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.
Mark Pack

Cardiff Labour candidate faces police investigation over their home address

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd April 2012 - 10:25 am

Following a referral by Cardiff Council’s Electoral Registration Officer, the police are investigating one of the city’s Labour council candidates over allegations that he provided a false home address for use on the ballot papers.

Luke Holland gave as his address a property that he moved out of last year. However that old address is in the ward where he is standing and his current address is outside the ward. Mr Holland does not deny the crux of the allegations, having told the media:

It is true that I currently rent a flat in a neighbouring ward – a fact that

…

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Posted in Election law, Local government, News and Wales | Tagged , and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Our broken electoral timetable – or why Andrew Neil is too late

By Mark Pack | Sun 22nd April 2012 - 8:50 am

Along with many activists from all political parties, yesterday I was out on the doorsteps campaigning for votes with a special emphasis on targeting postal voters. For me that involved trips to Streatham and Haringey, both places where – as is common across London – postal ballot papers have been hitting people’s doormats on Friday and Saturday.

Many postal voters fill in their ballot papers promptly, so by this evening a noticeable chunk of the London electorate will have cast their votes. The same is true in many other parts of …

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Posted in Election law and Op-eds | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

The weekend debate: Formula 1 Grand Prix in Bahrain

By Mark Pack | Sat 21st April 2012 - 9:07 am

Here’s your starter for ten in our weekend slot where we throw up an idea or thought for debate…

Two questions for you to ponder:

  • Should the Formula 1 Grand Prix go ahead?
  • Do you think the drivers should take personal responsibility for their decisions on whether to drive or not, or is that a decision for someone else and they should do whatever is decided?

Over to you…

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Labour peer Alan Sugar: don’t vote for Ken Livingstone

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th April 2012 - 6:06 pm

From the BBC:

Labour peer Lord Sugar has urged people not to vote for his party’s candidate Ken Livingstone.

The peer defied Labour leader Ed Miliband by telling his 1.8 million followers on Twitter not to back the former mayor’s bid for re-election.

“I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections,” he wrote.

Posted in News | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

Local liberal heroes: Duwayne Brooks

By Mark Pack | Thu 19th April 2012 - 10:25 am

A while back, I penned a series of posts profiling forgotten liberal heroes (to which a couple of other people also kindly contributed), looking at some of those who achieved great things for liberalism in their time but have been unjustly forgotten – such as Margaret Wintringham, the very first female Liberal MP.

There is also another group of people who I think are often unjustly obscure – those local campaigners who are often at the heart of their local community and local party, delivering liberalism and helping others, but as their stage is a local one they are often unacknowledged …

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Mark Pack

Labour candidate suspended over ‘kill Justin Bieber’ jibe

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th April 2012 - 10:44 pm

Via @suttonnick:

Western Mail front page -

Posted in News and Wales | Tagged | Leave a comment
Mark Pack

Conference accreditation: my submission

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th April 2012 - 9:25 am

Here is what I am emailing to [email protected] in response to the consultation about party conference (deadline Saturday 21st April):

Dear Andrew,

In itself, the idea that background checks might sometimes be a necessary part of extra security for events seems to me very plausible. So too does the possibility that the large number of journalists and TV cameras in attendance at the autumn round of party conferences make them a more attractive target for disruptive or violent action than other events at other times, even ones with similar prominent people from the party and government attending.

On the other hand, I know …

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Posted in Conference and Op-eds | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Individual electoral registration: this is how government is meant to work

By Mark Pack | Wed 18th April 2012 - 8:50 am

Electoral register formVia a slightly odd story in the Daily Telegraph comes the news that Nick Clegg is pushing for the current legal penalties for not returning electoral registration forms to be continued when individual electoral registration is introduced.

I say slightly odd, because Tim Ross’s report misses out nearly all of the context, simply talking about:

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, is backing proposals to ensure that every individual is responsible for registering themselves on the electoral roll.

However, ministers fear that thousands of young people, particularly students moving

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Nick Clegg: Nanny state? No. State nannies? Yes

By Mark Pack | Sun 15th April 2012 - 9:15 am

Interviewed in today’s Independent on Sunday, Nick Clegg has called for 65,000 nursery workers to be recruited as part of his social mobility drive:

“Every parent wants their child to do better than they did, and every parent wants their child to fulfil their potential,” he said.

State intervention to teach children as young as two will form the centrepiece of his “obsession” which will see childcare made the coalition’s highest priority social policy. Next month he will make a major announcement on his “passion” for shared parental leave and for extending the rights of flexible working.

And he pledged to take

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Labour pulp election leaflets over Welsh language comments

By Mark Pack | Sun 15th April 2012 - 8:55 am

From WalesOnline:

Labour has pulped 5,000 copies of a Cardiff council election leaflet because it contains a resident’s comment that they “can’t apply for most jobs in Wales because you need to speak Welsh”…

A Welsh Labour spokesman said: “Following external production of a leaflet for the Ely ward in Cardiff, the local party identified a small paragraph which contained words from a local resident that clearly ran contrary to Welsh Labour’s policy position and core beliefs…

“The leaflet in question – leaked to the South Wales Echo with the claim that it was being distributed – was stolen from a storage

…

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Posted in News and Wales | Tagged | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

Winston Churchill: Tory or Liberal?

By Mark Pack | Sat 14th April 2012 - 11:50 am

Winston Churchill“I am an English Liberal. I hate the Tory Party, their men, their words and their methods.” So said Winston Churchill in 1903.

As a Liberal, Churchill held high government office and, along with Lloyd George, was regarded as one of the driving forces of Asquith’s reforming administration. Was Liberalism his true political ideology? Or should we judge his position from his re-ratting in 1924 and his long association and later leadership of the Conservatives?

Those were the questions posed in the latest Liberal Democrat History Group meeting, held at the party’s spring conference. In case you were not at conference, or were there but not able to make it into the standing room only venue!, you can now watch the meeting online:

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Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged , and | 15 Comments
Mark Pack

Free schools: what should the party’s policy be in 2015?

By Mark Pack | Thu 12th April 2012 - 11:25 am

An empty classroomNews that the National Autistic Society is planning to set up a free school highlights an impending policy dilemma. Currently, the party’s policy is officially one of opposition to free schools. However if, by the time of the 2015 general election, free schools started by popular and worthy organisations such as the National Autistic Society are up and running, would it be either sensible education policy or practical politics simply to say, ‘we don’t like free schools; they have got to go’?

A different option would be …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , and | 59 Comments
Mark Pack

Sutton leader Sean Brennan retiring as leader next month

By Mark Pack | Thu 12th April 2012 - 8:55 am

Sutton Liberal Democrats have one of most impressive records of success anywhere in the UK – not only at winning and keeping control of Sutton Council (25th anniversary celebrated last year), not only at winning Parliamentary elections (two MPs in the borough, both Liberal Democrat) but also at pioneering many excellent environmental policies. Oh, and darn fine organisers of raffles too.

For the last decade Sean Brennan has been Leader of the Council, but this week he has announced that he will be standing down:

Coun Brennan, a former teacher first elected as a Sutton ward councillor in 1986

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Why election candidates shouldn’t have to publish their tax returns

By Mark Pack | Wed 11th April 2012 - 9:25 am

Remember all the stuff Liberal Democrats such as Vince Cable have been saying for years about how our tax system catches too much income and not enough wealth? You know what – I believe that, and I haven’t suddenly forgotten it in the last few days.

So the idea that somehow getting people to publish their tax returns really gives you a sense of how well-off they are is as flawed as the idea that the tax system those returns illustrate manages to catch how well-off you are. For the same reason that the tax system is out of kilter, so …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

It’s not as if the presenter on a TV news program needs to do anything other than look pretty and be drooled over, is it?

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th April 2012 - 9:45 pm

Dear David Sexton,

Thank you for letting me know that the new presenter on the BBC breakfast show this morning was “near-sleeveless” in a “short” dress that was also “tightly-fitted”. “She’s a bit of a wriggler” was handy to know, and I’m glad to have been warned that “you’re aware of her bare arms all the time”. But not so aware as to mean that you missed her being “naturally great-looking”. Good of you also to let me know that she has mastered the look of “beatific happiness” and can also “nod sagely”. Reassuring to know too that at times …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Does David Cameron take people’s privacy seriously? Here’s a test

By Mark Pack | Tue 10th April 2012 - 8:50 am

I’ve previously blogged about Conservative MP Ian Liddell-Grainger’s decision to publish personal data about someone without their consent and despite them warning him about his behaviour:

The origin of the dispute rests with butterflies, with the MP having taken great exception to a local pro-butterfly organisation seeking public money. Christopher Foster emailed the MP to disagree, making a few pungent comments of his own. The MP responded by publishing Mr Foster’s email in full, including his personal email address.

Given that under data protection law people’s email addresses are personal data, for an MP to publish without consent someone’s contact details

…

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Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Campaign Corner: Good luck

By Mark Pack | Mon 9th April 2012 - 3:50 pm

Thank you to everyone who has read, commented on or contributed ideas for the Campaign Corner series over the last 25 weeks. With this final post, it’ll have been going for six months and now, with people in full flight campaigning for May’s elections, is a good moment to bring it to an end.

If you are putting some of that advice to the test in May, and especially if you’re a Liberal Democrat!, best of luck and I hope it helps.

(If you’re not a Liberal Democrat by all means do follow the main themes of the advice: the public hate …

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Mark Pack

Why RIPA is flawed

By Mark Pack | Sat 7th April 2012 - 11:15 am

Greg Callus’s excellent post dissects in documented detail some of the problems with the RIPA regulatory mechanism – and why therefore simply extending the range of data that can be accessed under RIPA would be extending the range of data that can be accessed without proper control.

In particular:

Sometimes, there isn’t time for a written request because of an imminent threat to life and limb, and so the Urgent Oral procedure kicks in – the SPoC will normally be rudely awoken by a police officer explaining they have (eg) an urgent terrorism/kidnapping situation, and they need a notification to be

…

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

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw: gay people aren’t bothered about marriage

By Mark Pack | Fri 6th April 2012 - 4:50 pm

Bizarre comments from Labour MP Ben Bradshaw on the government’s plans for marriage equality:

This isn’t a priority for the gay community, which already won equal rights with civil partnerships. We’ve never needed the word ‘marriage’, and all it’s done now is get a bunch of bishops hot under the collar. We’ve been pragmatic, not making the mistake they have in the US, where the gay lobby has banged on about marriage.

As Pink News goes on to report:

In 2010, 98 per cent of PinkNews.co.uk readers that identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans said they wanted full marriage equality*. Mr Bradshaw’s

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 17 Comments
Mark Pack

How to get Lib Dem Voice by email

By Mark Pack | Fri 6th April 2012 - 12:45 pm

Why not join hundreds of other Lib Dem Voice readers in getting our latest headlines by email?

Some people like regularly visiting a site to see if there’s new stories of interest. Some people like subscribing to its news feed (RSS) and checking that way. But if you prefer email, you can instead sign up to get a daily early morning email with a summary of the previous day’s posts from Lib Dem Voice, complete with a note of how many comments each post has got and convenient links to click on if any take your fancy and you want to take a read.

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Mark Pack

Another day, another good Daily Mail front page

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th April 2012 - 11:25 pm

Trust you’re sitting down, but it’s another day and another Daily Mail front page pushing a positive civil liberties story, reporting on good news from government as another idea from the Conservative part of the Coalition is failing to win favour. It’s becoming rather a habit.

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

Posted in News | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

How to show you’re a party member when you post a comment

By Mark Pack | Thu 5th April 2012 - 4:50 pm

The option to put a photo next to your comment is open to everyone. In addition, if you’re a party member you can also have this indicated when you post a comment.

It’s very simple. You just need to register for our online forum and get a username and password. Then in future before commenting, login with your username. (On most devices for accessing the internet, you can turn on the setting for your login to be remembered so you do not have to do this each time.) You will then see the party logo appearing next to your …

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Posted in Site news | 11 Comments
Mark Pack

Good news on civil liberties from the Daily Mail

By Mark Pack | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 10:59 pm

Wednesday’s front page:

Posted in News | Tagged | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

The wheels are coming off the online monitoring bandwagon (UPDATED)

By Mark Pack | Tue 3rd April 2012 - 8:58 pm

Item one: A letter tomorrow in The Guardian from 15 Liberal Democrat MPs setting out their opposition to illiberal monitoring plans.

Item two: More Conservative MPs joining with David Davis in speaking out against widespread online monitoring, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Item three: The Times reporting, Cameron forced to retreat on snooping powers .

Item four: a subtle, but significant, choice of words by Nick Clegg in a media interview this lunchtime presaging a major change of course from the story given to the Sunday Times at the weekend. Clegg signalled (as does The Times report) that the Queen’s Speech will not include a Bill …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 19 Comments
Mark Pack

Campaign Corner: How do we recruit more members?

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 3:20 pm

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: How do we recruit more members?

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Posted in Campaign Corner | Tagged | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

The web snooping plans: time to get campaigning

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 12:45 pm

The Queen’s Speech will contain legislation on the interception of communications. Should Liberal Democrats (and indeed liberals) be alarmed?

I treat this question with some initial caution because in one respect many liberals have been – rightly – calling for more use of interception by the government for many years. That is in making intercept evidence admissible in court, so that more cases of alleged terrorism and the like can be brought to court , curbing the (claimed) need for legal powers to allow people to be restricted or restrained without a court case happening.

The other reason for treating the question …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 31 Comments
Mark Pack

What would you fix: 500 potholes or a private road for council use only?

By Mark Pack | Mon 2nd April 2012 - 12:24 pm

You have £35,000 to spend.

Do you:

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Posted in News | Tagged | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

+++ EXCLUSIVE: Government to bring 2013 local elections forward to last Thursday in February

By Mark Pack | Sun 1st April 2012 - 7:00 am

According to a series of leaked memos secured exclusively by The Voice, the Government will bring the 2013 local elections forward from May to February.

The change is being heavily pushed by the Department for Communities and Local Government, which wants to see councillors elected in enough time to be able to influence the coming year’s budget.

“Currently a council can change control in May, but often the fresh policies of the new administration are delayed because the council’s financial year has already started and the council tax level has already been set. We believe elections which settle the control of councils …

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Posted in News | 26 Comments
Mark Pack

Did Ken Livingstone break tax rules over Labour donation?

By Mark Pack | Sat 31st March 2012 - 3:25 pm

The Evening Standard has reported:

Ken Livingstone was under fresh pressure over his alleged tax avoidance after he was forced to admit using his private company to make a sizable political donation.

Mr Livingstone had previously claimed to have personally made a donation to the Labour Party of £19,202 in December for “staff costs” during his election campaign.

But he has now confirmed to the electoral commission that the donation came from his private company Silveta Ltd, through which he allegedly avoided at least £50,000 in tax by benefiting from corporation tax at 20 or 21 per cent rather than paying income tax

…

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Posted in London and News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Gurkha: The true story of a campaign for justice by Peter Carroll

By Mark Pack | Fri 30th March 2012 - 4:05 pm

The Gurkha Justice campaign, seeking to give those who had served in the British army the right to settle in Britain afterwards, is a classic and heartwarming story of how a small number of people can bring justice and joy to many.

For many years Gurkhas and others had raised the injustice of ex-soldiers being told ‘thank you for your bravery, now go and live elsewhere’. It was, however, only when Peter Carroll got involved that an effective campaign really started to take shape and then took off after a chance remark from a passing member of the public tipped him off to Joanna Lumley’s potential backing.

As Peter Carroll puts it in this account of the campaign:

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