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

The Leveson Report: what Lib Dem members think of his proposals for the press

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th December 2012 - 9:45 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. Over 500 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

LDV asked: Generally speaking, which of the following best reflects your view?

    20% – It is vital for our democracy that a free press is protected. Whatever the failings of a few journalists, statutory regulation set up by politicians would risk damaging our press freedom

    65% – The behaviour of our press

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 15th December 2012 - 5:40 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 from my Delcicious account this last week…

Groundhog year – Peter Kellner examines the polls to find how 12 months’ political turmoil has shifted popular opinion. The answer — not at all: ‘public reaction this year to Britain’s continuing economic troubles has been remarkably static. 2012 has been groundhog year.’

What next? Osborne needs a change of direction – Adam Posen, a former …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s ‘Letter from the Leader’: “no use standing up for civil liberties in opposition if you forget all about them in power”

By Stephen Tall | Sat 15th December 2012 - 11:55 am

Nick was spoiled for choice this week on which liberal touchstone issues to focus on in his latest weekly missive… Whether to talk about torpedoing of the Draft Data Communications Bill or perhaps his pro-reform/anti-drugs stance following this week’s Home Affairs select committee report — in fact he talks about both, even linking them to his pro-Leveson position. Manna from heaven to Lib Dem activists. The only surprise is that this week’s equal marriage proposals aren’t mentioned…

Do you want the Home Secretary to be able to

…

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Stephen Tall

Y’know those stories about the death of the Lib Dems? Turns out, they might’ve been exaggerated…

By Stephen Tall | Fri 14th December 2012 - 10:55 am

As Samuel Ellis Rees points out today:

And as I noted last week, after the Lib Dems had gained four seats from the Tory party:

And yes, before the Lib Dem-baiting starts in the comments below, I’m well aware that local council by-elections need to be taken with a liberal pinch of salt and that none of this alters the party’s flat-lining poll ratings. But the main point remains: in spite of everything, the party’s still alive. Speculation of our demise, as so often in the past, is premature…

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Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement announcments

By Stephen Tall | Thu 13th December 2012 - 10:20 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.

Lib Dem members back every single measure — but split over cuts to real-terms benefits

LDV asked: Do you support or oppose the following measures in the Autumn Statement:

Increasing the basic income tax threshold by a further £235 to £9,440

    Strongly support 76%
    Support 21%
    97% Total Support
    Oppose 2%
    Strongly oppose 0%
    2% Total Oppose
    Don’t know

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll and News | Tagged | 35 Comments
Stephen Tall

Maria Miller, the Telegraph and Leveson: how statutory regulation begins & how the press is bringing it on itself

By Stephen Tall | Wed 12th December 2012 - 9:40 am

Now I’m more than a little sceptical about Leveson: I think he’s firing the wrong bullet (regulation backed by statute) at a target that’s moving out of range (the ‘dead tree press’). However, I’m also deeply sceptical about the press’s ability to report facts straight.

Which leaves me a bit conflicted at this morning’s report: The minister and a warning to the Telegraph before expenses story.

On the one hand, you have a clear signal of the danger of letting politicians anywhere near

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Stephen Tall

Andrew Adonis: “I am much more negative about the idea of coalition now”. Is Labour pluralism dead?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 4:15 pm

A couple of days ago, I suggested Lib Dems needed to think about how we rescue the idea of coalition as an effective form of government. Right on cue, former Labour cabinet minister Lord (Andrew) Adonis has slated the concept, arguing in The Guardian that:

Giving huge power to a very small party that is very unclear about what it wants to achieve in politics – I’m trying to be diplomatic about the Lib Dems – isn’t, to my mind, the best way forward. The best way forward would be to have a majority Labour government.

There are at least …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s ‘Letter from the Leader’: “You cannot balance the books on the backs of the poor”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 11:20 am

The sixth weekly missive from Nick Clegg hit my inbox this weekend. Here’s what he had to say about the Autumn Statement, in particular the Lib Dem win on helping low-income tax-payers. Oh, and there’s a bit of a dig against the Tories for their ‘irrational phobia’ of taxing the propertied wealthy a bit more…

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Stephen Tall

‘Please give generously’: Tories mail-shot supporters asking for donations to fight Lib Dem mansion tax

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 10:05 am

That’s the story in the Guardian this weekend:

The Conservative party privately sent letters to Tory donors and wealthy homeowners promising to defeat Liberal Democrat plans for a mansion tax at the same time as their coalition partners thought they were negotiating on a version of the proposal ahead of the autumn statement, it emerged on Friday. … The letters were sent by the Conservative treasurers Lord Fink and Michael Farmer in November, when Lib Dem cabinet ministers privately believed there was hope that the Conservatives would agree to two extra higher-rate council tax bands as a way of raising

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s festive card: “Merry Christmas”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 9th December 2012 - 9:20 am

Just in case you’re not one of the lucky ones to receive your own signed copy this year (I’m still waiting for mine), here’s Nick Clegg’s choice of Christmas card this year…

Here’s what the Guardian has to say about it (yes, really, the paper dedicated a large feature to the leaders’ choices of Christmas cards):

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Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 8th December 2012 - 5:39 pm

It’s Saturday evening, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Britain and Europe: Making the break – The Economist‘s verdict on many Europhobes’ éjaculation nocturne: ‘The most likely outcome would be that Britain would find itself as a scratchy outsider with somewhat limited access to the single market, almost no influence and few friends. And one certainty: that having once departed, it would be all but impossible to get back in again.’

Boris shows that Eurosceptics are in a mess – …

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Stephen Tall

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on Leveson, the Autumn Statement, Europe and the Coalition

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th December 2012 - 9:20 pm

The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the c.1,300 registered members of the Liberal Democrat Voice forum — and any paid-up party member is welcome to join — then you now have the opportunity to make your views known.

Questions we’re asking this month include:

  • what you think of Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals for the press;
  • what you make of George Osborne’s Autumn Statement;
  • what you think about Europe;
  • your views on Nick Clegg’s leadership leading figures within the Lib Dems;
  • and what you think of the Coalition’s performance to date.

Oh, …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

It’s not just this Government that’s unpopular: it’s the idea of Coalition. Here’s what Lib Dems need to do about that.

By Stephen Tall | Fri 7th December 2012 - 8:15 am

There are many arguments the Lib Dems are winning in government. But there is one very big debate we’re currently on the losing side of with the public: that coalition government is capable of working. And it’s not surprising that voters are unpersuaded given we Lib Dems look a whole lot less than convinced by the experience.

The known knowns of Coalition

Let’s get two pieces of mitigation out of the way:
1) Coalition government is always tougher on the junior party: we lack the democratic mandate and …

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Stephen Tall

That NHS spending row in full

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th December 2012 - 12:15 pm

The story: Conservative Health secretary Jeremy Hunt ‘rebuked’ for claiming the Coalition has increased NHS spending in England.

The promise: that the NHS budget in England would be increased in real terms during the Coalition. That promise was kept (just) — the 2010 Spending Review committed the Coalition to a 0.1% real-terms annual increase.

The reality: the NHS did not spend all its budget in 2011/12. As a result, the out-turn in NHS spending has, probably, marginally fallen since 2009/10. Though the UK Statistics Authority concludes: “Given …

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Stephen Tall

The Lib Dem vote share: not always the best guide to how successful the Lib Dems have been…

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th December 2012 - 3:30 pm

An important point, with graph to match, from PoliticalBetting’s Mike Smithson:

To illustrate the point further:

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Stephen Tall

Your essential weekend reader — 10 must-read articles you may have missed

By Stephen Tall | Sun 2nd December 2012 - 12:04 pm

It’s Sunday, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

Europe’s long shadow – Anthony Beevor isn’t optimistic about the continent’s future as cuts bite: ‘This is what risks creating the bitterness and national resentments which encourages people to listen to demagogues and turn their backs on democracy.’

A bail-out by any other name – Charlemagne looks at the latest bail-out re-scheduling of Greece’s debt: ‘the euro zone is crossing the Rubicon: it knows it will have to take losses in order …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s Letter from the Leader, No. 5: Leveson – “the Prime Minister and I disagreed”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 2nd December 2012 - 10:15 am

Here’s Nick Clegg’s latest missive to Lib Dem members and supporters — and no prizes for guessing which topic is the subject this week: Lord Justice Leveson’s report into media standards…

On Thursday afternoon I made a statement in Parliament on the Liberal Democrat response to the Leveson Inquiry. I spoke after the Prime Minister, to outline my view that we must implement Leveson’s plans for an effective new press watchdog, underpinned by legal guarantees.

As you may have picked up, the Prime Minister and I disagreed; there is not yet an agreed “government line”. That’s in part why we had to make separate statements – a major departure from Parliamentary protocol, apparently.

I’m often non-plussed by the arcane rules of the House of Commons, most of which make no sense to ordinary human beings. To me it felt like the most natural thing in the world: two opinions, two statements.

Rather than repeat here what I said in the Commons do watch for yourself here.


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Stephen Tall

Mail on Sunday’s smears and innuendo against Miriam and Nick: Lib Dem statement released

By Stephen Tall | Sat 1st December 2012 - 10:30 pm

Well, there’s a turn-up for the books — the Mail on Sunday in its first post-Leveson front page decides to play the man (and woman) rather than the ball, and splash on a desperately thin story implying some form of scandalous link between Miriam González Durántez’s support for Booktrust and the charity being given a government grant.

The paper’s baseless accusations get short shrift from the Lib Dems in this statement issued by the party tonight:

The decision to continue the funding for Booktrust was made by the Prime Minister

…

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Stephen Tall

Is this the week Nick Clegg will ditch support for the draft Data Communications Bill?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 1st December 2012 - 5:50 pm

The days of the draft Data Communications Bill (aka internet snoopers’ charter) may well be numbered if reports in the last few days are true that Nick Clegg is about to ditch the controversial plans. Here’s the BBC’s James Landale:

Party sources say leader Nick Clegg is ready to use a parliamentary report, due out next week, to oppose the plans. The draft Communications Data Bill would allow police access to details of people’s email and internet use,

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Stephen Tall

Leveson, the morning after the Report before: what Lib Dem bloggers say

By Stephen Tall | Fri 30th November 2012 - 9:35 am

Caron Lindsay blogged about Nick Clegg’s Commons statement here on LibDemVoice: Nick Clegg: We won’t find better solution than Leveson’s. Here’s a quick round-up of other reaction so far from Lib Dem bloggers to Lord Justice Leveson’s report on media standards…

Contributors split on broadly pro/anti-Leveson Report lines. Let’s start with the pro-Leveson bloggers:

Shock as politician behaves like a grown-up! (Caron Lindsay)

I can’t, for the life of me, see what the problem is with Leveson’s clever proposal for a self regulating body with true independence – ie not full of newspaper editors or chaired by politicians. It seems pretty

…

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Stephen Tall

Whatever the Leveson Report recommends, it’s worth remembering the value of the Leveson Inquiry

By Stephen Tall | Wed 28th November 2012 - 6:25 pm

I’m as clueless as anyone else at the moment about what Lord Justice Leveson will recommend in his report, to be published tomorrow, on press standards in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

I’ve said already I oppose any form of state regulation which would allow the government of the day, whether explicitly or (far more likely) implicitly, to interfere in the content of the free press. My co-editor Mark Pack has a different take on things here. But, regardless of whether Mark or I end up most agreeing with Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations tomorrow, two points I …

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s fourth Letter from the Leader: “The only way out of the housing crisis is to build our way out.”

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th November 2012 - 1:15 pm

Here’s Nick Clegg’s latest missive to Lib Dem members and supporters — this week focusing on his efforts to get Britain building again to help those households in need of decent, affordable housing…

I’m writing this as we come to the end of an incredibly hectic week in politics.

The negotiations over the budget in Europe, securing of a much needed ceasefire in Gaza, rising speculation about the upcoming Leveson report. And Ed Davey’s important announcement of a landmark coalition deal on low carbon energy that will deliver

…

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Stephen Tall

As Leveson reports… Why I’m sticking up for ‘Press freedom with no buts’

By Stephen Tall | Sun 25th November 2012 - 8:30 am

Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal will report this week. His recommendations on the future of press regulation are the subject of intense speculation, with essentially three positions being staked-out:

What’s being proposed

‘Independent regulation backed up by statute’
Advocates, who include Evan Harris and the Hacked Off campaign group, argue that the only way to ensure the press does not abuse its position in the future is for it to be regulated. But, they insist, this should be independent both of government and the press, the two main …

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Stephen Tall

Reasons for Lib Dem cheer — as told by Labour and Tory supporters

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 3:15 pm

Just two things from me:

1) Anyone trying to forecast how the Lib Dems will do in 2015 based on extrapolating mid-term opinion polls on the basis of uniform national swing is likely to be as wrong as they would have been at every general election in modern history.

2) My confident forecast for 2015 is the Lib Dems will a) do less well than I’d like and b) do better than our fiercest critics would like.

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Stephen Tall

Lords reform is dead! Long live, erm, a bloated, ineffective, undemocratic Lords!

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 10:40 am

The Guardian reports today that dozens of new life peers are to be appointed to the House of Lords:

Political parties are preparing to draw up lists for dozens of new appointments to the House of Lords in a move that will reignite controversy over creating peers just months after the collapse of legislation to dramatically reduce the second chamber. The move, which is expected to create at

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Stephen Tall

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

By Stephen Tall | Sat 24th November 2012 - 8:15 am

It’s Saturday morning, so here are twelve thought-provoking articles to stimulate your thinking juices…

The lottery of life: Where to be born in 2013 – The Economist‘s annual list of the top quality-of-life countries: ‘Being rich helps more than anything else, but it is not all that counts; things like crime, trust in public institutions and the health of family life matter too.’ Britain comes 27th. (The Telegraph has a picture-only version here.)

The burdens that Israel should not have to bear – Brendan …

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Stephen Tall

What did George Osborne agree to do that Nick Clegg refused to do?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 22nd November 2012 - 3:25 pm


(You can like and share this graphic via LibDemVoice’s Facebook page by clicking here.)

Compare and contrast:

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Stephen Tall

Lib Dem peers help inflict defeats on Government in Lords over secret courts plans

By Stephen Tall | Wed 21st November 2012 - 9:10 pm

On Sunday we reported that Lib Dem members were none-too-impressed with the Government’s plans for secret courts. This morning we reported that 172 Lib Dems had written to The Times to protest. This evening the Lib Dem battle found its voice in the House of Lords, as the Guardian reports:

Government proposals to expand secret courts suffered a series of damaging defeats in the House of Lords on Wednesday, significantly narrowing the scope of the justice and security bill. By margins of more than a hundred votes, peers opposed to the bill significantly limited the government’s power to

…

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Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

George Bridges: my part in the Tories’ downfall. As a Lib Dem, I approve this message

By Stephen Tall | Wed 21st November 2012 - 8:25 am

There’s a fascinating article today in the Telegraph by George Bridges: The Tories have gone astray – and I helped. Who’s George Bridges, you ask? Here’s his summary of his political career to date:

First a researcher for the Conservative Party machine, then a tour of duty in the bunker of No 10 for the last three Major years, followed by a few years advising Michael Howard and David Cameron.

It’s a hefty 1,000-word ‘Consevatism: my part in its downfall’ mea culpa, and it’s fascinating in two ways.

First, for its call to arms for Conservatives to ignore the polling …

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Stephen Tall

How you can take part in LibDemVoice’s exclusive party member surveys

By Stephen Tall | Wed 21st November 2012 - 7:55 am

LibDemVoice’s surveys of party members signed-up to our discussion forum have been running for well over three years now. (I posted yesterday the final set of figures from our most recent poll.)

Our surveys are a way of testing members’ views on a variety of hot topics. And as they’ve been running throughout the first half of the Coalition they’re also an interesting record of changing views on how the Coalition is regarded within the party.

If you would like to take part in the LibDemVoice surveys, there are simply two steps you need to follow:
1) Be a current Lib …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 3 Comments
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