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

Crossbenchers increasingly hostile to Labour as government makes boundary changes

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th January 2011 - 10:45 pm

Increasing anger from crossbench peers at Labour’s filibustering in the Lords looks to be preparing the way for either Labour backing down or (for the Lords) highly unusual procedural decisions to end the filibustering. As I put it earlier in the week, if Labour loses the support of the crossbenchers, it will not only lose the struggle over this bill but weaken its ability to successfully oppose other legislation in the future.

At the same time, the government has been showing its willingness to listen to scrutiny rather than filibustering by agreeing to two changes to the ways in which …

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , , , , and | 13 Comments
Mark Pack

The political thought of the Liberals and Liberal Democrats since 1945: book review

By Mark Pack | Wed 26th January 2011 - 10:25 am

Kevin Hickson’s volume, The political thought of the Liberals and Liberal Democrats since 1945, may be a short volume from an academic publisher with an academic book price tag to boot (look out for cheaper second-hand copies) but its contributors include many political practitioners. With Vince Cable, Steve Webb, David Howarth , Richard Grayson and Duncan Brack amongst them, this book has a very strong representation of people at the coalface of policy making rather than simply those who know of it only in theory.

As Hickson points out in the book’s introduction, the policies of the Liberal Democrats – even more so than other aspects of the history of the party and its predecessors since 1945 – have had very little coverage in books, an omission which this volume sets out to remedy and which political fortunes in the year after the book’s publication has made all the more useful a task to tackle.

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Posted in Books, Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged , , , , , , and | 1 Comment
Mark Pack

Anti-terrorism review: 6 questions to judge the government by

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th January 2011 - 8:56 pm

With the publication of the government’s anti-terrorism review just about to happen, and likely to include a large number of details, what are the key points to look for in judging how the review has gone?

So far, we know one outcome – the reduction in the maximum period people can be held without charge from 28-days to 14-days (which is in line with the Liberal Democrat manifesto). Yet to be published are the plans on control orders (the abolition of which has been another key Liberal Democrat demand) and on a host of other anti-terrorism legislation.

What to look out for

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , , and | 38 Comments
Mark Pack

Today’s the anniversary of the Limehouse Declaration

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th January 2011 - 2:55 pm

On 25 January 1981, four senior Labour politicians – Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams – issued the Limehouse Declaration, so called after David Owen’s East London home. It set out their plans which were to result in the formation of the SDP. As you can see, many of their policy concerns are still highly relevant:

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 53 Comments
Mark Pack

E-voting: why it was abandoned in the UK

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th January 2011 - 11:55 am

Back in the early years of this century, the UK was at the forefront of testing out e-voting for public elections. An extensive series of pilots were held and then … e-voting fell out of favour, because the pilots were not a success for a wide range of reasons. The issue still keeps on popping up, so having recently come across again what I wrote back in 2003 about those pilots, those lessons are worth restating. Here is what I wrote back in the summer of 2003. Luckily the last paragraph turned out to be wrong.

E-voting: triumph or disaster?

According to …

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Posted in Online politics and Op-eds | Tagged and | 10 Comments
Mark Pack

Compromise and conflict in the air in Lords stand-off over filibustering

By Mark Pack | Tue 25th January 2011 - 12:02 am

There’s a finely balanced stand-off in the Lords over the Parliamentary Voting Systems and Constituencies Bill. Many Labour peers feel they are just a few days of filibustering away from achieving, for them, a major political objective – forcing the government to change the date of the AV referendum – and, or perhaps instead, forcing major changes to the Bill, such as a change in the new rules for drawing up Parliamentary constituencies.

However they also face a major risk of the delaying tactics going wrong. Over-play their hand, annoy the cross-bench peers and spur the government into action and the …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 21 Comments
Mark Pack

Sal Esposito: the mythical story of the cat and the jury summons

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th January 2011 - 12:25 pm

Even if you follow the news only lightly, the chances are you’ve seen a story in the last few days about how a cat received a jury summons in the US and, when the owners pointed out it was a cat, the local bureaucracy ordered the cat to turn up to court anyway.

So far, so normal as far as daft bureaucrats go?

Well, not quite. Because you don’t exactly have to be a fan of American judicial bureaucracy to stop and think, “Is it really true that the person organising the jury just ignored it when someone told them they had …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 16 Comments
Mark Pack

Ed Balls and his praise for light-touch regulation in the City

By Mark Pack | Mon 24th January 2011 - 8:45 am

As Caron Lindsay pointed out in her write-up of Nick Clegg’s interview with Andrew Marr yesterday morning, the question of Ed Balls’s record in government compared with Labour’s current policies is likely to become all the more pointed now that Balls is back in an economic role:

There’s no sign of timidity in the Coalition camp at the appointment of Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor. It’s clear that no opportunity will be lost to remind people of his culpability in the current mess:

Labour never owned up to their responsibility. Ed Balls as Minister for the City was lauding light

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 30 Comments
Mark Pack

Chris Huhne speaks out over phone hacking

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 10:35 pm

As I mentioned earlier today, Chris Huhne went somewhat further in his Independent on Sunday profile in making critical comments about Andy Coulson and the phone hacking allegations than the party’s rather bland official statement. He’s now gone further, as the FT reports:

A cabinet minister has sharply criticised Scotland Yard for accepting what he called News International’s “implausible” account of phone hacking at one of its tabloids, as it emerged that Gordon Brown had acted on fears that he was targeted.

Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, raised the political stakes in the illegal surveillance scandal by claiming the police

…

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

Federal Executive elects people to key party posts

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 4:55 pm

During the week, the Federal Executive elected the following:

Deputy Chair, Federal Executive – Alison Goldsworthy
Chair, Federal Finance and Administration Committee – Duncan Greenland
Treasurer – Richard Duncalf
Chair, Campaigns & Communications Committee- James Gurling
Chair, International Relations Committee – Robert Woodthorpe-Browne
Chair, Campaign for Gender Balance – Ros Gordon

Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 8 Comments
Mark Pack

Chris Huhne profiled by the Independent on Sunday

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 4:06 pm

Today’s Independent on Sunday has a long profile of Chris Huhne and his work as a Cabinet minister and including some hints of criticism of Andy Coulson:

The one time he appears to choose his words carefully is when discussing Andy Coulson. On a biting Friday morning, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change does not yet know that the chill wind blowing along Downing Street will signal the resignation within hours of the coalition’s director of communications.

“I have no reason to doubt his position,” he says precisely, when asked if he was happy with Mr Coulson continuing in

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

‘No’ campaign vetoes public funding for Welsh referendum campaign

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 11:25 am

The No campaign for the March 3rd referendum on increasing the powers of the Welsh Assembly, True Wales, has decided not to seek official designation, thereby depriving both the Yes and No sides of public funding.

Referendum legislation makes funding available to both sides in a referendum if there is an officially designated campaign on both sides. As a result of the No campaign declining to seek official designation, this funding – £70,000 in cash, a free mailshot and TV broadcasts – along with higher spending limits, will not be available to either side.

The No campaign has explained its decision …

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Posted in Election law and Wales | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Book review: Hung Together – The 2010 Election and the Coalition Government

By Mark Pack | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 8:55 am

Adam Boulton and Joey Jones, the authors of Hung Together: The 2010 Election and the Coalition Government, have produced a book of the sort that, after previous general elections, would have been deserving of praise and interest. Their bad luck for the 2010 election is that there are several high quality alternatives available, in particular the revitalised Nuffield general election series in the form of The British General Election of 2010 and David Laws’s 22 Days in May, not to mention the Nick Robinson BBC documentary.

Compared to those this lively book is a little lightweight. It does …

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Posted in Books | Tagged and | 3 Comments
Mark Pack

Controversy over pay in the university sector

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd January 2011 - 7:06 pm

The Daily Telegraph reports:

The pay packets of Britain’s university heads rocketed by as much as a fifth last year, just as institutions lobbied for a huge hike in student tuition fees…

More than 950 university staff, including all vice-chancellors, were paid more than the Prime Minister – an eight per cent increase on the year before.

One senior administrator at Oxford was given a salary of almost £600,000, thought to be the highest-paid university post in the country…

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Universities and Colleges Union, added: “Staff and the general public are tired of the hypocrisy from vice-chancellors and

…

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Mark Pack

Becky Harvey passes away

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd January 2011 - 10:25 am

Yesterday I got the tragic message from Jon Ball that, “Many of you know that Becky Harvey has been very ill for a number of years now. Sadly, Becky passed away this morning at home in Devon. I’m fondly remembering the time we shared and the amazing energy and sense of fun she had”.

Becky was one of the online pioneers in the Liberal Democrats, playing a key role in the creation of a role at party headquarters dealing with the internet – which I ended up filling – and being one of the key volunteers helping me to run the …

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Posted in News | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

Andy Coulson finally goes

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd January 2011 - 9:25 am

Over the years we’ve covered Andy Coulson many times on this blog, over both his extremely high salary when working for the Tories (much higher than salaries levels Tories were criticising others for having) and also – more importantly – the phone hacking allegations.

Although yesterday he resigned, he is unlikely to depart the political stage quickly or quietly as the long queue of people at various stage of taking legal action over allegations of phone hacking mean the details of who did what and with whose knowledge will continue to be newsworthy for a good while yet.

The official Liberal …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

The Saturday debate: Does Britain need nuclear weapons?

By Mark Pack | Sat 22nd January 2011 - 8:55 am

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

One of the achievements of the Liberal Democrats in Coalition Government so far has been to ensure that no Trident replacement is orders during this Parliament. At the next election the party will be able to say, “We said we opposed Labour and Tory plans for replacing Trident – and those plans haven’t happened”. But is that going far enough; should Britain retain nuclear weapons at all – and if not, when and how should it give them up?

Agree? Disagree? Post your …

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 47 Comments
Mark Pack

A small example of how Labour lost control of public expenditure

By Mark Pack | Fri 21st January 2011 - 12:55 pm

The admission by a senior civil servant that the Labour government had lost control of public expenditure in three departments shows how the example I gave in December was but part of a wider pattern:

A significant increase in the pay of some Returning Officers was quietly introduced by the then Labour government ahead of this year’s general election but no estimate was made as to what the costs would be … The government has admitted in response to a series of freedom of information requests that no trace can be found of any calculations being made as to

…

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Posted in News | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

Wanted: one party locksmith

By Mark Pack | Fri 21st January 2011 - 8:55 am

The Guardian‘s splash about the first meeting of the party’s newly elected Federal Executive makes for rather generous coverage of a completely unexceptional decision by the FE.

That the first meeting of the newly elected committee, faced with deciding what motion to put to the Spring Conferences, goes for saying that the party should fight the next general election as an independent party is about as unsurprising an outcome as you could expect. But if The Guardian wants to give heavy coverage to the Lib Dems and Conservatives not being one and the same, that’s not exactly the worst the …

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Posted in Op-eds and Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 10 Comments
Mark Pack

Detention without charge to be cut from 28-days to 14-days

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th January 2011 - 9:55 pm

It’s long been a Liberal Democrat demand, and it was in the party’s 2010 manifesto, so good news that detention without charge is set to fall back to 14-days. The current 28-days limit expires on Monday and today the government has confirmed that it will not be trying to renew the limit. The 28-day increase was brought in by the then Labour government in 2006.

The BBC adds:

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, who campaigned to reinstate the 14-day limit, said the move would speed up the justice system. “If the time frame is longer I’m afraid that there is less

…

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

New Lib Dem councillor representatives elected for party committees

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th January 2011 - 12:50 pm

Via the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) comes the news:

Elections have taken place to elect the principal councillor representative on two Federal Party Committees for 2011-2012:

On the Federal Executive Committee the following have been elected:

Cllr Stan Collins (South Lakeland DC and Cumbria CC)
Cllr Keith House (Eastleigh BC and Hampshire CC)

On the Federal Policy Committee the following have been elected:

Cllr Louise Bloom (Eastleigh BC)
Cllr Stan Collins (South Lakeland DC and Cumbria CC)
Cllr Chris White (St Albans CC and Hertfordshire CC)

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Mark Pack

I hope this isn’t what Labour means by sensible debate over Parliamentary boundaries

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th January 2011 - 8:55 am

We’ve heard a lot in recent weeks about how keen the Labour Party is to have sensible debate, careful consideration and proper analysis of the government’s proposals to change the way Parliamentary boundaries are drawn up.

So if you were to take a look at an article just written for a Labour pressure group by a current MP (i.e. one who has been in Parliament whilst the legislation has had all its House of Commons stages) and member of the Labour Party, and published by a Labour pressure group, you’d expect it perhaps to contribute to that serious debate. Or at …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 25 Comments
Mark Pack

Michael Gove encourages people to vote Liberal Democrat

By Mark Pack | Thu 20th January 2011 - 8:20 am

From yesterday’s Hansard:

Michael Gove: … In Liberal Democrat-controlled Hull, any student in receipt of education maintenance allowance also receives a travel grant to cope with the full cost—

Mr David Blunkett (Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough) (Lab): They won’t now.

Michael Gove: I suspect they won’t if a Labour council takes power, but if people are wise enough to vote Liberal Democrat at the next local election in Hull——or for the Conservatives in any seat where we are well placed to defeat Labour, they will have a council that is fulfilling its statutory duty.

Posted in News | Tagged , and | 29 Comments
Mark Pack

Welsh local government boundaries to remain the same until after 2012 elections

By Mark Pack | Wed 19th January 2011 - 12:25 pm

A press release from the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales explains,

The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government has announced that he will not be making any changes to the present electoral arrangements for any local authorities in Wales until after the 2012 local government elections.

However, despite this the Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales is pressing ahead with some of its boundary reviews, with draft proposals for County Borough of Caerphilly published on Monday and feedback requested by 22 March. The reviews for Wrexham are also continuing, but those for Swansea are on hold after their proposals …

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

Internet and politics: how it worked back in 2003

By Mark Pack | Wed 19th January 2011 - 10:25 am

A quick trip down memory lane for some historical perspective on the impact of the internet on political campaigning with this piece that I wrote for an academic email newsletter (the Political Marketing Group Newsletter) after the 2003 Brent East by-election. The lessons still look extremely relevant – making the point that principles of good campaigning and communication last as individual technologies, programs and companies come and go.

Winning Brent East: did the internet matter?

When Sarah Teather won the Brent East Parliamentary seat for the Liberal Democrats in the by-election on September 18th 2003, it was one of the party’s most …

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Posted in Online politics | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Mark Pack

“Gay couple win bed and breakfast snub case”

By Mark Pack | Wed 19th January 2011 - 8:55 am

So reports the Press Association:

Christian hotel owners who refused a gay couple a double room acted unlawfully, a judge ruled .

Peter and Hazelmary Bull were breaking the law when they denied Martyn Hall and his civil partner Steven Preddy a room at their hotel in Cornwall in September 2008.

Judge Andrew Rutherford made the ruling in a written judgment at Bristol County Court as he awarded the couple £1,800 each in damages.

Posted in News | 24 Comments
Mark Pack

Votes for (some) prisoners to get a vote in Parliament

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th January 2011 - 8:34 pm

The BBC’s Nick Robinson reports:

David Davis and Jack Straw have got their way. The Commons will get the chance to vote – probably in the middle of February – for a motion to defy the European Court of Human Rights on prisoner voting…

The prime minister welcomes the plan for the Commons to hold a debate on whether prisoners should be given the vote as demanded by the European Court of Human Rights and believes that it “could be helpful”, I’m told. David Cameron is said to want as few prisoners as possible to be given the vote and is still

…

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Posted in Election law and News | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Mark Pack

It’s almost as if Tim Farron reads this site…

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th January 2011 - 1:50 pm

No doubt this is at least in part coincidence, but compare my comments on what party emails should be more like with the latest from Tim Farron and you’d think someone has been reading this site…

As you read this email Labour peers are using every trick in the book to try and block a referendum on fairer votes.

In the Liberal Democrats we believe that the New Politics should be embraced by all parties. That is why I’m asking you to join me today in bringing pressure to bear on Ed Milliband and his Labour peers to live up to

…

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Posted in News and Online politics | Tagged , and | 32 Comments
Mark Pack

Capitalism as if the world matters: Jonathan Porritt’s prescription for sustaintability

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th January 2011 - 10:25 am

First published in 2005 and issued in a revised edition in 2007, Jonathan Porritt’s Capitalism as if the world matters has played an important part in arguing the case that not only can capitalism and sustainability go together, but that a reformed version of capitalism is essential to achieving sustainability.

This view sets Porritt apart from many of his former colleagues of his from his six years as chair of the UK Ecology Party (now the Green Party) and another six heading up Friends of the Earth. It made – and makes – his book controversial in many green circles …

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Posted in Books and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Mark Pack

Why does Alan Johnson want the government to have a plan for something Ed Miliband says isn’t going to happen?

By Mark Pack | Mon 17th January 2011 - 8:46 pm

At the weekend, there was a flurry of activity online (such as here) following Ed Miliband’s interview on the Andrew Marr show where he denied having said that the government’s policies would cause a double-dip recession and various people pointed out how this was contradicted by his own website (and also, though less noticed, by the Labour Party website too).

If you look at the dates of who said what, there seems to be a fairly straight-forward explanation: Ed Miliband and others in Labour were expecting (or at least willing to talk in public as if they were expecting) …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 23 Comments
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