Author Archives: the founding editor

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The MP who sparked the cash-for-honours inquiry has apologised for a lapse of judgement after a newspaper said he had a “drunken romp” with two teenagers.
The Sunday Mail reported that the SNP’s Angus MacNeil “kissed and fondled” the girls in a hotel room in July 2005.

The Western Isles MP said he bitterly regretted the incident which took place at a post-ceilidh party in Shetland.

More.

Congratulations to Cllr Stuart Beadle, who will be re-elected in May after his only opponent, a Conservative, turned up at Broadland District Council HQ with his nomination papers twenty minutes too late.

Lord Greaves warns candidates to lay off the food.

Mind you, as for his quote “Some people go along to the rallies of a particular candidate because they know they are going to get a lot of food” – isn’t that the reason the National Union of Teachers fringe is always packed at conference? Yum yum, fish and chips.

And very shiny it is too.

Worth watching for a laugh. Billed as a “day in the life” of the First Minster, it’s clearly the day that Jack McConnell was stalked by Annabel Goldie as the voice of God:

While we wait to find out if the Labour Party will return money to putative peers, and David Cameron will return the money obtained from misuse of his office, the Lib Dems have decided to return a donation that broke the rules.

According to the Guardian:

The Liberal Democrats have agreed to repay a £40,000 donation, the Electoral Commission confirmed today.
The party conceded that the money, donated by Christopher Nicholson on December 31 last year, was impermissible because the donor was not on the electoral register at the time the donation was made.

I doff my cap to Liberal Review …

It’s always nice to report a good news story, and this press release from the Lib Dems is good news at the end of a campaign that has lasted years.  Congrats to Ed Davey and everyone involved in seeing Bishar al-Rawi freed. By all accounts his experience has left Bishar traumatised, and it’s good that he can begin to recover back in Britain.

Did the movers of the Trident motion act properly by sending a mailshot to constituency chairs outlining their policy ahead of conference?

Yes: 40% (41)
No: 60% (62)

Total Votes : 103

Part of a £2.4 million donation received by the Liberal Democrats from a disgraced financier came from a pensioner who is being forced to sell his home.

Robbin Watts, a retired building contractor, unwittingly invested £155,000 with Michael Brown’s company, 5th Avenue Partners, in April 2004 believing that he was investing in guaranteed bonds.

His money, which was raised against his home, was then given to the Lib Dems to help to fund their most successful postwar election campaign and the party is refusing to give the money back. The disclosure is the first time that a British taxpayer has claimed that

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The result of our last poll will be announced tomorrow, but you can now vote in the latest poll: Get the pigeon? Is it time to ditch Libby, the Lib Dem Bird of Liberty logo?

The voting box is over on the right-hand side of the page.

Senior people are planning to ditch gold as a Lib Dem colour apparently – orange is the one true way. The bird is safe… for now (I’ll get dat pigeon one day..)

Excellent post by James Graham.

Media Guardian reports:

Michael Crick has been appointed political editor of Newsnight.
The journalist famous for his exposés of Jeffery Archer is taking over from Martha Kearney – who is moving to host BBC Radio 4’s The World at One next month.

Since 1992 Crick has worked on Newsnight as a politics specialist.

Prior to that he worked for two years on Panorama and before that he was a founder member of Channel 4 News.

Crick is best known for his tough questioning and terrier-like investigations.

Ever since I set up Lib Dem Voice back in September of last year I’ve struggled with what to call myself – founder? manager? significant other?

But my struggle is over – changes in personal circumstances mean I will be handing on the baton of running Lib Dem Voice to someone else from May of this year. 

Who? You. No, seriously, are you interested?

I have someone who has kindly volunteered to look after the technical work, and there’s a great team of part-time contributors who I’m sure will rally around who ever decides to take the site to the next level – but …

Party press release:

Today Liberal Democrat Peers will be encouraging members of the public to have their say on reform of the House of Lords.

They will also ask the public to write down their views and place them in a ballot box outside Parliament during the House of Lords debate on reform of the Upper Chamber.

The Peers will also be launching their own consultation website on Tuesday, which can be found at www.lordsreformvote.org. (Lib Dem Voice editor’s note: not working yet…)

The Peers, including Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, Lord (Tom) McNally and

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A TORY candidate in Edinburgh has given up his bid to become an MSP and spoken of his “frustration” at the party’s inability to become a major player in Scottish politics.

Former hereditary peer Jamie Sempill, who was due to stand in Edinburgh Central at the May Scottish Parliament elections, said the main reason for his resignation was a business opportunity which had presented itself. He is to help organise a major international clan gathering in two years’ time.

But he said the Tories in Scotland had failed to grab enough media attention and criticised the “slightly lacklustre” performance of MSPs.

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