Author Archives: Stephen Tall

Former Tory MP and Times columnist has this to say about the new Prime Minister in today’s Times:

I keep saying this – but the man hasn’t got the ghost of a plan. Not an idea in his head. Anyone with ears to hear could guess as much from his speech and media interviews on Monday. “Citizens’ juries” across the country to advise the Government on policy? Spare us. Why doesn’t he advise the Government? He’s the Prime Minister.

What leaps from Mr Brown’s interviews is not the intellectual colossus that some of my Fleet Street colleagues describe, but

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Here we go again. Yes, it’s The Leadership Question. Frankly, I haven’t got the energy, and I reckon I’m not alone. But Lib Dem Voice tries not to ignore media coverage of the Lib Dems simply because it’s tedious beyond belief. So here goes:

* If you like Ming Campbell, he’s lauded by Dominic Lawson in The Independent here;
* If you don’t like Ming Campbell, he’s lambasted by Daniel Finkelstein in The Times here.

Whatever.

Chris Huhne’s new zero-carbon Britain proposals – which Chris wrote about for Lib Dem Voice last week – have met with the glowing approval of Guardian economics correspondent, Ashley Seagar:

At last someone in the mainstream of politics is taking climate change seriously. … when one of the main parties comes up with a coherent strategy for dealing with climate change, both at home and abroad, it deserves close attention, particularly as … Labour has made very little progress in moving to a sustainable energy economy, and knows it. The Tories, too, although talking about taxing flights, will duck serious policy changes when their Quality of Life report emerges later this month.

The LibDem document makes for fascinating reading.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown – as part of his New Politics / Big Tent relaunch of Labour – has appointed Matthew Taylor, Lib Dem MP for Truro & St Austell, to lead a major independent review of planning and land-use policy in relation to rural and affordable housing.

Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell has been quick to welcome the news:

“Matthew and I have agreed that he should take up this opportunity to review rural housing and business policies. As the MP for a rural constituency with the least affordable rural housing in the country, Matthew has direct experience of

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As I type, there are just 9 hours and 22 minutes left in which you can make your nominations for the 2007 Liberal Democrat Blog of the Year awards, this year run in conjunction with Lib Dem Voice.

Full details of the categories, judges and rules are available on the party website here. The results will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Lib Dem conference on Sunday, 16th September.

The Electoral Commission has today published figures showing how much each of the political parties spent contesting May 2007’s Welsh Assembly elections.

In total the Lib Dems spent £407,407 – £239,799 was spent by the party, with a further £167,608 incurred by candidates. This was £33,791 less than the Tories’ total (£441,198) and £10,211 less than Paid Cymru (£417,618).

(Labour figures are not yet available, as the party’s total spending exceeded £250,000, which means they have until 2nd November to file their expenses.)

In 2003, the Welsh Lib Dems spent £372,695, attracting a total of 228,353 votes (combining the …

As you’d expect, really… lauded by the left-liberal press; ignored by the right-wing…

The Independent

The Liberal Democrats detailed proposals to make Britain a carbon-neutral state by 2050, underlining a long-standing commitment to the environment. … Yesterday’s proposals by the Liberal Democrats highlight how much more there is to do. They have proposed taxes on pollution not people and the introduction of green mortgages. They suggest a vastly improved new North-South high-speed rail line, paid for by road tolls, and a massive boost to Britain’s flood defences.

The Guardian

The Liberal Democrat leadership yesterday outlined a vision

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The exchange of letters between Ming Campbell and Gordon Brown over the Labour government’s disastrous Middle East foreign policy has been dominating the headlines all day:

BBC Online;
The Telegraph;
The Independent;
Politics.co.uk.

Ming has responded to the Prime Minister’s reply over at his website – here – witheringly noting that it “simply rehearses the Government line and could have been written by his predecessor”.

Lembit Öpik, Lib Dem shadow secretary of state for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, has used an interview in the Financial Times to lay out his thinking on his new portfolio – and to confirm he will stand for the presidency of the party when current incumbent Simon Hughes’s term ends next year.

Full story here; here’s the fillet:

Lembit on Lib Dem business policy:

“I think our policies have been reasonably good, and certainly have improved a lot in the last five years.” But he admitted the Lib Dems had a long way to go. “We have a perception problem in

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The South Wales Evening Post has highlighted Lib Dem Welsh Assembly Member (and top Lib Dem blogger) Peter Black’s generosity to party funds in the last four years – totalling an impressive £27,000, which Peter has used to fund his election campaigns:

… the Cwmbwrla ward member on Swansea Council laughed off any suggestions that he was in the millionaire bracket.

‘I only wish I was,’ Peter said. ‘I have made two donations – to fund my election campaigns in 2003 and 2007. The donations were funded by my council allowances. I paid the money into the party. It is for

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This according to the Daily Telegraph:

Lord Lester, the Liberal Democrat peer drafted in by the Prime Minister to advise on constitutional issues, told The Daily Telegraph that the centuries-old ban was “an injustice” that should now go.

The outspoken comments from the respected peer came after it emerged that Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandson and 10th in line to the throne, might have to surrender his place in the succession. Mr Phillips, 29, the son of the Princess Royal, is now engaged to Autumn Kelly, 31, a Canadian management consultant who was baptised a Catholic. The fact was not

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