Author Archives: Stephen Tall

Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall. He writes a fortnightly column for ConservativeHome and 'The Underdog' column for Total Politics magazine. He edited the 2013 publication, The Coalition and Beyond: Liberal Reforms for the Decade Ahead, and is a Research Associate for the liberal think-tank CentreForum. He was awarded the inaugural Lib Dem ‘Blogger of the Year’ prize in 2006, was a councillor for eight years in Oxford, including a year as Deputy Lord Mayor, and appears frequently in the media in person, in print and online. Stephen combines his political interests with his professional life as Development Director for the Education Endowment Foundation, though writes here in a personal capacity.
Stephen Tall

‘Call Clegg’: Nick survives first radio phone-in grilling

By Stephen Tall | Thu 10th January 2013 - 11:45 am

Today was the day History Was Made. At least if you believe LBC Radio’s self-publicity. To be slightly more precise, Nick Clegg took part in the first of his weekly Call Clegg phone-ins on LBC Radio, putting his job on the line (geddit?!) for 30 minutes.

If you missed it, Andrew Sparrow live-blogged the six questions for The Guardian here. There were no shocks, surprises or …

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Stephen Tall

Liberal Voice of the Year: have you voted in our poll yet?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th January 2013 - 8:15 pm

liberal-voiceOn New Year’s Day we opened our annual Liberal Voice of the Year poll — our attempt to find the non-Lib Dem who readers of this site think has done the most to advance the cause of liberalism in the past 12 months.

Our 10 nominees were chosen by party members through our most recent survey. To date, over 700 votes have been cast. You can see all the contenders and cast your preferential vote — if you haven’t already — by clicking here.

We’re going to close the …

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Stephen Tall

So, about that Lib Dem wipeout in 2015 then…

By Stephen Tall | Wed 9th January 2013 - 7:45 am

GB-election-map2Ask most commentators about Lib Dem prospects at the next general election and a couple of words are sure to crop up sooner or later: either ‘wipeout’ or ‘annihilation’.

I understand why. Look at the opinion polls and the party is bobbing around the 10% mark. Compare that to the 23% we won in 2010, get your uniform national swing slide-rule out, and you can see why many folk, even quite sensible ones like Peter Kellner, will say something like this…

The Liberal Democrats are facing political extinction with

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , and | 131 Comments
Stephen Tall

So what would you ask Tim Farron about the party’s campaigning?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th January 2013 - 9:28 pm

As I mentioned today:

What questions do you have for the party president on the party’s campaigning in the lead-up to 2015? Let me know, either below or via Twitter and I’ll try and make sure we cover it…

Posted in News | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

++ Government wins vote on Benefits Uprating Bill; 6 Lib Dem MPs rebel

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th January 2013 - 7:45 pm

There were no serious doubts the Coalition Government’s Benefits Uprating Bill — pegging increases in welfare payments at a below-inflation 1%, the same as public sector wage rises, for the next three years — would be approved. The only question was the size of majority and how many Lib Dems would rebel (I’ve been keeping a running tally here this afternoon).

There were two votes tonight. First, a Labour amendment to the Bill, defeated by 321 votes to 262, a government majority of 59. Then a vote on the unamended second reading, which the government won by 324 votes to …

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Stephen Tall

David Laws to chair 2015 Manifesto Working Group

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th January 2013 - 7:15 pm

It’s now official: Lib Dem schools minister David Laws will chair the party’s Manifesto Working Group. Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames, who chairs the party’s Federal Policy Committee, has just emailed members with the following message:

Last night at the party’s Federal Policy Committee we agreed Nick Clegg’s nomination of David Laws MP to Chair the Manifesto Working Group for the next General Election. Alongside David, we also appointed two Vice-Chairs – Sharon Bowles MEP and Duncan Brack – and nine further members of the group.

The Manifesto Working Group reports to the Federal Policy Committee, which has responsibility for preparing the

…

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Stephen Tall

The Mid-Term Review: 3 further points

By Stephen Tall | Tue 8th January 2013 - 8:16 am

I posted last night my initial reactions to the Coalition’s Mid-Term Review: It’s hit and miss. But the biggest miss are the wasted opportunities. Three further quick points:

1) The Coalition’s survived: that’s significant

One omission in my review, and it’s a biggie: I should have noted the significance of the Coalition having stuck as a governing entity. The fact that Nick Clegg and David Cameron are making two-party government work at all is an achievement, one noted last week even by Matthew d’Ancona not a natural friend of the Lib Dems or pluralism:

For two decades we embraced the quasi-presidential

…

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Stephen Tall

Reviewing the Mid-Term Review. It’s hit and miss. But the biggest miss are the wasted opportunities

By Stephen Tall | Mon 7th January 2013 - 8:50 pm

coalition mid term review 2013I’ve had chance only to scan-read today’s Coalition Mid-Term Review (with its rather grudging, adjective-free title, Stuck Together in the national interest), but here are some initial impressions…

The economy takes centre-stage…

This may seem a statement of the obvious. And yet it’s worth comparing with the May 2010 document, Our programme for government (ahh, that Rose Garden-inspired ‘our’) in which subjects were sorted alphabetically so that you had to wait until chapter 9 to read about ‘deficit reduction’. Back in those days the …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “The G8 summit is also about combining a strong economy with a fair society”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 6th January 2013 - 2:05 pm

Nick’s first missive of the year to Lib Dem supporters was despatched this weekend, its message combining two stories with the same core message: the role the party and the UK must play in creating a strong economy and a fairer society.

He defends the party’s decision to send a memo to key Lib Dems with key messages for voters, arguing the party has “to be clear, simple and consistent in what we say to voters”. And he argues the G8 summit’s focus on global tax fairness and creating a level-playing field for poorer countries rich in natural resources show the party’s national imperatives playing out at the international level…

libdem letter from nick clegg

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Stephen Tall

Women bishops in the CofE: what Lib Dem members think

By Stephen Tall | Sun 6th January 2013 - 8:45 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

84% think the CofE should allow women to be come bishops

women bishops
In November the Church of England’s Synod failed to pass a vote that would have allowed women to become bishops. Do you think the Church of England should or should not allow women to become bishops?

    84% – Should allow

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — my personal pick of the week’s must-reads

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 5:15 pm

It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from all those I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here.

Political predictions: as the year ends, what does 2013 hold for the main party leaders? – Andrew Rawnsley sanely assesses the 12 months to come: ‘Nick Clegg and David Cameron face more of the same. Ed Miliband’s future is more complicated. He has choices.’

No longer the dunce – Anne McElvoy whispers the …

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members tell us what you think of the party’s new magazine, Ad Lib

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 1:30 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Ad Lib magazine - cover of first edition

Thumbs-up for new party magazine Ad Lib from Lib Dem members

The first issue of Ad Lib, the monthly magazine replacing Liberal Democrat News, was sent free to all members in December. What is your overall impression of it?

    20% – Positive: I will probably

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

“Where we work, we win” – will that Lib Dem maxim survive the 2015 test?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 5th January 2013 - 9:50 am

Chris RennardDon’t splutter on your Saturday morning cornflakes, but the Guardian has today published two intelligent articles on the Lib Dems and the strategy which the party is hoping will see us through to the other side of the 2015 election intact.

First, there’s Patrick Wintour‘s analysis — Liberal Democrats bank on ground war to hold on to seats — which uses as its springboard an analysis by Lord (Chris) Rennard, the party’s former chief executive and elections guru:

insists it should not be ground down by low national polls. “The

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Stephen Tall

68% of Lib Dem members back backbench rebellion over energy decarbonisation target

By Stephen Tall | Thu 3rd January 2013 - 6:54 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

68% back decarbonisation amendment rebellion

LDV asked: The Government’s Energy Bill was published in November. In exchange for securing significant investment in the renewable sector up to 2020, Ed Davey dropped a commitment to include a 2030 decarbonisation target opposed by George Osborne. Labour are likely to table an amendment to the Energy Bill to create a target to decarbonise the power …

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Stephen Tall

Revealed: What Lib Dem members think of Ed Miliband and David Cameron

By Stephen Tall | Wed 2nd January 2013 - 6:35 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Cameron ends the year a nose ahead of Miliband among Lib Dems

We’ve been asking this question for 15 months, and over the past year there has been quite a reversal in fortunes for the two party leaders, as this graph illustrates:

cam mili member ratings - dec 2012

Here’s the detail from this month’s survey…

Do you think David Cameron is doing well or badly as Prime Minister?

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

So you think Ukip are the new third party? Let’s have a look at the data…

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st January 2013 - 5:45 pm

Food for thought for John Rentoul (who calls Ukip ‘The new third party’ here), courtesy of PoliticalBetting’s Mike Smithson:

(Hat-tip: Vote Clegg, Get Clegg Facebook page.)

Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 101 Comments
Stephen Tall

NEW POLL: Who is your Liberal Voice of the Year?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st January 2013 - 2:15 pm

liberal-voiceToday’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the sixth annual award, and as is our tradition, we’re looking beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the greatest liberal who’s not a member of our party.

The list of 10 nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; 222 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of five separate mentions.

To vote, please use the poll below to rank the nominees in order of preference.

This year’s shortlist for Liberal Voice of the Year is as follows

(in alphabetical first-name order):

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Posted in Polls | Tagged and | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who’s up, who’s down? How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Mon 31st December 2012 - 8:10 am

lib dem conf votingLib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the following leading Liberal Democrats and government ministers?

Full results are published below, but here’s three key lists for those who want to cut to the chase… (with comparison to November 2012 ratings in brackets)

Top 5 Lib Dem performers in the Government:

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition after 2½ years

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th December 2012 - 3:55 pm

lib dem conf votingLib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

+28% says party is on the “right course”


Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track? (Comparison with November’s figures.)

    61% (+4%) – The right course
    33% (-1%) – The wrong track
    6% (-3%) – Don’t know

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 10 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “let’s look forward to a successful and enjoyable 2013”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th December 2012 - 12:50 pm

It’s a briefer email message from Nick Clegg this week, as he like most of us takes a few days’ R&R to re-charge our batteries for the year to come. He takes the opportunity simply to say thank you to all those working to deliver Lib Dem success. Don’t forget you can sign-up to receive Nick’s emails here.

libdem ltr from nick clegg

This week’s Letter from the Leader will be a lot shorter than usual as this is a time to spend with your family and friends. And as

…

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Stephen Tall

Tim Farron tops our poll as Lib Dem politician who enjoyed the best 2012

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th December 2012 - 11:20 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Farron, Huppert and Oakeshott had best 2012 say Lib Dem members

LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem MP or peer overall has had the best year?Tim Farron speaking - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats
This question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which over 400 party members filled in. And …

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Stephen Tall

Which Lib Dem minister had the worst year? Here’s what party members think…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 28th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

The Lib Dem half of the Quad top our members’ poll for the worst 2012

Nick Clegg yay2 - Some rights reserved by Liberal Democrats
LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the worst year?

Unusually for our Voice surveys, this question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Party members vote Vince Cable Lib Dem Minister of the Year (again)

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th December 2012 - 8:05 pm

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

Vince, Ed and Michael: the Lib Dems’ top trio in government

Vince Cable smiling - Some rights reserved by Liberal DemocratsLDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the best year?

This question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which c.450 of our respondents rose to. And here’s what you told us:

    1. Vince Cable (144)
    2. Ed Davey (70)
    3. Michael Moore (42)
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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader: “Lib Dems are on the side of reasonable welfare reform, not indiscriminate welfare cuts”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 23rd December 2012 - 10:45 am

Nick Clegg’s latest letter has hit my inbox, this week reflecting on his five years as party leader — and in particular how he believes the Lib Dems are “anchoring this government in the centre ground”. The example he uses is one that is likely to dominate politics in 2013: welfare reform. As Nick points out, the Tories had wanted swingeing cuts: it was the Lib Dems who at least ensured parity between public sector pay and benefits payments, both receiving a below-inflation 1% cash rise.

And if I had a Christmas wish, by the way, it would be this …

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 12 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sat 22nd December 2012 - 5:45 pm

It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices culled from the 50+ I’ve linked to this last week. You can follow me on Delicious here.

Kings, queens and the political chess match – Sue Cameron ponders what the invitation to HM The Queen to attend cabinet this week could portend: ‘Charles III might point to that precedent and say he would like to follow it. Moreover, he would like to attend more regularly and speak at it …

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Stephen Tall

Andrew Mitchell – victim of a police stitch-up?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th December 2012 - 9:55 am

Andrew MitchellThat’s the heavy implication of Michael Crick’s revelations on Channel 4 News last night.

The bare facts appear to be that, when told the police wouldn’t open the gates at Downing Street to allow him to ride his bike through, then Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell swore at them, saying “I thought you guys were supposed to f****** help us”, a sentence he admits uttering in exasperation. He then cycled off and thought no more of it, until contacted by Downing Street and told The Sun was about to run

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Stephen Tall

Did you know the Lib Dems have lost half a million voters to Ukip? Here’s what I think it means.

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th December 2012 - 4:55 pm

UKIP logoConservative peer Lord Ashcroft — who, as ConservativeHome’s Tim Montgomerie has noted before, spends more on polling than all three parties combined — has today published the latest survey looking at the timely issue of the threat of Ukip. Nigel Farage’s party is now regularly polling around the level of the Lib Dems, seemingly taking voters disproportionately from the Tories, contributing to lengthening Labour poll leads.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Tagged , , , , and | 51 Comments
Stephen Tall

Last reminder! LibDemVoice Xmas Drinks, Monday 17th December

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th December 2012 - 5:30 pm

Christmas treeA final reminder that tomorrow, Monday 17th December, all LibDemVoice readers are invited to join us for festive drinks at 5pm in London, followed by (for those who’re able) Steve Richards’ Rock ‘n Roll Politics Christmas Special.

You can sign up for drinks on our Facebook page here, or via FlockTogether here — you’ll find the venue of the pub there.

There are a handful of tickets still left for Steve’s show — you can buy them here. Premiered at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, where it …

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Posted in Events | Tagged and | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Jo Shaw’s reply to Nick Clegg: Thanks for your stand on civil liberties – now it’s time to oppose secret courts as well

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th December 2012 - 11:50 am

Supreme Court - Some rights reserved by cphoffman42We published yesterday Nick Clegg’s latest ‘Letter from the Leader’, focusing on the liberal stand he’s taken this past week on the internet snoopers’ charter and publicly stating his pro-reform/anti-drugs views. But one vexed issue was missing entirely — the Coalition’s proposal to introduce secret courts in the current Justice and Security Bill which has its second reading this Tuesday.

Secret courts were overwhelmingly rejected by the party’s conference in September, and our recent members’ survey showed a clear majority opposed outright, regardless of what compromises might be reached.

Jo Shaw, who leads the Liberal Democrats against secret courts campaign, has replied to Nick’s letter. Here’s what she has to say…

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Stephen Tall

Equidistance 2.0 – Clegg attacks “fantasy world politics” of Tories AND Labour

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th December 2012 - 11:01 am

clegg cameron milibandThe Coalition may be limbering up to announce its mid-term review, billed as Coalition 2.0, early in the New Year. But it looks like Nick Clegg is going from something of a pre-emptive strike, perhaps closer to Equidistance 2.0, in a speech tomorrow. The Observer reports today that he will up the ante of anti-Tory rhetoric, saying:

“The Tory right dreams of a fantasy world where we can walk away from the EU but magically keep our economy strong; where we can pretend that the world hasn’t

…

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