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

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

By Stephen Tall | Thu 11th October 2012 - 7:35 am

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

Miliband slips from -20% to -48% (but note the caveats below)

LDV asked: Do you think Ed Miliband is doing well or badly as leader of the Labour party?

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

The politics of sluggish growth: good for the Tories, bad for Labour, and as for the Lib Dems we’ll see

By Stephen Tall | Tue 9th October 2012 - 11:10 pm

Today saw the publication by the IMF of its latest growth forecasts. UK growth prospects are downgraded once again. Growth in 2012 is now forecast to be -0.4% (the most recent quarter’s strong showing is anomalous) and an anaemic 1.1% in 2013. As The Spectator’s Jonathan Jones observes, the only thing new here is that the IMF is falling ‘into line with the consensus’.

On the face of it this is bad news for the Coalition, further evidence that the economic strategy of deficit reduction driven forward by David Cameron and George Osborne, and endorsed by Nick …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 33 Comments
Stephen Tall

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #294

By Stephen Tall | Mon 8th October 2012 - 8:00 am

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 294th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere… Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (30 September – 7 October, 2012), together with a hand-picked quintet, normally courtesy of LibDig, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

Continue reading »
Posted in Best of the blogs | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems’ internal elections: your guide to where we’re at (UPDATED)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 7th October 2012 - 4:50 pm

Every couple of years the Lib Dems hold internal elections in which conference representatives choose members of key party committees. As one of the seemingly few Lib Dems neither standing for election nor with a vote, I thought our readers might like an update on where we’re at…

Federal Executive

What does it do?
The formal answer: ‘The Federal Executive is an elected committee responsible for directing, co-ordinating and implementing the work of the Federal Party.’ (From the party website.)
The informal answer: What does the Federal Executive do? by Alison Goldsworthy
Who’s standing?
There are 36 candidates (26 men, 10 women) competing for …

Continue reading »
Posted in Party policy and internal matters and Party Presidency | Tagged , , , , , , , , and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members’ favourite political blogs ranked

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th October 2012 - 2:15 pm

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

Guardian’s CiF tops poll: almost half Lib Dem members read it

LDV asked: Which other politics blogs (if any) do you read? Please tick all that apply.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Jeremy Hunt: I disagree with him, but why shouldn’t he give his view?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th October 2012 - 10:25 am

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt is at the centre of a new row this morning after giving an interview to The Times in which he said his personal view is that the legal abortion limit should be cut to 12 weeks. Here’s how the Telegraph reports it:

“Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when they think that moment is, and my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it,” Mr Hunt told The Times. … “It’s just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged and | 75 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your Saturday morning reader – 8 must-read articles

By Stephen Tall | Sat 6th October 2012 - 8:15 am

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

5 Years On: The Election That Never Was – Damian McBride, Gordon Brown’s former spinner-in-chief whose must-read blog is essentially a memoir-by-instalments, recalls the week in 2007 that turned the new Prime Minister from hero to zero.

Jimmy Savile: The birth of a paedophile hoax on “Have I Got News For You” – John Fleming recounts the curious tale of how some invented, ‘censored’ scenes achieved such wide currency on the internet, eerily anticipating the past week’s revelations.

A speech that, thankfully, will not be made …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about means-testing pensioner benefits & a freeze on benefits payments

By Stephen Tall | Thu 4th October 2012 - 7:55 am

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

Two-thirds back means-testing of some wealthy pensioner benefits

LDV asked: Nick Clegg has suggested introducing means-testing so that better-off pensioners would no longer be entitled to receive benefits such as winter fuel payments, free bus passes and television licences. Supporters argue that at a time of financial austerity such benefits for the wealthiest paid by general taxation are unfair. Opponents …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

The top campaigning lesson from Ed Miliband’s speech: repetition is what you need

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 8:25 am

“We are the One Nation party,” Nick Clegg will tell the Liberal Democrats in his speech to their spring conference tomorrow.

Remember this headline? Probably not. Yet it dates from March 2012, just six months ago.

So what happened? Two key things, I suggest. First, Nick’s ‘One Nation’ message was drowned out by the furore over the NHS reforms which dominated the party’s spring conference this year. Secondly, it was one line among many which was uttered and quickly disappeared, like a whispered greeting on a windy day.

There was some snarky commentary from journalists who heard Ed Miliband …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 27 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about EBacc, academies and free schools

By Stephen Tall | Wed 3rd October 2012 - 7:55 am

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

Narrow backing for replacing GCSEs with EBacc

LDV asked: Nick Clegg and Michael Gove this week announced that the GCSE exams in England will be replaced by a new qualification in core subjects called the English Baccalaureate Certificate from 2017. This will mean a single end-of-course exam sat by almost all pupils and one exam board for core subjects. From …

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

LibLink: Jonathan Portes on wealth taxes & ensuring the ‘rich’ pay their fair share

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd October 2012 - 8:25 pm

Jonathan Portes, director of NIESR and former senior Treasury official, is not a Lib Dem — he recently contributed to LibDemVoice to critique the Coalition’s economic policy — but he is addicted to robust evidence. And the recent spate of right-wing commentators rubbishing the Lib Dems’ call for increased wealth taxes to help tackle the current economic crisis has roused his ire:

The Liberal Democrats call for a “mansion tax” (that is, a higher rate of council tax for the most expensive properties), possibly supplemented by some form of wealth tax seems to have provoked a peculiarly illogical misuse of

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , , , , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

New poll gives a boost to Lib Dems – but will it last?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 2nd October 2012 - 8:20 am

An interesting poll from ComRes in today’s Independent appears to show a post-conference boost for the Lib Dems at the expense of Labour:

As UKPollingReport’s Anthony Wells sensibly reminds us, this is just one poll: it might just as easily be a blip or a rogue as a sign of real recovery. BUT it is still interesting:

1) I’d expect the post-conference boost to fade away as the media focus …

Continue reading »
Posted in Polls | Tagged | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem members’ support for Coalition still high… but approval of Government hits new low

By Stephen Tall | Sat 29th September 2012 - 3:48 pm

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

74% of members continue to support Coalition with Conservatives

LDV asked: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives? (Comparison with August 2012′s figures)

    74% (-3%) – Support
    21% (+3%) – Oppose
    5% (n/c) – Don’t know / No opinion

Support for the Coalition remains high, at 74%, in spite of, well, everything. The net …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 9 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem conference closes: What the papers say…

By Stephen Tall | Thu 27th September 2012 - 8:25 am

Plenty of comment in today’s papers about this week’s Lib Dem conference and Nick Clegg’s speech. Here’s a selection of views…

Benedict Brogan (Daily Telegraph)

I suspect we are going to have to start talking about a Lib Dem recovery at some point. No, really. Nick Clegg’s speech completed a fairly successful week for the Deputy Prime Minister. The polls are still terrible, and his prospects might look bleak, but as Dan Hodges argued earlier, Labour’s support is soft and as we close on the election, the economy picks up and Labour’s deficiencies come under scrutiny, their position can only improve.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

Why I loathe leaders’ speeches. PS: It’s nothing personal, Nick

By Stephen Tall | Wed 26th September 2012 - 8:40 am

Don’t tell anyone, but I’m leaving conference on Wednesday morning before our leader speaks. It’s nothing personal — I think my record’s pretty clear on supporting Nick Clegg’s leadership — but I find leaders’ speeches tiresome.

The bullet points will have been carefully briefed to the press in advance, embargoed copies of the speech will be widely circulating — by the time Nick actually gets to his feet for the traditional 40-minute peroration it’ll already feel like a repeat, even if he does ad lib a couple of scripted (and, sorry, almost certainly lame) jokes.

Add to that the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Paddy on the Coalition, joining the party & that Sun headline

By Stephen Tall | Tue 25th September 2012 - 9:50 am

There’s a fantastic interview with Paddy Ashdown by The Guardian’s Simon Hattenstone published here. As you’d expect it’s crammed full of anecdotes and quotable bon mots. I’ve picked out just three to enjoy…

Paddy on the Coalition

He regards those who feel betrayed by the party as weak or naive – notably Guardian leader writers who backed them in 2010. “The Guardian feels like a jilted lover. It hates the Liberal Democrats. The Guardian feels personally betrayed because for the very first time it gave the Liberal Democrats its support and what did we do? We went off with the Tories.

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: Nick Clegg Entschuldigt Sich

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th September 2012 - 8:30 pm

I suspect Nick Clegg may well have had enough of spoof videos by now. But on the off-chance he hasn’t, LBC’s Iain Dale has re-worked that famous clip from Downfall… almost affectionately, I think. Judge for yourselves:

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Tagged , and | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Andrew Mitchell’s failed apology: what he should have said

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th September 2012 - 12:55 pm

‘Andrew Mitchell: what an idiot.’ That seems to be the consensus from Lib Dems in Brighton. Partly it’s borne of frustration that his self-admitted outburst against the police is distracting attention away from the party conference. Unfortunately, ‘Tory cabinet minister calls police effing plebs’ is a lot more interesting than policy news about schools funding or international aid.

But the bigger reason for thinking Andrew Mitchell is a bit of an idiot is demonstrated by his inept apology this morning, an apology which managed to dodge the word ‘sorry’ and left entirely unresolved exactly what it was he …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

What should the Liberal Democrats focus on in the next year? (Stephen Tall)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 24th September 2012 - 8:50 am

That was the question House Magazine asked me for its Lib Dem Conference Special Edition, and here’s what I told them:

Forget Nick Clegg’s leadership. There is one issue and one issue alone that the Lib Dems need to focus on in the year ahead: the economy.

There are many reasons for the party’s dip in the polls since the heady heights of ‘Cleggmania’ – allying with the Tories, U-turning over tuition fees – but the single biggest reason for the Coalition Government’s fading fortunes …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think about the third Heathrow runway and increased aviation capacity

By Stephen Tall | Sun 23rd September 2012 - 11:55 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.

Big thumbs-up to party’s continuing policy to oppose third Heathrow runway…

LDV asked: Do you support or oppose building a third runway at Heathrow airport?

    12% – Support
    79% – Oppose
    9% – Don’t know

The Tories may be preparing to U-turn on a third runway in readiness for their 2015 general election manifesto, but Lib Dems remain resolutely opposed to a further …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged and | Leave a comment
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members say about the party’s direction and Nick Clegg’s leadership

By Stephen Tall | Sun 23rd September 2012 - 9:50 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.

Sharp fall in net satisfaction with party’s direction to +9%

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

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Tagged | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

ConHome pushes case for Vince Cable as Lib Dem leader. It’s enough to make you wonder why…

By Stephen Tall | Sat 22nd September 2012 - 9:30 am

You’ve gotta love ConservativeHome. No, really. This morning Tim Montgomerie reports a deliciously mischief-making poll from YouGov, commissioned by the Lord Ashcroft-backed site, comparing the standing of Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and the Liberal Democrats in general.

It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Vince Cable performs better than Nick Clegg in all the measures of leadership qualities asked about. (You can see the results in the graph at the foot of this piece.) This leads Tim to conclude: ‘If the Liberal Democrats are looking for a leader who can increase their electoral competitiveness these are powerful numbers.’

Call me …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds and Polls | Tagged , , , , and | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

The pupil premium isn’t a quick-fix solution, it’s a long-haul policy

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th September 2012 - 9:00 am

The pupil premium — additional cash targeted at the most disadvantaged children — is the policy of which Nick Clegg is proudest and with which he is most closely associated. The policy itself dates back to Julian le Grand in the 1980s (when it was touted as a progressive version of school vouchers) but it was Nick who put it firmly in the political mainstream as long ago as 2002 in a pamphlet he co-wrote based on experiences of it working within continental Europe.

Though the Tories nominally signed-up to the concept of a pupil premium in their 2010 …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , , , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

New LDV members’ survey now live: your views on education reforms, Heathrow, the reshuffle & the Coalition’s performance

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th September 2012 - 5:28 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 free schools and academies;
  • what you make of reforms to GCSEs in England;
  • what you think about a new runway at Heathrow;
  • whether you agree with means-testing benefits for wealthier pensioners;
  • your views on Nick Clegg’s leadership and the forthcoming reshuffle;

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | 6 Comments
Stephen Tall

Your one-stop online guide to Lib Dem conference events – we’ve got an app for that

By Stephen Tall | Wed 19th September 2012 - 11:25 am

The Lib Dem conference guide is my political-geek equivalent of the Christmas Radio Times, thumbing through it in anticipation, circling the must-watch events, worrying about all the clashes of things I want to see.

But just as PVRs and Sky+ mean I no longer fret about missing my fave programmes so have our advertising partners MessageSpace developed an online guide – FringeList – which contains every event taking place: when, where, who’s speaking, and who’s attending.

You can search for particular speakers (including who’s speaking most often), find out which are the most popular events, and create your own …

Continue reading »
Posted in Conference | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

And so the ‘Romneyshambles’ rolls on…

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th September 2012 - 8:45 am

Here’s the video footage of US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addressing a private fundraising event:

Continue reading »
Posted in LDVUSA and YouTube | Tagged | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg and Gove show united front on plan to overhaul GCSEs

By Stephen Tall | Mon 17th September 2012 - 9:45 am

Nick Clegg and Michael Gove will today present a carefully joined up front as they present proposals to overhaul GCSEs. In June, the two clashed after the education secretary let slip his desire to return to O-levels, swiftly dubbed ‘Gove-levels’. The Lib Dem leader immediately dismissing any notion of a return to a two-tier system exam system which would have likely resulted in high numbers of poorer children in the most disadvantaged areas sitting the CSE exams which would close off their opportunities for later progress into higher education and many professional careers. Their row may also have contributed to …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , , and | 43 Comments
Stephen Tall

How much should we tax? How much should we spend? The great unanswered questions in British politics

By Stephen Tall | Mon 10th September 2012 - 8:45 am

A few weeks ago I took David Laws to task for proposing the UK needs to reduce public spending to 35% of GDP: it currently stands at 43%.

I stand by the three points I made then:
1) Just because public spending is higher in the C.21st than in Gladstone’s day is not in itself a sufficient argument.
2) Proposals for public spending cuts should be backed up by specific examples. (It’s a favourite trick of Conservative right-wingers in particular, for example, to preach spending restraint while also wanting to build new prisons and buy new weapons systems.)
3) There is no evidence …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Tagged and | 21 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dems should have had no part in ‘Knights of the Long Knives’ reshuffle honours

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th September 2012 - 11:50 pm

Nick Harvey’s had a tough week. On Tuesday his ministerial career was brought to an abrupt and surprising halt when Nick Clegg told him he was ‘trading’ his post of armed forces minister for a Lib Dem foothold in another department.

The North Devon MP has been a victim of his own success. So shrewdly has he overseen the Trident nuclear weapons review — the crunch defence decision which divides Lib Dems and Tories — that it is highly likely to produce more effective, better value deterrent options, with a final decision not needed until 2016, after the next …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 21 Comments
Stephen Tall

What the three departing Lib Dem ministers have said as they leave government

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th September 2012 - 8:05 pm

You can catch up on the rolling LibDemVoice live-blog of today’s reshuffle here and the current list of official Lib Dem appointments here.

Three Lib Dem ministers are at the time of writing departing the Coalition Government for the backbenches. Each of them has issued statements as follows:

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP for Brent Central:

It has been a huge privilege to serve as an education minister in the coalition government over the last two and a half years. I’m hugely proud of the part I have been able to play in ending child detention, and rolling out the

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Tagged , , and | 5 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Hywel
    Ballsy move using a close-to-the-knuckle knock off of the Fifa logo. Prob be OK, they are usually pretty relaxed about that sort of thing!...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Might we have a definition of government debt? Might we have a definition of democracy?...
  • David Raw
    @ Tristan Ward. Given your views on carers, I would strongly advise you to remain healthy and not to grow old....
  • Katrin Harding
    Thanks for grasping this issue! On the consultation sessions- I’d love to join one but the timings are impossible as a parent of young children. I’m happy t...
  • Peter Martin
    @ Kira, The words you quoted were from Peter Davies'. Not me. I wouldn't agree with raising VAT on energy to 15% right now. I'd leave it as is. The point ...