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. Follow @stephentall
It’s a fortnight since we launched our search for the Liberal Voice of the Year with the aim of finding the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is LibDemVoice’s fifth such annual award, and as is our tradition, we looked beyond the ranks of the Lib Dems to find the liberal who’s most impressed our readers and is not a member of our party.
One of the more absurd stories I’ve seen this week is from Aintree in Liverpool. It’s a bite-size exemplum of local politicians slavish desire of media attention — and of the news media’s slack-jawed credulity when presented with a too-easy headline. Especially one that allows them to print the word ‘NUTTERS’.
There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…
Here’s Tory secretary of state for education Michael Gove clutching a box of Star Wars lego. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about him?
LibDemVoice’s surveys of party members signed-up to our discussion forum have been running for over three years now. (I posted yesterday the final set of figures from December’s 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 18 months 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 Dem member, …
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Over 550 party members responded, and we’ve published the full results here.
Today we focus on the performances of the leading lights of the Liberal Democrats — those of our MPs in the cabinet, those occupying ministerial positions, and other leading Lib Dems. My LibDemVoice colleague Mark Pack has already provided the highlights of our latest survey, but I know there are completists among you who cannot rest easy until the full figures are revealed…
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 September 2011 ratings in brackets)
Here’s veteran Lib Dem MP for Colchester Sir Bob Russell, knighted for public service in this year’s honours, enjoying a frame of snooker with Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. What do you think might be being said or thought by or about those pictured?
Apparently, though, there is life beyond the Lib Dems — as PR Week reports:
Chris Fox today started in his newly created post of director of group comms at London-listed GKN, which employs around 40,000 people in 30 countries. … In an internal email to Liberal Democrat colleagues, Fox said there had ‘been few dull moments’ during his three-year spell with the party, adding: ‘I am looking forward to
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 560 party members responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results.
70% back end to free bus pass and TV licences for wealthier pensioners
LDV asked: Nick Clegg has suggested introducing means-testing so that better-off pensioners would no longer be entitled to receive benefits such as 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 argue …
Nick Clegg submitted himself to the new year delights of the primetime 8.10am Today Programme interview on Thursday. Here’s a round-up of what he said and the reactions to it…
Nick Clegg has kicked off his new year promising more action to curb executive bonuses, amid continued questions over his leadership. … The deputy prime minister insisted he was responsible for many of the tougher sanctions against high-earners and tax avoiders, saying he had inserted sections on tax avoidance into the coalition agreement.
“Look at this debate about irresponsible capitalism, what I call crony capitalism,” he told BBC Radio 4. “It’s Liberal Democrats who’ve led the debate on clamping down on bankers’ bonuses and we must be just as tough this year in the bonus season that’s coming up as we were last year, if not more so.”
Nick Clegg has vowed to push ahead with plans to curb executive pay and introduce anti-avoidance tax rules for businesses, as part of a wider drive to clamp down on irresponsible practices that he has branded “crony capitalism”. … “It’s Liberal Democrats who led the call, as Vince Cable did last September in our party conference, for restraint and new transparency and accountability on unacceptable excess in executive pay where people are being paid huge amounts of money even though they fail to do well for those companies,” he said. …
However, Mr Clegg was unwilling to discuss the status of the Lib Dems’ long-sought mansion tax, which is strongly opposed by many Conservatives. When pressed on whether a mansion tax was likely to be introduced, Mr Clegg said: “We will see what comes in future Budgets. One thing I’m absolutely clear about is that our cornerstone commitment to make the tax system fairer by lifting the point at which you start paying income tax is something that this government, because of Liberal Democrats, will deliver one Budget after the next Budget after the next.”
Asked about the on the Today programme this morning, Nick Clegg would only say “we will see what comes in future Budgets”. He spoke of his desire to capture “unearned wealth” but seemed to think that George Osborne was unlikely to act soon, if at all. The corollary of this is that the 50p tax rate is likely to remain for the duration of the parliament. The Lib Dems will not accept the abolition of the top rate unless it is replaced with some kind of wealth tax. …
Elsewhere in the interview, he attempted to bridge the coalition divide on Europe by emphasising that the government was united on the need to make the EU “more competitive”. But he damningly added that “no one planned for an outcome which left Britain in a position of one. There was no real planning or discussion about Britain being in a corner on its own.” However, the former MEP also attempted to shed his image as an unthinking europhile. “I’m not a starry eyed pro-European,” he said, recalling that it took the EU 15 years to agree on a definition of chocolate.
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. 564 party members responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results here.
We asked the question: “The Liberal Democrats have just appointed a new chief executive, Tim Gordon, to take over from Chris Fox. What do you think should be Tim’s top priorities as party chief executive?”
Today’s the day we launch our search for the Liberal Voice of 2011 to find the individual or group which has had the biggest impact on liberalism in the past 12 months. This is the fifth 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 nine nominees appears below. These were sought from Lib Dem members via our most recent survey; 233 nominations were submitted, and each of those short-listed needed to clear a threshold of five.
By Stephen Tall
| Sat 31st December 2011 - 7:55 am
Two Lib Dem ministers made it into the top 10 of most-mentioned politicians in the national print media in 2011. Not surprisingly, one was Nick Clegg, the Deputy PM; the other was Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary.
Here’s the graphic which shows them placed 4th and 10th respectively:
Two Lib Dems also made it into the list of top 10 backbenchers who appeared in the national print media in 2011. Ming Campbell and David Laws popped up at 9th and 10th respectively (42nd and …
By Stephen Tall
| Fri 30th December 2011 - 6:45 pm
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.
Huhne and Clegg tie for the award neither would want to win
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 385 of our respondents rose to. And here’s what you told us:
By Stephen Tall
| Thu 29th December 2011 - 6:50 pm
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 564 party members responded, and we are publishing the full results here over several days.
Vince, Danny and Chris: the Lib Dems’ top trio in government
LDV asked: In your opinion, which Lib Dem government minister has had the best year?
Unusually for our Voice surveys, this question allowed an unprompted, free-text response, which 408 of our respondents rose to. And here’s what you told us:
By Stephen Tall
| Tue 20th December 2011 - 7:23 am
Liberal Democrat Voice has always aimed to be ‘Our place to talk’, a site primarily for Lib Dem members to discuss and debate. We welcome readers’ contributions, whether financial (hem-hem) or intellectual.
Building and maintaining a site like this, with fresh news and opinion day-in-day-out, is a labour of love. We are therefore delighted to be able to welcome a clutch of new day editors to afforce the Voice Collective:
By Stephen Tall
| Wed 14th December 2011 - 4:45 pm
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.
Lib Dem members give thumbs-up (mostly) to Osborne’s autumn statement
Two weeks ago, the Chancellor George Osborne updated MPs on the state of the economy and the government’s future plans in his Autumn Statement as the Office for Budget Responsibility published its latest growth and borrowing forecasts.
LDV asked: Do you support or oppose the following policies announced by the Chancellor? …
By Stephen Tall
| Wed 14th December 2011 - 11:55 am
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. Some 550 party members responded, and we’ll be publishing the full results here over the next few days.
62% back Coalition’s deficit policy
LDV asked: Thinking about the government’s economic policies, which of the following best reflects your view?
By Stephen Tall
| Tue 13th December 2011 - 2:15 pm
Perhaps it’s because it’s Christmas. Or perhaps it’s because the right-wing press is frothing with excitement at the Prime Minister sticking it to Johnny Foreigner.
Either way, the last few days’ events have put me in mind of the speech Hugh Grant delivers as a British prime minister (coincidentally called David) in the film, Love Actually. You can watch the clip I’m thinking of here.
It’s a knowingly funny pastiche of Little Englander pride in this country’s past glories, invoking cultural icons such as Shakespeare, The Beatles, …
By Stephen Tall
| Tue 13th December 2011 - 7:45 am
“An avoidable disaster”: that is the verdict of the Financial Times’s Philip Stephens in a must-read article examining what went on behind the scenes of the Coalition’s strategy for approaching last week’s failed European summit. And his verdict on the Prime Minister and his advisers could scarcely be more scathing:
There was no great plan for a rupture. What some Tories now see as Mr Cameron’s Churchillian moment was rather the result of an inept negotiating strategy placed in the hands of an inexperienced prime minister.
So what did happen? On last night’s Newsnight former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown set …
By Stephen Tall
| Mon 12th December 2011 - 7:16 pm
Here’s Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg explaining his position on Europe, his disagreement with David Cameron on the outcome of the summit, and why he missed today’s Commons debate:
By Stephen Tall
| Mon 12th December 2011 - 9:15 am
There are, I know, a few Lib Dems who question whether Nick Clegg has done enough to prove the party’s pro-European credentials in the last few days. (And to be clear: to be a liberal pro-European means also being in favour of significant reform of the EU to make it more open, transparent and democratic.)
But if there’s one thing that should reassure such Lib Dems, it’s this: the rabid response of the most extreme right-wing press (ie, all of it) to Nick Clegg’s interview yesterday in which he declared himself “bitterly disappointed” with the outcome of last week’s European summit.
I think the last time I can recall such foaming fury was in April 2010, when following the leaders’ TV debates the Lib Dems (briefly) took pole poll position. That upsurge provoked the Torygraph to demean its serious news journalism by splashing on an innuendo-laden smear of Nick Clegg’s finances. While the Daily Mail took a short-cut to Godwin’s Law with the furious, spurious headline ‘Nick Clegg’s Nazi slur on Britain’.
By Stephen Tall
| Mon 12th December 2011 - 7:35 am
The shockwaves from David Cameron’s decision to reject the proposed ‘Merkozy’ EU treaty is still shaking politics. The UK stands isolated from the other 26 member states. Tory Eurosceptics and, early polls suggest, a majority of the British public think the Prime Minister has played a blinder, ‘sticking up for Britain’.
This is difficult territory for the Lib Dems. Our October survey of party members suggested a more Eurosceptical attitude than traditionally associated with the party, with 51% rejecting a move towards ever closer union.
However, there is nothing more guaranteed to put up liberals’ backs than the full-throated, …
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 the Coalition’s deficit-reduction policies;
whether Lib Dems should commit to further post-2015 public spending cuts;
if you agree with Nick Clegg’s support for means-testing some universal benefits;
What presents are you looking forward to giving or receiving this year? That’s the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. All this week we’re revealing what they told us, with link-throughs to Amazon for your shopping convenience (and ‘cos the referral fees help support LibDemVoice: so get clicking and ordering). Part I is available here; Part II here; Part III here; and Part IV here. In part five, our final duo of bloggers – Alex Wilcock and, erm, me – give us the low-down on their Xmas faves…
The political aftershock of George Osborne’s autumn statement is just beginning to sink in: the Coalition’s 5-year austerity programme, designed to end in 2015 by the time of the next general election, is now a 7-year programme straddling two parliaments.
This poses problems for the future of the Coalition, and for the Lib Dems in particular, encapsulated here by the FT’s Philip Stephens:
Here’s the paradox. The effect of sticking to economic plan A has been to shred the coalition government’s original political strategy. In the heady days after the 2010 election the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats signed up to
By Stephen Tall
| Thu 1st December 2011 - 11:35 am
Paul Walter’s LibDemVoice review of yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions mentioned the Ed Miliband soundbite which has been picked up by much of the media… but so far without the disbelief it’s due. Here’s what the Labour leader said:
The difference is that, unlike the Prime Minister, I am not going to demonise the dinner lady, the cleaner or the nurse, people who earn in a week what the Chancellor pays for his annual skiing holiday.
A quick reminder for those who don’t live in the Westminster bubble that, last January, it was revealed (by which I mean I read it …
Jeremy Clarkson is an attention-seeking controversialist. That’s his stock in trade. He’s about as close as the British have come to embracing America’s shock-jock cult.
And he was at it again yesterday — seeking attention, being controversial — when he appeared on BBC1’s The One Show and suggested striking public sector workers should be shot in front of their families. Cue VT:
By Stephen Tall
| Wed 30th November 2011 - 5:55 pm
What presents are you looking forward to giving or receiving this year? That’s the question LDV posed to a group of Lib Dem bloggers. All this week we’re revealing what they told us, with link-throughs to Amazon for your shopping convenience (and ‘cos the referral fees help support LibDemVoice: so get clicking and ordering). Part I is available here; Part II here; and Part III here. In part three, our fourth trio of bloggers – Jonathan Calder, Caron Lindsay, and Mark Pack – give us the low-down on their Xmas faves…
David Allen Tristan,
You're right in the sense that you didn't specifically call for PFI. But you did say "if you can persuade private money to provide the funding on t...
David Garlick Touted as bringing power to people.
Power brought down from Govt sounds good but power still not reaching the lowest possible levels in our Communities....
Tristan Ward @ David Allen
"PFI won’t help stop the planet burning"
Who said anything about PFI - I didn't.
The private money that is building (not enough) house...
Joey Vimsante I think the EU and UK needs to support not for profit, social media platforms that put the interest of the public, vulnerable people, young people, and nation a...
Nick Baird With regard to client-side image scanning, the danger of mission creep are real, but I have other concerns. One is whether this is truly a practical and effecti...
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Brechtian television: Leo McKern in Galileo (1964)
Good news on political donations?
Conference booked
Are Labour going to cross another red line?
David Allen 
David Garlick 
Tristan Ward 
Joey Vimsante 
Nick Baird 