Comments

Mark Pack’s February Report: Looking forward to Harrogate

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th February 2025 - 10:55 am

Federal Conference is nearly here

It is fabulous we are not only returning to Harrogate for a Liberal Democrat conference, but that now it is also a venue with a Liberal Democrat MP, following Tom Gordon’s win last July.

The very first winning general election campaign I worked on was that for Phil Willis, also in Harrogate, back in 1997. Back then, we all thought the 1997 election result across the country was a cracking one for our party, winning 46 seats. But we far surpassed that in 2024. People will still smile while saying ‘72’ for a good while yet.

But elections keep on coming, and we have a great opportunity with the May local elections – or rather, the reduced number of them after Labour and the Conservatives decided that democracy is inconvenient when changes are coming to local government.

Even with the reduction in elections, they are still a great opportunity to strengthen our position in the constituencies we won last year, and a great opportunity to build up our strength more broadly too.

For all the damage done to local government by years of cuts and centralisation, billions of pounds in public services will be at stake in the May elections as local government is still at the heart of so many crucial services.

Which makes these elections important not only for our future growth as a party, but also for our immediate power to turn our policies into action to improve people’s lives.

Policies that we will be updating and refreshing at our Federal Conference for the new political landscape we are in. Alongside that we will have the opportunity to discuss lessons from the general election, along with excellent training, a variety of fringes and stalls and much catching up with colleagues from around the country.

Whether by coming in person, or joining online, I hope you join other members by taking part in our Harrogate Conference.

The Agenda and Directory are up on the party website, as is the Federal Board report to Conference, which is in the Reports to Conference booklet.

That Board report includes explanations of the two items of business the Board is proposing in addition to our report: updates to our election regulations, primarily in response to the recommendations of the review carried out by Nick Manners, and a very short constitutional amendment regarding Liberal Democrats Ltd.

Party strategy

Harrogate Conference will also include a consultation session as part of evolving our strategy for the new circumstances of this Westminster Parliamentary cycle. The Board has produced a short note to help give that session some context, which you can read via the party website. If you are not able to make the session, you can also send in comments via [email protected].

Harrogate will also see a presentation from the General Election Review, another important input into our plans for this cycle. The report is available to read here.

Measuring success

If there were media outlets as keen to talk up the Liberal Democrats as some are to talk up Reform, then we would be hearing a lot about how Lib Dem support has surged to increase by half. That is because so far in this Parliament, we are averaging 12% in the polls, compared with 8% for the same period in the last Parliament.

While the increase may cause us quiet satisfaction, and the absence of media coverage for it quiet frustration, the most important point about the increase is that it shows one of our key assumptions for the 2024 general election playing out. That is, that national vote share is – in the current set of circumstances – a consequence of success rather than a cause of success.

In other words, we managed a history-breaking seat haul alongside a small increase in our vote share because, under first past the post, national vote share is only very weakly correlated with success for a party like ours. Hence 2024 (72 seats) was a triumph while 1983 (23 seats) was not, even though the Alliance’s vote share in 1983 was just over double ours in 2024.

Remembering to focus on winning under the political system in front of us served us well in the last Westminster Parliamentary cycle, and it will do so again in this.

Internal election news

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | 1 Comment

Mark Pack’s January report to members

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd January 2025 - 10:55 am

Farage and Musk are the past, not the future

Seeing someone called a “snivelling cretin” may reinforce all your worst fears about social media. But when it was Elon Musk saying this of Ed Davey, it counts as a badge of honour.

It also illustrates a bigger, and more important, point than ‘look how thin skinned and short of things to say a billionaire is when anyone stands up to him’.

It is about how little to say about our future the likes of Nigel Farage and Elon Musk have beyond nostalgia for an imagined version of our past. For all Elon Musk’s facade as a visionary man of the future, much of his vision is a shrunken, twisted piece of fake nostalgia: a world where the super-rich get to run things, democracy is an optional extra, international borders are high and only his favoured few select demographic categories are worthy people.

Their joint desire to turn the clock backwards is in contrast to our positive liberal vision for a better future. Just because someone is not like me is not a reason to dislike them. Just because someone has different views of religion than me is not a reason to fear them. And just because someone lives in a different country from me is not a reason to treat them as an enemy.

The likes of Farage and Musk excel at grabbing the headlines, but the quiet reality of 2024 was a year in which in Britain us Liberal Democrats took more political power. We won more council seats than the Conservatives and Reform combined in May – and then we had our best general election result in a century, gaining far more seats than Reform, in July.

General Election Review

An important part of building on those successes is our General Election Review, which was headed up by Tim Farron.

Thank you to Tim and the whole team for turning around the review promptly, so that we can get stuck into implementing its lessons as soon as practical in this Parliamentary cycle.

As with the post-2019 review, this one has been shared with all party members because, even though this review is a happier one, it is important once again that members can hold to account those in power at all levels of the party on delivering the review’s recommendations. As Tim explained in the email to members, there are some further recommendations on membership to follow.

The review is asking Federal Conference Committee (FCC) for time to present their findings to our Federal Spring Conference in Harrogate. Alongside that, the Federal Board has agreed to draw up an implementation plan for the recommendations, and you will get more news on that through these monthly reports.

Party Awards

Our Spring Federal Conference in Harrogate is now coming up fast. Which also means it is time to nominate wonderful colleagues for our next round of Party Awards too.

You can read about which awards are up this time, and how to make nominations, here.

Registrations for conference, both in person and online, are also open. I hope to see many of you there.

Congratulations to…

North Devon Liberal Democrats were the top recruiting local party in England in December, topping the charts for the second month running. All but one of the new members were recruited locally by them – giving the party’s local bank balance a handy boost too as local parties receive larger membership payments for locally recruited (or renewed) members.

Congratulations too to the top local recruiters in Scotland – Dumfriesshire and Highlands local parties, tied with each other – and in Wales – Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | 13 Comments

Mark Pack’s December report: Beating Labour and seeing off Reform in Sheffield

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th December 2024 - 9:08 am

Happy Christmas and New Year

Once again, we end the year with more Liberal Democrat MPs, more Liberal Democrat council leaders and more Liberal Democrat councillors than we started the year. We also have in Ed Davey the main party leader who consistently comes out best in the polls.

You have already heard many statistics from myself and others about that progress, so this time I will simply share perhaps my favourite. There are now 25 Liberal Democrat MPs with a majority over 10,000… and just 5 (!) Conservatives.

That is a huge tribute to the personal vote built up by so many of our campaigners, supported by people’s kind collective efforts across the party … and a sign of just how much political trouble the Conservatives are still in. Trouble that Labour has been remarkably quick to run into too. It is impressive how many Liberal Democrat campaigners have been out in the cold and rain, winning council by-elections and building support with campaigns on topics such as the Winter Fuel Allowance.

Willis Marshall’s dramatic win for us in Sheffield recently captured much of the current state of our politics. A cracking Lib Dem campaign and candidate, scoring a 27% vote share increase to take a seat off the Labour Party in an area where we had not won before – and in the process, seeing off Reform – who surged up into second place – by just 10 votes, while the Conservative vote fell by three-quarters. In other words – our areas of success spreading, holding Labour to account and winning ourselves, rather than leaving the political space for the populists to fill.

Such successes are only possible thanks to the generous combined efforts of our members, staff, donors and volunteers. A deep thank you to everyone who has contributed to our successes this year, and the very best of luck for the challenges to come next year. But before that, I hope everyone gets a good break over Christmas and New Year.

Next steps in the party’s strategy

Work is starting on developing our new strategy for this Westminster Parliamentary cycle. How do we build on our success in electing 72 MPs this July and making gains in every round of local elections in the last Parliament? How do we spread our success more widely? And what do we need to change about how we operate to achieve that?

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured and party president | 2 Comments

Mark Pack’s November 2024 report: A guaranteed way to lose votes

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th November 2024 - 1:32 pm

The importance of next May

A blessing and a curse of a democracy is that elections keep on coming around. So while this year has been an exhausting one of election campaigns already, we also need to be turning our eyes to the local elections coming up in May.

Most of the seats up in May were last contested when the Conservatives were still on an electoral high back in 2021. Therefore they provide us with an important opportunity to follow up on our major gains from the Conservatives at both local and Westminster level since 2021. They also provide us with an important opportunity to continue to grow our strength more broadly, especially in areas where, now with a Labour government in Westminster, new possibilities are opening up.

But there is one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it is one we use far too often.

It is not having a Liberal Democrat on the ballot paper. Zero votes for the party guaranteed.

Both Labour and the Conservatives, for example, get very close now to having a full slate of candidates in local elections. We do not.

The good news is that since in the last Parliament we have collectively started focusing on really raising our candidate numbers in council contests, we have made good progress, both for by-elections and for the May rounds of elections.

Standing candidates is not only about credibility and relevance. It is also the way to get more people into the habit of regularly voting for the Liberal Democrats – a crucial step in building the sort of larger core vote for the party that will help us succeed more often.

With us having regained our third place in the House of Commons, continuing that progress in candidate numbers to help further establish ourselves is even more important next May.

If you have local elections coming up in your area, there are great training materials and supporting documents on how to increase your candidate numbers, and how to run a proper approval process. Drop me a line if you need help finding the support you need.

Good luck!

A 15th century technology still reigns supreme

Posted in News | Tagged featured, Mark Pack and party president | 3 Comments

Mark Pack’s October report: Putting our plans in place for this Parliament

By Mark Pack | Fri 1st November 2024 - 12:06 pm

The benefit of more MPs, part 1

Who gets to present a Private Members’ Bill in the House of Commons with enough debating time to have a decent chance of passing is all down to luck. There is a literal ballot of MPs to see who gets to go first, who second and so on… All luck – except each party makes its own luck, because the more MPs it has, the more of its MPs can enter the ballot and the better the chances of some of your team coming up high in the ballot.

So it was both luck and election winning leaflets festooned with bar charts that meant two Lib Dem MPs came out very high up in the ballot for Private Members’ Bills in the House of Commons.

We now know what they are going to use their slots for. Max Wilkinson, who came second, is going to promote solar power. Roz Savage, who came third, is also promoting an environmental measure by reviving the Climate and Nature Bill.

The two other Lib Dems in the top twenty are Danny Chambers, with an animal welfare bill, and Wendy Chamberlain, previously successful with her Carer’s Leave Act, with a bill to lift the limits on fundraising through charity lotteries.

Good luck to them all.

The benefit of more MPs, part 2

Whatever the timing, it would always have been welcome news that the government is commissioning an independent review into the scandal of draconian penalties imposed on carers for innocent errors in benefit claims.

But it is no coincidence that it came the day before the Liberal Democrat instigated debate on this very topic in Parliament.

How many such opportunities we get – whether it is opposition day debates, questions at Prime Minister’s Questions or similar – is very closely and formulaically linked to how many MPs we have.

More MPs, more opportunities.

Budget and strategy

Posted in News | 3 Comments

Mark Pack’s September Report: Constructive opposition… and winning more elections

By Mark Pack | Fri 27th September 2024 - 10:23 am

What a conference!

Perhaps my favourite moment at our Brighton conference was having dinner with a member who had rung her partner to say how great the conference rally was. She had told him about how our MPs had stood to applaud the audience, thanking us all for our efforts to get them elected. ‘Were all our MPs there?’, he asked. ‘I don’t know. There are too many MPs now to be able to count them all!’ she replied.

Too many to count, more than enough for us to be rightfully on a high – and not as many as we should aim to have in future.

So there was plenty to celebrate at our Brighton Conference, as well as the party collectively turning our minds to how we build on that success.

As The Guardian editorial praising our conference concluded:

Running through his speech was Sir Ed’s idea of a “Liberal Britain”. This is a country where the banks and the wealthy are taxed to pay to fix the NHS, racism is abhorred, not weaponised, the EU single market rejoined and a cordon sanitaire erected around a Donald Trump presidency. The Lib Dem leader is gambling that this is territory that will become politically significant in the coming years and which other parties might struggle to seize. Given the election results, few may be willing to bet against Sir Ed.

Before we get to thinking more about our future, many thanks to all our staff, volunteers and suppliers involved in putting on such a successful event.

Where next?

As I said when moving the Federal Board report in Brighton, it was quite the contrast with the first one I moved as your President. Back then we had 11 MPs, now we have 72. But also we have gained more than 800 council seats since then, and now have a Lib Dem majority on more councils than before we went into coalition in 2010.

We have also taken important steps forward on our ethnic diversity – a key priority for the party, both at local level – where the list of Lib Dem council leaders is no longer an all-white list – and in Parliament – with a record number of MPs from an ethnic minority background.

Much progress, then, but more still to do.

At the heart of that is supporting our new MPs in firmly embedding themselves in their seats, and helping our whole Parliamentary Party show to the voters that the issues they campaigned on are now issues that they are acting on in office.

We also need to be starting to line up our next wave of Parliamentary gains as well as extending our run of gains in local elections. We made net gains in every round of local elections in the last Parliament, and we should aim to do so again, along with making gains in the devolved elections coming up in Scotland, Wales and London.

All that should be built on learning the lessons of what worked, and what was not so successful, this time. Hence the General Election Review which I reported on last time and which ran a very useful consultation session in Brighton.

There is now an online survey for everyone to send in their own views too: www.libdems.org.uk/ge-review

Constructive opposition

As Ed Davey said in his closing conference speech:

Back when I was first elected in 1997, Paddy Ashdown adapted the Serenity Prayer for a better, more constructive approach to opposition. Paddy’s Serenity Prayer went like this: “May we have the power to oppose what we must oppose. Courage to support what we must support. And the wisdom to know the difference.”

Conference, wouldn’t we all have loved Paddy to be here today for this moment? And I want to make Paddy’s same invocation for us today. For that is the power, the courage and the wisdom we will need in the years ahead.

Because it will fall to us to be the responsible opposition that any government needs. An essential role in our democracy. And a role that today’s Conservative Party simply cannot fulfil. They showed themselves to be totally unfit to govern our country – and the British people rightly booted them out. And the Conservatives are already showing that they are unfit for opposition too.

Our fabulous colleagues

One of my best tasks as your President is to present the awards at each of our Federal Conferences. It was such a pleasure to be able to publicly thank and praise our team of winners:

Belinda Eyre-Brook Award – Lucy Lennon

Lucy Lennon was recognised for her impressive local campaign efforts in Hull. In her first role after graduating from university, Lucy has been instrumental in helping us make strides against Labour in northern England, particularly by retaining control of the local council.

Over the past two years, Lucy has served as the local organiser, managing two local elections and two by-elections. During the General Election, she took on the task of running three Westminster constituencies and acted as agent for all of them.

In addition to her exceptional people skills, Lucy has mastered various technologies, including Fleet, Connect, Lighthouse, and Typeform.

She has even managed with aplomb the tough task of having our Director of Campaigns, Dave McCobb, as one of her candidates!

Her dedication and hard work made her a deserving recipient of this year’s award.

Dadabhai Naoroji Award – West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group

The overlapping West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group has achieved remarkable electoral success by engaging with all areas of their local community. They have assembled a diverse team of councillors and candidates, representing a range of ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities.

Their hard work has demonstrated that minority communities not only want to join the Liberal Democrats but are also eager to further serve their local areas.

This dedication culminated in the election of the first Liberal Democrat MP of East and South East Asian descent.

The efforts of the group and Local Party show that focusing on improving our ethnic diversity is not something just for large urban areas.

The award was collected by Councillor Simy Dhyani and Victoria Collins MP.

Harriet Smith Award – Rosemary McCrum

Rosemary has been the cornerstone of her Local Party for decades. She has guided them through challenging times, taken on nearly every activist role imaginable, filled in when needed, and often juggled multiple responsibilities at once. Rosemary provided the foundation upon which their success has been built.

Her dedication and commitment were crucial in keeping the Local Party running and played a key role in their achievements this year, including an overwhelming victory in the local elections and the election of the area’s first Liberal Democrat MP.

The Woking party triumphed electorally this year, and nominating Rosemary for this award was a small way of recognising the immense contribution of this modest individual in helping them get there.

Patsy Calton Award – Julia Cambridge

Since 2017, Julia has served as Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Gender Balance (CGB), working tirelessly to support, mentor, and encourage female candidates across the party. She has been a steadfast advocate for selecting women in winnable seats, and many of the newly elected female MPs can attest to the impact Julia has had in helping them overcome traditional barriers to selection and election.

In addition to her efforts, Julia has been a dedicated councillor and Mayor for the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, playing a crucial role in the campaign team that successfully retained the Richmond Park seat in the General Election.

This year, the Liberal Democrats reached a record high in female MPs, with women making up 44% of the Parliamentary party. This achievement highlights the importance of Julia’s work in supporting women candidates to compete on equal footing with their male counterparts over the past few years.

Donna Harris, Chair of Liberal Democrat Women, the official party body which presents this award, came on stage to hand it to Julia.

Penhaligon Award – North Cotswolds and Tewkesbury local party

In April 2019, the Tewkesbury Liberal Democrats had just two councillors, both of whom were stepping down in the upcoming local elections. However, during the 2019 Local Elections, the team made a strong push, resulting in the election of eight councillors. Later that year, they displaced Labour to become the main opposition to the Conservatives in the General Election.

Their success continued in both County and Local Elections, and by May 2023, the Lib Dems had elected 16 councillors, ousting the Conservative administration and appointing a Lib Dem Leader, Deputy Leader, and Mayor.

With the 2024 constituency boundary changes, Tewkesbury joined forces with neighbouring colleagues to form the new North Cotswolds and Tewkesbury Local Party.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of local activists and volunteers, many of whom are now elected representatives, the North Cotswolds and Tewkesbury Liberal Democrats have seen rapid and steady growth – and this momentum is set to continue.

The award was collected on behalf of this impressive team by Babs Farmer.

President’s Award – Paula Yates

Paula has dedicated over four decades of service to the Party. Since joining the Liberal Party in Carmarthenshire in 1982, she has held numerous roles, including local councillor, Council Leader, Parliamentary Candidate, and President of the Welsh Party. She continues her commitment as a member of the Welsh Party Board.

Throughout her career, Paula has faced these responsibilities – and the challenges they bring – with determination, energy, and an unwavering sense of humour. One of her greatest strengths is her ability to treat members with understanding and respect. Her quiet words of wisdom so often head off problems and I have been very grateful for her support in the time we were Federal Board colleagues.

Paula’s immense contributions over the years make her a truly deserving recipient of the President’s Award.

And next time…

We are incredibly fortunate to have such devoted members, and their commitment continues to inspire us all. If you know someone who you feel deserves an award, look out for the nomination process on the website in January for our Spring Conference awards.

Our love and condolences

Tragically, during our Conference, Robin Bradburn, leader of the Lib Dem group in Milton Keynes, passed away. A minute’s silence was held in the main hall in his honour.

Robin was a renowned public servant who campaigned tirelessly in his area. He will be remembered by all those who knew him as a thoughtful, caring and compassionate man.

I am sure I speak for everyone in sending our love and condolences to his family and friends.

New Federal Appeals Panel member

Conference confirmed the appointment of Rebecca Williams to fill a casual vacancy. Thank you Rebecca for putting your name forward and to everyone else who applied.

Missing conference already?

Our Spring 2025 Federal Conference will be in Harrogate, on 21-23 March. More details, including accommodation booking link, at the bottom of our conference page here.

Do you have questions on any of this report, or other Lib Dem matters? Then please drop me a line on [email protected]. Do also get in touch if you would like to invite me to do a Zoom call with your local party or party body.

Posted in Op-eds | 3 Comments

Meet our party award winners

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd September 2024 - 12:30 pm

As we do each year at both the Spring and Autumn Conferences, we take a moment to celebrate and recognise the inspiring individuals or groups who have provided outstanding service and commitment to the party over the past year.

These awards serve as a small token of our immense gratitude for the hard work, dedication, and passion each has shown.

The award winners this time were:

Belinda Eyre-Brook Award – Lucy Lennon

In addition to her exceptional people skills, Lucy has mastered various technologies, including Fleet, Connect, Lighthouse, and Typeform.

She has even managed with aplomb the tough task of having our Director of Campaigns, Dave McCobb, as one of her candidates!

Her dedication and hard work made her a deserving recipient of this year’s award.

Dadabhai Naoroji Award – West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group

Their hard work has demonstrated that minority communities not only want to join the Liberal Democrats but are also eager to further serve their local areas.

This dedication culminated in the election of the first Liberal Democrat MP of East and South East Asian descent.

The efforts of the group and Local Party show that focusing on improving our ethnic diversity is not something just for large urban areas.

The award was collected by Councillor Simy Dhyani and Victoria Collins MP.

Harriet Smith Award – Rosemary McCrum

The Woking party triumphed electorally this year, and nominating Rosemary for this award was a small way of recognising the immense contribution of this modest individual in helping them get there.

Patsy Calton Award – Julia Cambridge

Posted in Conference and News | Tagged 2024 autumn conference | Leave a comment

Mark Pack’s August report: The new political landscape

By Mark Pack | Tue 20th August 2024 - 11:42 am

The new political landscape

We can – and should and will – continue to celebrate our general election result, and to thank everyone who contributed to it, for a good while yet. As people catch breath after those huge efforts, we also need to start to look to the future political landscape.

We have a mandate from the millions of people who voted for us, we need to work to deliver that mandate. But what difference to that task will the new political landscape make?

That is the question we need to collectively address as we develop our plans for this Parliament.

As we do so, there is an important lesson to bear in mind. It is perhaps the most salutary lesson for anyone involved in politics, particularly in a party in opposition. It comes from looking at the long-run data series from pollsters Ipsos (formerly MORI) asking people which issues are most important to them and to the country.

It is both electorally wise – and fundamentally liberal – to pay attention to what people say matters most to them. We are not paternalists who think we know what is best for others, we are liberals who believe people know best for themselves.

As the Ipsos series uses an open ended question, and so caters for changing terminology and focus over the years (e.g. from European Community to EEC to European Union to Brexit), it provides a good insight into how and when the public’s concerns change.

The salutary lesson? You can certainly see people’s concerns change as events happen, such as rising inflation driving cost of living concerns up. You can also, to a degree, see the impact that a sustained focus on a policy area by the government can make, such as – although spectacularly unsuccessfully as their landslide defeat showed – by the last Conservative government on immigration.

But for the main opposition party, let alone for a smaller one? It is very hard to spot much scope to shift the public’s agenda. Rather, the real political skill comes from leaning into that reality, instead finding the overlap between a party’s values and the public’s interests – and concentrating on that.

It is what we did so successfully in the last Parliament, focusing in particular on health and social care and on the cost of living.

It is also why we need to be open-minded, and ready to be flexible, about how that issues landscape will change during this new Parliament. How long the government’s (limited) political honeymoon will last, how the next leader of the opposition performs and how events influence what matters most to people: those will all set the landscape in which we then need to find the best route to continue to grow and win more elections.

Which means that this early in the Parliament the important strategic issues for the party are about how we deliver the mandate on which our MPs were elected, and how to keep our options beyond that open as we see the new landscape develop – and how to continue to grow our grassroots organisation so that we can make the most of the opportunities that will come.

A change of Prime Minister in Downing Street has not taken away the rationale for concentrating on NHS and social care, the cost of living and sewage in particular. Those are all challenges that still need addressing. Our MPs got elected on that platform: they both have a mandate for action on that platform – and it is important that we show voters that those are the issues we still care about.

Plus of course health, and social care in particular, are the issues that Ed Davey is closely associated with, has expertise in and were at the heart of his and our general election message.

The gains at that general election in our target seats were only the most eye-catching part of growing our grassroots strength. Alongside that we made gains on a much broader scale in local elections through the last Parliament, making net gains in fact in every round of local elections and now running more councils with a Lib Dem majority than before we went into coalition in 2010.

With a Labour government now in Westminster, and so many of our second places at general elections now first places leaving us with relatively few second placed seats, it is a new set of challenges to keep that growth going over the next five years.

But as we have shown in the last five, when we set our minds to it, we can achieve so much together.

General election review

One important post-election task for the Board is setting up a general election review. This should be a happier affair than our 2019 review, but it is still important.

Much of our success in the last Westminster Parliament came from our willingness to learn from what had and had not worked for the party in 2019, and to change as a result. It would be foolish and complacent to assume that we have now maxed out all the progress we can make. We need to discover our next set of lessons, which is where this review comes in.

The review is being chaired by Tim Farron and the other members of the review team are Ade Adeyemo, Paul Farthing , Donna Harris, Emma Holland-Lindsay, Mike O’Carroll and Sally Pattle. The team brings extensive experience from different perspectives, and is also made up of people who were not key decision makers on the campaign itself, so that they can properly evaluate – and hold to account – those who were.

The review has been asked to report by the end of the year, so that if there are any recommendations that need to come to Conference they can be submitted for Spring next year (subject of course to Federal Conference Committee’s decisions on the agenda). Thank you also to FCC for providing time at the Autumn Conference for the review to get feedback.

This timetable combines the need to have enough time to do a proper review, consulting with members, with moving quickly enough that related important decisions, such as over target seats, do not get unduly delayed in this Parliament.

Watch out for opportunities to submit your views to the review, including at our Autumn Federal Conference in Brighton.

Financial plans

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged featured, Mark Pack and party president | 6 Comments

Mark Pack’s monthly report: This is what you did

By Mark Pack | Wed 24th July 2024 - 8:47 am

Thank you

From our low of 6 seats in 1959 through to our then peak of 63 in 2006, gaining 57 seats took 47 years. We’ve now gained 61 seats in just 5 years. It was an amazing team achievement, and we all should be proud of the roles we have played.

Perhaps the most amazing helper is our kind deliverer Geoff, who both campaigned locally and in a target seat, a mere 79 years(!) after he delivered his first leaflet as a very young deliverer in the 1945 general election.

Whether it was your first or your twenty-second general election, and whether you helped with leaflets, canvassing, money or in one of many other ways, thank you.

This is what you did:

A particular thanks too to those who worked so hard on campaigns that did not quite make it this time. Just missing out is always frustrating, and all the more so when so many others around you are celebrating. I hope though our other successes can give you hope that success will come in your area too in the years to come.

What happened

That photograph did not happen by accident. Although Rishi Sunak, and before him Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, gave us a helping hand, it was a result we created – deliberately, following a plan all through the Parliament.

We did so by breaking all previous records for the effectiveness of targeting.

Nor was this just due to split opposition votes, because the Lib Dem vote share in the seats we won was impressively high, as Patrick Dunleavy’s figures show:

1983 was the high point of the Alliance and previous attempts to break the two-party system in Westminster. Compared to then, we secured half the votes this time – but three times as many seats. In a political system where the currency of success is seats, that is quite the success.

Of course, the national campaign had an important part in that too. It was a national campaign focused on the voters and media outlets that most mattered for winning seats, and which caught the public’s imagination:

That image captures one of the important lessons from our 2019 election review: the importance of strong visual images to cut through a crowded media landscape and to reach a public often not that interested in the details of politics.

Though I suspect none of that review team – whose work was essential to guiding our work through the last Parliament – quite foresaw what visual images would be coming…

The response from voters came through clearly in the polls:

How it happened

There will be more lessons to digest as there is more time to hear feedback and analyse the evidence, both of what worked well and of what areas we need to work on for next time.

The broad picture though has some clear features. Success came from:

Concentrating on the issues that mattered most to voters;
Building strong teams in our most promising areas;
Explicitly targeting seat numbers rather than vote share – aiming to win seats where we could and to build up our organisational strength elsewhere;
Investing early in intensive support for our candidates and campaigners in our most promising areas;
Taking each round of elections seriously, with each important in its own right but also as a building block for the next too; and
Working together as one team, following a collective strategy based on what you, party members, decided at our conference.

That comes through in the reasons people gave pollster More in Common for voting Liberal Democrat:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2024 general election, Mark Pack, party president and report | 4 Comments

Mark Pack: How we decide to ask people where to campaign

By Mark Pack | Thu 13th June 2024 - 8:48 am

Why it matters

A stark fact from this May’s local elections: just 97 more people switching from our opponents to us would have given us outright control of three more local councils.
That is the brutal reality of first past the post elections. Votes in the key places count for much more than votes in safe seats and in lost causes.

It is why we want to get rid of first past the post. To do that, we first have to win under first past the post. That means concentrating our efforts where they can make the most difference to how many seats we win.

Asking people to help in the right places

Having people from other areas come to help them is a key part of any successful target seat campaign at a general election. It is also the best way to value and respect people’s time – by directing it to where it will have the most impact.

But asking people to go to the right places is not straightforward and it is something we did not get right in 2019. So here is how we are approaching the task this time around.

Running through all this is a simple dilemma. For five general elections in a row, the party has been too optimistic about how many seats it was sensible to target (and although there was rightly lots of wisdom after the event, much of the pressure internally from members during each of those campaigns was to be more optimistic, not less).

Yet the Conservatives, our main opponents in our target seats, are currently polling at a level which, if reflected on polling day, will see them get their worst result since the roll out of letterboxes.

To guide the campaign through this, a wide range of sources of information therefore is being used: what the results on the new boundaries would have been in 2019, local election and devolved bodies election results since then, all the public MRPs published (more than 10 already!) with their seat-by-seat figures, our own private polling and of course the data coming in from our canvassers on the doors and phones.

As well as using all those sources of information to get a balanced overall view of our best prospects, we then have to divide up possible help sensibly. Each target seat is allocated a number of other constituencies where members and supporters are asked to help them.

Because we have to balance the amount of help to each place accordingly – and because of course transport options and travel times vary depending on where in a constituency you live or work – this sometimes means that the seat people are being asked to help is not the nearest or quickest to get to.

If there is another seat you would like to head to because it is easier to get to, because a group of friends are also campaigning there or to return some favours for previous help in a local election, by all means drop an email to [email protected] and the team can confirm if it is indeed a seat we are in with a serious chance of winning and encouraging people to go to.

If you cannot make it in person, help on the phones is also very valuable. You can sign up for our group phoning sessions here or again email [email protected] to be put in touch with the local team in a target seat who can give you details of who to phone.

Building our capacity

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | 6 Comments

Mark Pack’s May report – success – all across the country

By Mark Pack | Tue 14th May 2024 - 1:30 pm

Sustained, long-term growth

Last time I possessed the question, “what does a successful general election look like?”. Since then we have certainly seen what a successful set of local elections looks like, including the fun of defeating Michael Gove’s election agent and getting David Cameron a Liberal Democrat councillor.

Posted in Party Presidency | Tagged Mark Pack | Leave a comment

Mark Pack’s April report – What does a successful Westminster general election campaign look like?

By Mark Pack | Tue 16th April 2024 - 12:07 pm

Seats… and capacity

We may not yet know when the date of the Westminster general election will be. But we do know what success will look like.

For older readers, please think of 1983. For younger readers, please think of 2019. Neither of these Westminster general elections are remembered as a triumph for us or our predecessors. In 1983 we got 25% of the vote… but only 23 seats. In 2019, our vote share went up by a chunky 4%… but our seat tally fell by 1.

Posted in Party Presidency | Tagged party president | 3 Comments

Mark Pack’s March report

By Mark Pack | Tue 12th March 2024 - 1:30 pm

Why we need more council candidates

When we debate party policy, strategy or election tactics, questions about what might attract or put off voters often – and rightly – come up.

But there’s one sure-fire, 100% guaranteed, rock-solid way of repelling voters from us, and it’s one we use far too often.

It’s not having a Liberal Democrat on the ballot paper. Zero votes for the party guaranteed.

Posted in Party Presidency | Leave a comment

The Party President on our long term plan

By Mark Pack | Tue 13th February 2024 - 10:09 am

Mark Pack’s report for February:

A familiar trio

By now, you’re most likely very familiar with the idea that we are concentrating our campaigning for the next Westminster general election on the NHS, the cost of living and sewage. You may well have heard that on Zoom calls with our Chief Executive, seen it in leaflets you’ve delivered or said it yourself in conversations with voters.

The prime reason for this trio is the humility that’s essential for a political party in an electoral democracy: the humility to listen to voters and to take their concerns as the starting point of our …

Posted in Party Presidency | Tagged 2024 general election, canvassing, federal conference, party awards, party president and whatsapp | 44 Comments

Mark Pack’s January report – Our positive vision versus Conservative desperation

By Mark Pack | Tue 16th January 2024 - 9:56 am

Beating the Conservatives isn’t enough

That was the thrust of Ed Davey’s new year message, majoring on the importance of how our politics operates:

We must do nothing less than transform the nature of British politics for good.

Fight for a fair deal, that empowers everyone, and holds the already powerful to account.

Smash the two-party system, reform our elections, and give everyone an equal voice.

Because that is the only way we can build a fairer, greener, more caring country.

You can watch his new year message in full here.

But while that’s our positive message for the country…

Brace, brace, brace

When the newspapers appeared on the morning of 22 April 2010 there was a wall of negative front page stories about the Liberal Democrats. It was a well-timed hit, being the morning of the second TV debate in an election that had been upended by Nick Clegg’s performance in the first debate.

But there was a dirty secret behind those front page attacks which was only revealed when academics Phil Cowley and Dennis Kavannagh wrote a book about the election after. It was a secret about desperation on the part of the Conservatives: “All but one of the stories to feature on newspaper front pages that day came from the Conservatives”. Not that the papers told their readers this.

Nor did the stories stand up. Most notoriously the Daily Telegraph splashed that morning on its front page making claims about Nick Clegg’s bank account. Yet just a few hours later their chief political commentator and assistant editor was admitting he didn’t even know if anything wrong had happened. His admission that even he didn’t know if the allegations were true didn’t make that story, of course. Nor did he explain why his paper didn’t pause to research the story first rather than rushing to put in print what the Conservatives had handed them.

As Cowley and Kavanagh quoted a Cameron campaign source: “‘We did a pretty comprehensive job on them… However dirty it was… that was the machine swinging into action.”

Much has changed since 2010. But the willingness of Conservative HQ to do absolutely anything it takes to stay in power has not. We can expect them to brief negative stories about us continually.

It’s going to be a bracing year. But that shows we are a real threat to the Conservatives.

(And of course if you do see a story where you’re not sure what the full picture is or want to know the party’s response, do drop me a line on [email protected]).

A cracking quarter of council by-elections

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged connect, ed davey, federal board, local council by-elections and whatsapp | 60 Comments

Mark Pack’s December report – the challenges of 2024

By Mark Pack | Tue 12th December 2023 - 9:00 am

Bigger stakes, harder choices: general election year

It now looks pretty certain that 2024 will be a general election year. Or perhaps I should say that 2024 will have at least one Westminster general election, because if there is a close result…

We do, however, know for sure that regardless of what happens with general elections, there is an important round of local elections – and Police and Crime Commissioner contests – in May.

It will therefore be an important year in which everyone can play a part in our success, whether it is about winning a target local or Westminster seat near where you live, or helping to build up the party locally while supporting our target seats elsewhere.

Posted in Party Presidency | Tagged 2024, 2024 general election and climate change | 74 Comments

Mark Pack’s Monthly Report – Turning our policies into practical action

By Mark Pack | Wed 22nd November 2023 - 11:30 am

Getting council housing built

Congratulations to the Liberal Democrat team on Kingston Council who have just celebrated the completion of the first set of council flats for over 30 years in the area.

It’s another sign of how Liberal Democrat councils can both build high quality homes in the right places, and win elections – by turning our policies into practical actions to improve people’s lives.

Israel/Palestine

I know we have all been moved by the horrific news from the Middle East in the last few weeks. The bedrock of the Liberal Democrat approach is support for international law and for a …

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged mark park and presidential reports | 1 Comment

Mark Pack’s October report – let’s make it 5 in a row

By Mark Pack | Tue 17th October 2023 - 9:30 am

You know what would be even better than four record book rewriting Parliamentary by-election wins in a row? Five.

That’s the opportunity we have with the Mid Bedfordshire by-election and our great candidate, Emma Holland-Lindsay. The issues that are big on the doorsteps are ones that will be familiar to us from campaigning all around the country – people feeling taken for granted by the Conservatives, worried about the cost of living and angry about the state of the NHS. And they think sewage should be sent to treatment plants rather than into our rivers and onto our beaches.

Polling day is 19 October and it’s absolutely one of those contests where people on the ground, talking to voters and visiting their letterboxes, will determine the outcome. It might have been a rock solid safe Conservative seat in the past, but no more!

What Have the Liberals Ever Done For Us?

That’s the title of an excellent new publication from the Liberal Democrat History Group. It comes with a preface by Ed Davey in which he says, “When you need to put your feet up after door-knocking, or to energise yourself for the next delivery round, read it to remember what we stand for and what we have done with the votes that people have lent us – and be inspired to campaign for even greater achievements in the future.”

More information about the new booklet is here and you can watch the launch event with Layla Moran, Sarah Olney, Wendy Chamberlain and Liz Barker here.

Bournemouth Conference

Many thanks to everyone who helped make such a success of our autumn conference, especially everyone who has contributed to our pre-manifesto, For A Fair Deal. That now gives us both a clear up-to-date prospectus of our overall policies and also (in the second chapter) sets our clearly our vision for the country.

If you missed out on our conference – or want to relive moments of it – you can (re)watch all the action on our website.

Conference kindly agreed the Board report, confirming the appointment of Tom Hood to the Federal Appeals Panel (FAP), and also passed our motion on the party’s finances for the next year. This froze our minimum membership subscriptions in recognition of the cost of living crisis and also included an agreed settlement with our three state parties on our mutual financial positions.

Answers to questions for the Board that were not taken in person at Bournemouth due to the time limits will appear on the party website as part of the conference reporting.

Our Party Awards winners

One of the best parts of the President’s role at our conferences is handing out our Party Awards to recognise the work of amazing colleagues around the country.

Our Bournemouth winners were:

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and party president | Leave a comment

Mark Pack’s September report to members

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th September 2023 - 4:00 pm

Many unexpected events, good and bad, have happened to our party during this Parliament. If you’d asked me in January 2020, I don’t think any of us would have expected that three and a half years on, I could write a report to members about how our first-in person autumn Federal Conference this Parliament was coming up and about our chance to secure, just after it, our fifth Parliamentary by-election gain from the Conservatives.

It’s been quite the journey since our last in-person autumn conference. That was also in Bournemouth but back in the very different political times of 2019. We’re on the third Conservative Prime Minister of that time and – at time of writing (!) – seven Secretaries of State for Education.

But most importantly for our party, we’ve made huge progress since then in rebuilding our organisation and starting a sustained, long-term recovery.

We’ve made net gains in every round of council elections this Parliament. Alongside our four new MPs, we’ve also won control of more councils – taking the number of Lib Dem majority authorities to a tally higher even than it was before we went into government in 2010. We have a new scheme to support the new generation of candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds and we have a much expanded network of staff supporting grassroots campaigners right across the country. New, and much better integrated, website and email tools are being rolled out and, after over thirty years of people saying the Federal Board and its predecessors was too large, we finally did something about it.

But there’s much more still to do, starting with the need to turn that run of four by-election gains into a run of five next month. Find out more on how to help Emma Holland-Lindsay and the Mid-Bedfordshire by-election campaign on her website.

Rebuilding trust in politics

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged Mark Pack and president | 1 Comment

Mark Pack’s monthly report to members

By Mark Pack | Thu 17th August 2023 - 10:47 am

Hello, Mid Bedfordshire

We don’t yet know for sure about when a Mid Bedfordshire by-election will take place after Nadine Dorries redefined “immediately” with her promise to step down straight away turning into a longer-running saga. But there is an active Lib Dem campaign up and running for Emma Holland-Lindsay, with some lovely letter boxes to admire.

Please do help if you can, in person or remotely, as Sarah Dykes’s stunning victory in Somerton and Frome shows just what we can achieve when we pull together behind a by-election campaign. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to that victory, a great burst of national media coverage and creating an abundance of Sarahs in the Lib Dem Parliamentary party.

What we stand for

One thing we do know the date of for sure is our autumn federal conference coming up in Bournemouth in September. The agenda and policy papers have now been published, and registration is open for both in-person and online attendance.

The agenda includes our pre-manifesto document, For A Fair Deal. This is both an up-to-date summary of our overall policies across all the main areas, and also has in its second chapter our overall story about the sort of society we want and how to get there. Well worth a read whether you’re coming to conference or not.

I look forward to meeting many of you there or in Mid Bedfordshire.

The importance of residents’ surveys

I’ve just been reading an advance copy of a fascinating new book coming out later this year about our party, and this nugget of data leapt out at me:

“In 2010, in nearly two-thirds of Liberal Democrat target seats a substantial amount of effort was put into running resident surveys during the pre-election period. This figure dropped to just a quarter of target seats in 2019.”

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged 2023 autumn conference and mid bedfordshire by-election | Leave a comment

Actually, this Summer of Strategy could be quite good…

Josh Babarinde writes…The Lib Dem Summer of Strategy

Alison Suttie writes: Thank you to our volunteers

What’s going on with party strategy?

Author Archives: Mark Pack

Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year

And that’s a wrap

What other Lib Dems can learn from County Durham

Good news for Lib Dem leaflet designers

What makes us different

Balanced media coverage shouldn’t just be for election time

Internal elections

The wild rollercoaster of the 1920s

Thank you, Mike Ross

Thank you…

Thank you and good luck

Lib Dems secure limits on emergency new government powers

Our electoral system cannot cope

Federal Conference…

Our fabulous Party Awards winners

Albert Ingham Award

Bertha Bowness Fischer Award

Laura Grimond Award

Federal Conference is nearly here

Party strategy

Measuring success

Internal election news

Farage and Musk are the past, not the future

General Election Review

Party Awards

Congratulations to…

Happy Christmas and New Year

Next steps in the party’s strategy

The importance of next May

A 15th century technology still reigns supreme

The benefit of more MPs, part 1

The benefit of more MPs, part 2

Budget and strategy

What a conference!

Where next?

Constructive opposition

Our fabulous colleagues

Belinda Eyre-Brook Award – Lucy Lennon

Dadabhai Naoroji Award – West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group

Harriet Smith Award – Rosemary McCrum

Patsy Calton Award – Julia Cambridge

Penhaligon Award – North Cotswolds and Tewkesbury local party

President’s Award – Paula Yates

And next time…

Our love and condolences

New Federal Appeals Panel member

Missing conference already?

Belinda Eyre-Brook Award – Lucy Lennon

Dadabhai Naoroji Award – West Hertfordshire Local Party and Dacorum Council group

Harriet Smith Award – Rosemary McCrum

Patsy Calton Award – Julia Cambridge

The new political landscape

General election review

Financial plans

Thank you

How it happened

Why it matters

Asking people to help in the right places

Building our capacity

Sustained, long-term growth

Seats… and capacity

Why we need more council candidates

A familiar trio

Beating the Conservatives isn’t enough

Brace, brace, brace

A cracking quarter of council by-elections

Bigger stakes, harder choices: general election year

Getting council housing built

Israel/Palestine

What Have the Liberals Ever Done For Us?

Bournemouth Conference

Our Party Awards winners

Rebuilding trust in politics

Hello, Mid Bedfordshire

What we stand for