Author Archives: Paul Walter

Paul Walter

Javid is cutting the UK’s nose off to spite our faces

By Paul Walter | Mon 20th January 2020 - 1:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Last week, the Chancellor Sajid Javid sat down in the Pickles sandwich bar, Westminster, for an interview with the Financial Times. You can read the interview in full here, but you may have to subscribe or join the FT’s trial membership scheme.

In it, he talked tough about the UK post-Brexit trading scenario. Hopefully, this is pre-negotiation chatter, but what he said was alarming nonetheless:

There will not be alignment, we will not be a ruletaker, we will not be in the single market and we will not be in the customs union — and we will do this by the end of the year.

He said there would be no Treasury support for the big manufacturing sectors to adjust to the new trade rules. Rather peevishly he added that they had had since 2016 to prepare for the new scenario. Of course, they have not known what the Sam Hill they were needing to prepare for during those three years.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 34 Comments
Paul Walter

LibDems failed to shift enough Tory remainers – Electoral Calculus on 2017->2019 voter migration

By Paul Walter | Sun 19th January 2020 - 11:25 am

Embed from Getty Images

Martin Baxter’s Electoral Calculus website has an excellent Infographic on Voter migration 2017 – 2019. Using human figures (voters) to represent one percentage point of the voters, he not only shows where 2017 voters and non-voters went in 2019, he also graphically shows 2016 EU referendum preferences.

His conclusion on the LibDems is interesting:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 37 Comments
Paul Walter

Kicked into the long grass – the Lib Dem leadership election

By Paul Walter | Sat 18th January 2020 - 8:30 pm

Long Grass In Rainy Days
18.6 Should the post of Leader become vacant before the election of a new Leader, the Acting Leader of the Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons and the President of the Party shall jointly assume the responsibilities of Leader of the Party until the new Leader is elected.
Federal Liberal Democrat Constitution

This afternoon, the party announced the timetable for the election of a new leader of the party. This was agreed at the first meeting of the Federal Board chaired by our new President and current co-leader of the party, Mark Pack.

Nominations will open on May 11th, which is the Monday after the elections on May 7th. Nominations will close on May 28th with ballots opening on June 18th and closing on July 15th, after which the new leader will be announced.

I’m not privy to the Federal Board discussions but it does not take a mind-reader to, at least, pick out some of the themes behind this decision.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 19 Comments
Paul Walter

Should we be prouder and more vocal about our membership of the Council of Europe?

By Paul Walter | Sat 18th January 2020 - 4:00 pm


Embed from Getty Images

Should we celebrate Europe Day every May 5th?

An LDV reader, John Probert (who has the rare distinction of being a remaining former councillor on Middlesex County Council) has made a suggestion along these lines.

After January 31st we will still be members of the Council of Europe, who celebrate Europe Day on May 5th (EU members celebrate it on May 9th).

Such a celebration would publicise the fact that we remain members of the Council of Europe, which was first suggested under such a name by Churchill in a wartime broadcast on 21st March 1943.

Its Statute says:

The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

+++Timetable to elect new leader set out

By Paul Walter | Sat 18th January 2020 - 2:16 pm

The Liberal Democrats have today agreed the timetable to elect the next leader of the Liberal Democrats.

At a meeting today of the party’s Federal Board in London, the party agreed to open nominations for candidates on the 11th of May and close them on the 28th of May.

The ballot will then open on the 18th of June and close on the 15th of July, after which the party will announce the next leader.

In the meantime, Ed Davey MP and Party President Mark Pack will continue as joint acting leaders of the Liberal Democrats.

Speaking after the meeting, Liberal Democrat Party …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 14 Comments
Paul Walter

Annoyance of LibDem MPs over power of “new sexy people” in 2019 election decisions – Five candidates ready for party leadership contest – Timetable today

By Paul Walter | Sat 18th January 2020 - 9:00 am

Ailbhe Rea has written a long article on the Liberal Democrats for the New Statesman.

There are some interesting points about the 2019 election covered, based on reported conversations with our MPs:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 40 Comments
Paul Walter

Vote share increase for Tara Murray in Bristol

By Paul Walter | Fri 17th January 2020 - 12:36 pm

Well done to Tara Murray and team (above with Ed Davey) for an impressive vote share increase in the Brislington East by-election in Bristol yesterday.

The result was:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Leave a comment
Paul Walter

Will we ever move forward if failure is seen to be richly rewarded?

By Paul Walter | Sun 12th January 2020 - 9:44 am


Embed from Getty Images

I worked in the computer industry for my career.

I count myself lucky that I survived in a job that long.

But you have to be careful in industry.

I should imagine if a business manager spread a budget of £20 million over five times the area it should have been spread, with the result of modest failure rather than modest success, then she/he would be consigned to a dusty office with “special projects” written on the door for the rest of their career.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 122 Comments
Paul Walter

Rumour: Jo Swinson set to be awarded a peerage

By Paul Walter | Fri 10th January 2020 - 4:55 pm

This fortnight’s edition of Private Eye is proving to be quite a goldmine. I thoroughly recommend buying a copy at your local newsagent or similar outlet.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 48 Comments
Paul Walter

“Her disastrous miscalculation” – Sir Nick Harvey’s view on Jo Swinson’s support for December election

By Paul Walter | Fri 10th January 2020 - 9:50 am

Former North Devon MP, Sir Nick Harvey stood down as Liberal Democrat party chief executive shortly before 20th October last year.

In this fortnight’s Private Eye, a letter from Nick is published which severely criticises a decision made by the then party leader, Jo Swinson, soon after he left the role on 28th October.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 99 Comments
Paul Walter

Whatever happened to the class of 2015? – the full list

By Paul Walter | Wed 8th January 2020 - 11:20 am


Embed from Getty Images

I suppose that it is very easy to get into the mindset that politics is everything in life. But it turns out that there is life outside of Westminster.

I read the other day that former Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, is training to become a gym instructor.

That started me thinking about what had happened to our vast number of MPs from before the election in 2015.

Stephen Gilbert, former MP for St Austell and Newquay, for example. Whatever happened to him after he posted a “Gone Surfing” post-it note on his Twitter account in 2015? Well, it turns out he’s a teacher.

I then thought I’d better find about some of the others and, before I knew it, I was launching a vast spreadsheet and had started a huge task.

Anyway, here is the result of my researches, in alphabetical order. If you spot any omissions or errors, please let me know in the comments below:

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 23 Comments
Paul Walter

Whatever happened to the class of 2015? – third and final excerpt

By Paul Walter | Tue 7th January 2020 - 11:00 am


Embed from Getty Images

I suppose that it is very easy to get into the mindset that politics is everything in life. But it turns out that there is life outside of Westminster.

I read the other day that former Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, is training to become a gym instructor.

That started me thinking about what had happened to our vast number of MPs from before the election in 2015.

Stephen Gilbert, former MP for St Austell and Newquay, for example. Whatever happened to him after he posted a “Gone Surfing” post-it note on his Twitter account in 2015? Well, it turns out he’s a teacher.

I then thought I’d better find about some of the others and, before I knew it, I was launching a vast spreadsheet and had started a huge task.

Anyway, here is the third and final part of my researches, from P to W in alphabetical order (Part 1 is available here and part two is here). If you spot any omissions or errors, please let me know in the comments below:

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 12 Comments
Paul Walter

Alastair Campbell plays his annual bagpipe lament to Charles Kennedy at his graveside

By Paul Walter | Tue 7th January 2020 - 9:30 am

This is quite something. Handkerchieves at the ready. Thank you to @JohnPugh2017 who retweeted this.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Paul Walter

Whatever happened to the class of 2015? (2)

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th January 2020 - 4:30 pm


Embed from Getty Images

I suppose that it is very easy to get into the mindset that politics is everything in life. But it turns out that there is life outside of Westminster.

I read the other day that former Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, is training to become a gym instructor.

That started me thinking about what had happened to our vast number of MPs from before the election in 2015.

Stephen Gilbert, former MP for St Austell and Newquay, for example. Whatever happened to him after he posted a “Gone Surfing” post-it note on his Twitter account in 2015? Well, it turns out he’s a teacher.

I then thought I’d better find about some of the others and, before I knew it, I was launching a vast spreadsheet and had started a huge task.

Anyway, here is the second part of my researches, from H to M in alphabetical order (Part 1 is available here). If you spot any omissions or errors, please let me know in the comments below:

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 3 Comments
Paul Walter

Music news: Two albums released by former Lib Dem MPs

By Paul Walter | Mon 6th January 2020 - 3:00 pm



During my researches for my “Class of 2015” articles, I have been delighted to find that two of our MPs from the “Class of 2015” have released musical albums.

Norman Baker, who lost his Lewes seat in 2015 and previously recorded with his band “The Reform Club”, has released a solo album called “Staying Blue” which is available widely on Angel Air Records. A couple of the tracks are on YouTube including “Shipping Forecast” (above) which includes a snippet of the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast and these classic lines:

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Paul Walter

Reminder: there’s still time to get the early bird discount for the York Spring Conference

By Paul Walter | Sun 5th January 2020 - 1:04 pm

This is a gentle reminder that you can still take advantage of the “early bird” discount if you register before January 7th – that’s this coming Tuesday – for the York Spring Conference.

Due to feedback from our esteemed LDV editor, Caron, the deadline was extended especially to allow people sufficient time after the hard work of the election.

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | Leave a comment
Paul Walter

Whatever happened to the class of 2015? (1)

By Paul Walter | Sat 4th January 2020 - 1:32 pm


Embed from Getty Images

I suppose that it is very easy to get into the mindset that politics is everything in life. But it turns out that there is life outside of Westminster.

I read the other day that former Labour Deputy Leader, Tom Watson, is training to become a gym instructor.

That started me thinking about what had happened to our vast number of MPs from before the election in 2015.

Stephen Gilbert, former MP for St Austell and Newquay, for example. Whatever happened to him after he posted a “Gone Surfing” post-it note on his Twitter account in 2015? Well, it turns out he’s a teacher.

I then thought I’d better find about some of the others and, before I knew it, I was launching a vast spreadsheet and had started a huge task.

Anyway, here is the first part of my researches, starting in alphabetical order. If you spot any omissions or errors, please let me know in the comments below:

Continue reading »
Posted in Liberal History | Tagged | 15 Comments
Paul Walter

2019 was the party’s least efficient General Election campaign

By Paul Walter | Thu 19th December 2019 - 12:45 pm

If the objective of a general election is to win the most Commons’ seats we can (which I assume it is), then 2019 was the least efficient general election in the party’s history.

That is, if you define efficiency as garnering votes in such a geographical way so that we maximise the number of seats we win. The figures are as follows:

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 33 Comments
Paul Walter

Our party co-leaders want to hear from us

By Paul Walter | Thu 19th December 2019 - 11:15 am

Our current co-leaders, Sal Brinton and Ed Davey, have written to party members asking for their initial thoughts on the general election campaign and results.

They write:

…we know we have a lot of work to do and many lessons to learn.

In the new year, we’ll be conducting a full independent review of this election. This will include a chance for you to give us all of your views on what worked, what didn’t, and what we need to do differently in the future.

But we also want to give you a chance to share your views before the Christmas break.

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged | 29 Comments
Paul Walter

We did dreadfully badly amongst lower earners and those without university degrees – poll of 13,000 voters on election day

By Paul Walter | Mon 16th December 2019 - 7:23 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Lord Ashcroft has published the results of a poll his organisation conducted with 13,000 voters on election day.

The output from the 29 questions gives some interesting insights and can be read here, complete with clear graphs and downloadable xls data tables.

A few observations from me. Based on this sample:

  • It is noticeable that a high proportion of our voters were “AB” in socio-economic terms. 15% of ABs voted for us (two points of the across-the-board total of 12% in this poll). But

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 66 Comments
Paul Walter

9am update

By Paul Walter | Fri 13th December 2019 - 10:08 am

This email has come into members’ inboxes from Shaun Roberts, the party’s Director of Campaigns and Elections:

I’m tired, I’m sad and I’m frustrated, (member).

In 6 seats, we were less than a thousand votes away from winning. That is agonising. Some of these campaigns saw increases in vote share of 20-30% – an extraordinary leap forward, achieved by hard work from fantastic teams.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 49 Comments
Paul Walter

5am update

By Paul Walter | Fri 13th December 2019 - 5:16 am

Party members have just received this email from James Gurling, Chair of the Federal Communications and Elections committee:

…This is not the email I had hoped to be sending you.

We wake this morning to a double blow. A Conservative majority Government, hell bent on pushing Brexit through, and the loss of our Leader, Jo Swinson from Parliament.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | 31 Comments
Paul Walter

OPEN THREAD: Your thoughts on the election campaign and the results as they come in

By Paul Walter | Thu 12th December 2019 - 10:01 pm

via GIPHY


Bat shit crazy.

Getting up in the dark to deliver “Good Mornings” for two hours before dawn.

This task was leavened by a vague blob in the darkness besides the A4. He was a blob of anoraks, waterproof trousers and ski hats at 7am in front of me as he approached a 4*4 which had arrived to collect him for work:

You must have covered a lot of ground

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 175 Comments
Paul Walter

Two earthly halves locked in a downward spiral

By Paul Walter | Wed 11th December 2019 - 2:30 pm

Embed from Getty Images

Jeremy Clarkson recently became a climate change believer when he experienced a dry lake in Cambodia.

I recently experienced something of the bush fire season in Australia. As well as all-pervasive smoke in most of Queensland and New South Wales, ABC Radio news is a constant stream of news on the bush fires – hundreds of them raging all the time. And it is still their spring.

Without trying to rehearse the dangers of climate change, I have one particular fear.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 20 Comments
Paul Walter

Tammy Duckworth and the importance of second chamber reform

By Paul Walter | Wed 11th December 2019 - 9:30 am

Embed from Getty Images
One issue that has not come up during this campaign, but should have, is second chamber reform.

Firstly, may I say that our House of Lords has many, many fine members and does a fantastic job.

But there is a problem. We can’t get rid of it. It fails on the five democratic questions that dear old Tony Benn used to repeat endlessly:

What power have you got?

Where did you get it from?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Paul Walter

Jo Swinson on brilliant form on transgender rights

By Paul Walter | Mon 9th December 2019 - 10:57 am

If you haven’t seen this clip, it’s worth watching. Jo is on brilliant form as she responds to an LBC caller who criticised boys wearing skirts. As Nick Ferrari wades in about “national security” and risks for British citizens in Saudi Arabia, Jo is passionate and concludes:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 11 Comments
Paul Walter

Hugh Grant on the frustrating lack of progress in combatting press abuses since the Leveson Inquiry

By Paul Walter | Thu 5th December 2019 - 5:10 pm

When I interviewed Hugh Grant on Monday, I started by asking him a couple of questions about his work with the pressure group Hacked Off on press abuse.

Firstly, I asked how he thinks the campaign to curb press abuse issue is looking at the moment. Here’s his reply:

Well, it’s extremely frustrating that we got as far as we did. Hacked Off campaigned for a judicial enquiry. We got it. Leveson’s recommendations at the end of that were very mild really, on the spectrum of what he could have recommended. It was then a struggle to get them into law but finally, as you’ll remember, they were passed by the entire House. There was the Royal Charter, and then there was Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act, which I assumed, if the whole of Parliament has given it the thumbs up, must become law. It turns out there’s a technical glitch called “commencement”, which the Tory government managed to exploit, and they never pressed that commencement button.

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 7 Comments
Paul Walter

Jo Swinson is impressive under the Andrew Neil grilling

By Paul Walter | Wed 4th December 2019 - 10:17 pm

Jo Swinson gave a very impressive performance under the grilling of Andrew Neil this evening on primetime BBC1. (You can view it here).

She was confident, offering contrition on the mistakes of the coalition and outlining the Liberal Democrat positions clearly.

There are plenty of past examples of car crash interviews with Andrew Neil at the helm. Jo did very well under his forensic questioning.

Here’s a selection of tweets reacting to tonight’s programme:

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , and | 14 Comments
Paul Walter

Traditional Tory voters in London are coming across to the LibDems

By Paul Walter | Tue 3rd December 2019 - 7:30 pm

Siobhan Benita, our London spokesperson and 2020 mayoral candidate (right), has been campaigning for LibDem candidates all over London. Yesterday she spoke to me about how things are going. This was her assessment:

I think it is going really well. We’re definitely seeing, in some of our key target seats, what we’ve heard here (in City of London and Westminster), which is (that) especially traditional Conservative voters, are (coming across to the LibDems). (This is) not just about Brexit – what we were hearing in Kensington yesterday, for example with Sam’s team, and a lot of the older voters there who have only ever voted Conservative, were saying they don’t associate with Boris Johnson’s Conservative party – they don’t like him – they don’t like the lies he is saying – and for the first time ever – some of them had already postal voted – they’d already given us their vote. So I think we are definitely seeing that across the capital. The nice thing for me, I think as well, is that I know we are obviously strong in parts of London – say south-west London – we have traditionally been strong. I’m definitely getting that sense in the north as well, in Finchley and Golders Green it’s going to be really really exciting there too. So I am hoping that we can – you know – change the map across London and that we’ll be seeing yellow pockets across London, other than the south-west – but I think we’ll grow there as well.

Continue reading »
Posted in London and News | Tagged , and | 23 Comments
Paul Walter

In pictures: Hugh Grant campaigning for Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger

By Paul Walter | Tue 3rd December 2019 - 10:30 am

Here, from Getty Images, is a slideshow of Hugh Grant’s visit to support Chuka Ummuna yesterday, and Luciana Berger on Sunday evening.

Please use the arrows to go back and forwards across the slideshow, and hover your mouse or finger over each photo to read its caption:


Embed from Getty Images

Continue reading »
Posted in Photo feature | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • David Allen
    A clear, credible, principled strategy from the Yorkists! Makes a welcome change. Sadly, followed by twenty below-the-line posts, providing nearly twenty ve...
  • Simon McGrath
    so we get a permanant increase in costs for these subsidies based on ( alleged ) windfall profits. Its another big increase in spending -how is it to be paid ...
  • Peter Davies
    @Kira CollinsThat assumes we want to help people more with their energy bills than with all the other bills they may be struggling with. There is no reason why ...
  • Rob Heale
    Agree that we need to focus on strategy and have clearer messaging:- 1. We MUST prioritise membership recruitment in all we do, including PPB's, most leaflets...
  • Kira Collins
    Disappointed. The most obvious means of reducing energy bills is to remove VAT. Relatively straightforward to do and does not adversely impact on the attractive...