If the letters are not fakes they present a serious breach in the security of the investigation.
That is, however, something of an ‘if’.
At first glance, the letters purport to be scans of the original (eg the text is slightly blurry, the logo is in colour), but there is no evidence of the paper – the scan appears on a pristine screen-white
From both the Sunday Mail and the Sunday Independent:
“Labour party officials tried to hide details of millions of pounds in loans from auditors examining the party’s finances, it emerged.
“Police believe the party went to extraordinary steps to conceal the fact that it had received £12million loans from businessmen nominated for peerages by Tony Blair.”
Menzies Campbell and Nick Clegg will launch a “Freedom Bill” in Westminster this morning, calling for the repeal of 10 parliamentary acts passed since Labour came to power.
UPDATE: After that, Menzies Campbell and our shadow cabinet will gather for a strategy meeting in Henley-Upon-Thames from lunchtime Thursday to lunchtime Friday. According to Cowley Street “The party is preparing for a possible general election in October 2007”. I’ve heard there’s a good motivational speaker available in Henley…
The Labour party are allowing the entire British public to have a say in choosing the next Labour party leader and Prime Minister of Britain – all you have to do is join the party (for a minimum of £1pm unwaged) first.
Labour’s “Join up, join in” campaign says:
“Being a member of a political party means a lot and in the coming months our members will be asked to elect a new Leader and Deputy Leader for the Labour Party, and, for the first time in history, the next Prime Minister. Never before has the membership of any political party had such power to …
Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire, has been honored with a National Award in The Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Female Awards with Olay. The initiative, launched earlier this year, celebrates women with the FFF factor – smart, passionate and inspirational women from a variety of backgrounds, who have been truly inspirational and not afraid to break boundaries, be at the top of their field and help those in need.
Jo Swinson, who, at 26 years old, is the youngest MP in the House of Commons, attended the glittering Awards ceremony …
Last night conservative commentator Iain Dale conducted an hour long interview with Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten on 18 Doughty Street. You can find it at:
Ed Davey has today written to the Commission for Racial Equality providing details of an offensive email sent by a Conservative councillor and parliamentary candidate.
Ed has also written to David Cameron and Francis Maude calling for the Conservatives to take swift and decisive disciplinary action.
The email – which contains an inflammatory ‘poem’ that features on a white supremacist website, as well as a picture of the white cliffs of Dover with the words ‘piss off – we’re full’ on them – was sent by Conservative councillor Ellenor Bland to other Conservative councillors …
The latest Lib Dem Voice Podcast is an account of the Grosvenor Square to Trafalgar Square march, including a group interview with Chris Huhne, Simon Hughes, Ed Davey and Jo Swinson.
If you want to skip my guff, and jump straight to the interview it’s at 4:51 in.
This is my first serious attempt at Podcasting – so please be vicious in your criticism, and tell me bluntly what’s hot and what’s not!
If other members attending regional conferences would like us to bring your new execs to wider notice, just e-mail [email protected], or post names / links in the comments.
I fix my PC, which is the only thing that can get the audio off my minidisc recorder
I work out how to cover the fact that I was on one march with a bunch of Trots, while every single other Liberal Democrat was on another march. I have some script writing to do…
When the Podcast does come, it contains a nice interview with Chris Huhne, Jo Swinson, Ed Davey and Simon Hughes.
Then, given a choice between interviewing my fellow grass roots members to capture their thoughts in the cold, or retiring to …
The Liberal Democrats have published new research showing which areas of Britain emit the most carbon dioxide. The data has been released to coincide with the Stop Climate Chaos march and rally in Central London tomorrow.
Do come along to the march if you can – there seem to be two choices. You can either:
Join the LDYS meeting point at the School of Oriental and African Studies at 11:00 – 11:30am, and then join the People and Planet Carnival of Climate Chaos march to Trafalgar Square.
If you were as hacked off as I was that last night’s Question Time had three Conservatives on it, do take the time to send in a complaint to the BBC.
Menzies Campbell did a good job on the panel, but both he and Charles Clarke were largely drowned out by Heseltine, Platell and the increasingly barmy Hitchens – a very unbalanced programme, even under David Dimbleby’s stewardship.
As happens on all blogs, there’s been a collective bout of grumpiness in the past few days in the comments.
I’ve just gone through the blog and deleted the variously abusive, rude, and fundamentally pointless messages.
Please think before you post comments, it’s not in anyone’s best interests that comment pre-moderation gets switched on, or that I have to force people to register before they can comment.
Visitors should note that even when you’re posting anonymously, the site records your IP address – so if you post under your own name one minute, and then post some abuse “anonymously” five minutes later, I know exactly who did it, …
Mr. O’Brien: It has been reported to me, although the hon. Lady (Sandra Gidley) might want to suggest that it is a misquote, that at the last Liberal Democrat conference—amazingly, I was not there—the hon. Lady called her party’s policy of free personal care “dishonest”, because people thought that their accommodation costs would also be paid for, which is certainly not the case.
…
Sandra Gidley: The hon. Gentleman has quoted me correctly. I think that we should have been more open about what our policy did. That is …
If you’re a conference rep who has received ballot papers for the federal party elections then today is your final chance to return them, but you must put a first class stamp on the envelope to have any hope that they’ll arrive in time to be counted.
The results are announced on Monday 6 November.
Posted in News | Comments Off on Conference reps: your last chance to vote
Today’s punch-up between David Cameron and the Speaker of the Commons is not the first procedural clash in Parliament this week.
In Monday there was a full seven minutes of procedural to-and-fro in the self-regulated House of Lords, culminating in the Government Chief Whip coming in to the chamber to try and bring order to the proceedings – failing, and then finally succeeding with the aid of the clerk.
The argument was between Lord Baker of Dorking for the Conservatives, who wished to move an amendment …
In the event that the Electoral Commission, more than a year and a half after Michael Brown’s £2.4m donations were received, DO decide they must be repaid, then it seems likely following Menzies Campbell’s performance on Sunday A.M. this week that the party will appeal the accompanying court order.
One interesting line from the story: “The Lib Dem leader is privately furious with his predecessor for leaving the party with the damaging saga.” Clearly not that privately, as it’s …
Early next year London Liberal Democrats will choose their candidate to take on Ken Livingstone for the post of London Mayor.
Naturally, Lib Dem Voice will be analysing the field of candidates as they emerge, but let’s first of all hear from you.
Tell us in the comments box who YOU would like to see running as a candidate in the selection. You can enter more than one name, and it doesn’t have to be the name of a person you’d necessarily vote for – just tell us who you’d like to see appear on the selection ballot paper.
Today is an opposition day debate in Parliament, on Iraq. Speaking ahead of the debate, Michael Moore (Lib Dem shadow foreign sec) said:
“This is an important debate which ought to be the starting point for Government accountability on Iraq. It is unacceptable that the Government has not allotted time to debate this important issue for over two years and that we have had to rely on an opposition day debate before MPs can discuss this in Parliament.
“The US authorities responded to the failure of the current strategy by initiating the Baker review. The time has come for the British Government …
Prominent Republican Senator Bill Frist, the leader of the largest party in the U.S. Senate, is standing down at the forthcoming mid-term elections on 7th November, and the choice for voters in this southern state is between grey-haired, white, self-styled “real Tennesseean” Bob Corker, and baby-faced black Democrat, Harold Ford jnr.
If you follow U.S. politics at all, you’ll know the result of this race already. The south is Republican territory. Every southern Senator since the end of the American Civil War in 1865 has been white, and they’ve usually been conservative Republicans.
You might be surprised then, to watch these two thirty second television adverts running in the state. First, the underdog’s attack ad – Hard Ford Jnr’s attack on Republican candidate, and former mayor of Chatanooga, Bob Corker:
And second, the astonishing return attack from the Republican national party:
The 2010 local elections in Lewisham could be held under a system of proportional representation following widespread support to a Liberal Democrat proposal at a recent Council meeting.
Proposing the motion Cllr Mark Morris said “Lewisham Council have volunteered for various pilot schemes at previous elections, now that Scotland have agreed to fight next years local election by a fairer system, Lewisham should lead the way in England.”
The motion which had cross- party support agreed noted that the Scottish local elections were being fought by single transferable vote (STV) and called for the …
The main UK environmental campaign organisations have declared 4 November – on the eve of crucial climate change talks in Nairobi, Kenya – as a day of action. Thousands of people will be flocking to central London to join a march, rallies and festivities.
Candidate selection is proceeding at a snail’s pace. Are selections being held up in your area for reasons within the party’s control? Please e-mail me the details. Senior figures in the regions are closing ranks and giving Lib Dem Voice the silent treatment – …
Mick Taylor Nonconformistradical. The whole thrust of our complex and bewildering tax code IS to protect the rich. The Tories don't want to change it. Labour are in hock to...
Nonconformistradical "The real scandal is not the rates, it is a tax code so complex the wealthy can tiptoe round it while the rest of us can not. "
Indeed
"Shouldn’t “faire...
Tristan Ward The argument about Russia's not being successful in Ukraine is a bit of a red herring. Ukraine has survived (to date) thanks in part to significant financial ...
Geoff Reid More important than William's erudition is his wisdom! It woudn't do us any harm to look at the language used in other European countries when debating tax leve...
Tristan Ward Sorry - here's the Dan Neidle link: https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/06/05/taxing-other-people-uk/...
Last night conservative commentator 
Ed Davey has today written to the Commission for Racial Equality providing details of an offensive email sent by a Conservative councillor and parliamentary candidate.
The latest Lib Dem Voice Podcast is an account of the Grosvenor Square to Trafalgar Square march, including a group interview with Chris Huhne, Simon Hughes, Ed Davey and Jo Swinson.
Do come along to the march if you can – there seem to be two choices. You can either:
If you were as hacked off as I was that last night’s 
Today’s punch-up between 
The 2010 local elections in Lewisham could be held under a system of proportional representation following widespread support to a Liberal Democrat proposal at a recent Council meeting.
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Has the Chancellor set the tone for a Burnham administration?
"His glamour tarnished, his boorishness came to notice": On being the monarch's second son
Mick Taylor 
Nonconformistradical 
Tristan Ward 
Geoff Reid 