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

LDVideo: ‘Baby Says No2AV’, Clegg on local elections, and CK’s i-MP

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th April 2011 - 7:55 pm

Welcome to the latest edition of LDVideo, the Voice’s occasional round-up of current political videos doing the virtual rounds.

Here’s a fab Yes to Fairer Votes video showing that ‘Some people will say no to anything’:

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Posted in YouTube | 1 Comment
Stephen Tall

Tory insiders brief press to complain at Lib Dem insiders briefing press

By Stephen Tall | Sat 9th April 2011 - 6:35 pm

PR Week carries, without any seeming irony, an account of ‘tensions’ at the heart of the Coalition’s spin machine — with Tory insiders briefing their discontent at Lib Dem insiders briefing the media:

Cracks are beginning to appear at the heart of the Downing Street comms operation, with the Liberal Dem­ocrats accused of riding roughshod over the Number 10 media grid. Advisers to Prime Minister David Cameron are becoming increasingly frustrated with Lib Dem media tactics, as Nick Clegg’s party attempts to distance itself from the Conservatives ahead of the local elections on 5 May.

The Deputy PM and his aides

…

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Posted in News | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Which Tory minister do you think is Talking Rubbish most? Spelman, Pickles or Neill?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th April 2011 - 11:55 pm

Friends of the Earth is inviting the public to help decide the winner of its Talking Rubbish Award to help debunk the myths peddled by right-wing newspapers and some Tory ministers who ‘like to trash recycling’. The three nominees are as follows:

    The myth: Recycling means everyone is terrified of the ‘bin police’
    “The iron fist of the municipal state has come down on people for the most minor of bin breaches.” Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary

    The reality:     Mr Pickles – and some noisy media commentators – give the impression that people live in fear of the ‘bin police’. In reality, studies show

…

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Posted in Local government | Tagged , , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Clegg a hypocrite? Nick’s critics are “playing the man, not the ball” says BBC’s Mark Easton

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th April 2011 - 11:07 pm

The right-wing press was today in full self-righteous cry, accusing Nick Clegg of ‘hypocrisy’ for seeking to ensure fairness on internships when he’s stated in interviews before he benefited from family connections. Their argument is comprehensively refuted by the BBC’s home editor Mark Easton, who points out here quite how spurious such attacks are:

The charge is that he is a hypocrite – trying to deny to others what he enjoyed himself. But does the accusation really hold water? Are we saying that no politician can ever pursue reforms to a system because he or she is a consequence of

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 13 Comments
Stephen Tall

WTF? Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert stands up for use of youth argot

By Stephen Tall | Wed 6th April 2011 - 9:15 pm

You will all be thinking about leaving school in a few weeks and must be thinking ‘WTF’ about going to university.

So said Stephen Gilbert, Lib Dem MP for St Austell and Newquay, when addressing an assembly of 200 Year 11 students at a local community college, prompting a local Tory councillor to complain to the school, accusing Mr Gilbert of being “out of touch”.

Headteacher David Parker is more forgiving: “I was there at the time and I know people have picked up on something that was said during the talk. Perhaps if he had thought about it before he said …

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Posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Stephen Tall

Pollwatch – State of the Leaders: Clegg -25%, Cameron -6%, Miliband -10% (April 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Tue 5th April 2011 - 8:00 am

Yesterday, Pollwatch looked at the current state of the parties; today it’s the turn of the party leaders, Messrs Clegg, Cameron and Miliband.

As with all polls, what follows comes with caveats. Five of the polling companies – YouGov, Ipsos-Mori, ComRes, ICM and Angus Reid – ask questions specifically to find out the public’s views of the party leaders. And each asks variants on the basic question – do you think Clegg/Cameron are doing a good job – to come up with their figures, so comparison ain’t easy. For that reason, I’m taking a 3-month rolling average which isn’t very statistically …

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Posted in Polls | Tagged , , and | 8 Comments
Stephen Tall

Pollwatch – State of the Parties: Lib Dems 11%, Labour 40%, Tories 36% (April 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Mon 4th April 2011 - 8:00 am

Well, it’s been a while since last the Voice rounded-up the polls — but with Scottish/Welsh/local elections just weeks away, it’s time to dust down our spreadsheets and take a look at the current states of the parties.

A total of 35 polls were published during March. Now, as our readers know, LDV doesn’t cover them with the same breathless excitements as other parts of the media. Most poll movements are within the margin of error, so it is only looked at over a period of time that you can detect whether there has really been any significant movements between the …

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Posted in Local government, Polls, Scotland and Wales | Tagged | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

Who are the greatest Liberal Prime Ministers who never were?

By Stephen Tall | Sun 3rd April 2011 - 3:23 pm

Mark Pack reviewed Francis Beckett’s new counterfactual collection, The Prime Ministers Who Never Were, on the Voice earlier this week — 14 ‘Big Beasts’ who, had the chips fallen differently, might have become premiers.

The list is mostly inevitable with a couple of intriguing outsiders: Austen Chamberlain, J R Clynes, Lord Halifax, Oswald Mosley, Herbert Morrison, Hugh Gaitskell, Rab Butler, George Brown, Norman Tebbit, Michael Foot, Denis Healey, Neil Kinnock, John Smith and David Miliband.

Voice readers will notice one evident fact: there’s not a single Liberal (or SDP) name among them. In some ways it’s not that surprising. After …

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Posted in Books | Tagged , , , , , , , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

Tebbit admits ‘I admire Clegg more than Cameron’

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd April 2011 - 5:45 pm

Well, there’s a headline that will cause equal consternation among both Lib Dem and Conservative supporters… and doubtless prompt some no-surprise-there snarks from Labourites too.

But what’s more interesting than the stark headline (prompted by this Telegraph interview) is Norman Tebbit’s reason for admiring Nick Clegg over his own party leader:

He says he is more of a Conservative than David Cameron. The Big Society is just a “buzzword. It’s a logo looking for a product”. He wants to turn the party back to being nationalist and jokes that he would like it to go into coalition with the UK

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 16 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV doesn’t do statporn, but if we did (March 2011)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd April 2011 - 4:35 pm

… We’d say a big thank you to the 52,224 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in March.

It’s three months since last the Voice indulged in our statporn, so here’s 2011 figures so far: January (44,998) and February (40,206). This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011) to 766,283, almost double the equivalent figure for 2009-10 of 395,014.

Incidentally, if you’re wondering why we publish our readership figures — is it show-off vanity, or pedantic statophilia? — I came up with a few reasons at …

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Stephen Tall

LDV Saturday caption competition: The “Kennedy AVs it Large” edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 2nd April 2011 - 2:25 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…

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Posted in Caption Comp | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Would an infinite number of monkeys be able to write an accurate story for the Telegraph?

By Stephen Tall | Mon 28th March 2011 - 9:45 am

To be honest, I’m starting to feel sorry for the Telegraph’s political journalists. It must get quite tricky week after week coming up with new half-truths to try and stretch into a story that even their Coalition-hating editors won’t spike for being too thin.

This weekend brought new ‘revelations’ from the reliably inaccurate Melissa Kite and Patrick Hennessy that the Lib Dems are (in any order you like) about to: change our name; no-con Nick Clegg; install Chris Huhne as leader; trigger a general election; insist Col Gadaffi is brought into the cabinet. Okay, I made that last one …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 19 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDVideo: The People Say Yes to AV (‘No Politicians’ Edition)

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th March 2011 - 5:25 pm

The No2AV Campaign has been all too delighted to parade has-been politicians to back up its arguments — the Yes2AV Campaign has rather more wisely stuck to letting the public have its say in this first UK referendum in 35 years.

Here members of the public explain why they’ll be choosing the Alternative Vote this May:


(You can watch it on YouTube here.)

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Stephen Tall

LDV Saturday caption competition: “The Webb’s Wonders” Edition

By Stephen Tall | Sat 19th March 2011 - 1:58 pm

There’s no prize at stake – just the opportunity to prove you’re wittier than any other LDV reader…


(Image credit: Alex Broadway / SWPix.com via Flickr)

Here’s Lib Dem Minister of State for Pensions Steve Webb joining in an armchair aerobics session at Bristol Rovers Extra Time project, funded by the Football Foundation and Comic Relief. What do you think Steve or his fellow fitness enthusiast might be thinking or saying?

The winner of our most recent caption competition, “At last, it’s the Nick and Tim Show” Edition — just …

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Posted in Caption Comp | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

Three cheers for Ed Miliband (shame about his party)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 16th March 2011 - 6:40 pm

This evening Labour leader Ed Miliband will urge his party and the public to say yes to fairer votes in this coming May’s referendum.

All of us in favour of electoral reform, and a voting system that puts more power back in the hands of the people, should welcome his personal backing for the alternative vote. Ed, at least, is staying true to what Labour’s 2010 general election manifesto pledged, specifically:

To ensure that every MP is supported by the majority of their constituents voting at each election, we will hold a referendum on introducing the Alternative Vote for elections

…

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Posted in Op-eds | Tagged , , and | 30 Comments
Stephen Tall

Can politicians ever aspire to a real work/life balance?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 15th March 2011 - 3:44 pm

Last night, Nick Radford — who stood for the Lib Dems in Salisbury at the 2010 general election — announced on his blog he would not be standing again, that he ‘finally felt comfortable describing myself as a “ex-politician”‘.

Before the media gets in too much of a lather (I can already see the headlines: “Top Lib Dem quits”, “Fresh blow to Clegg”, etc, yawn), Nick’s reasons are personal and varied — and as it happens, disagreements with the Coalition are the least of his issues: ‘this isn’t because of the disastrous press that the party has received since …

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Posted in News | Tagged and | 24 Comments
Stephen Tall

The Voice’s Alex Foster to feature on tonight’s Channel 4 Come Dine With Me

By Stephen Tall | Tue 1st February 2011 - 6:33 pm

Long-time contributing editor to Lib Dem Voice, Alex Foster, is cooking up a storm on this week’s Come Dine With Me, the hit Channel 4 gourmet gameshow. And tonight, Tuesday, at 5pm is when viewers will be able to view his cooking episode, which is trailed thusly:

In Nottingham, local councillor Alex Foster hopes to impress with a fancy French menu and a spot of bell ringing. Sadly, Brian likens Alex’s starter to cat food, Janice tells him to tidy up his house, and Barry compares the cornichons to intimate body parts.

Which must surely count as must-watch telly, yes?

You can …

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Posted in Site news | Tagged | 5 Comments
Stephen Tall

EXCLUSIVE: How party members rate the performances of leading Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Mon 31st January 2011 - 9:58 am

Lib Dem Voice polled our members-only forum recently to discover what Lib Dem members think of a variety of key issues, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 660 party members responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results of our survey over the past couple of weeks.

Today, in the final part of our survey, 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:

How would you rate the performances of the …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

Local by-elections, the national picture: Lib Dems at 12%

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th January 2011 - 5:28 pm

The Voice reported late on Thursday night the excellent performance of the Lib Dems in Winchester, recording a strong council by-election hold in the improbably-named Oliver’s Battery and Badger Farm.

The Independent, noting the party’s victory, however also recorded the national projections based on January’s eight local by-elections, which show the state of the parties as:

    Lab 39.4%, C 38.6%, Lib Dem 12.1%.

The report added:

… six of the contests were in areas where Lib Dems are traditionally the main challengers to Tories. In most of these the Conservative vote held up. This contrasted starkly with a huge swing

…

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Posted in News | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

New Torygraph smears against Nick, as Hennessy hits a hat-trick

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th January 2011 - 3:35 pm

‘Nick Clegg – no more Government business please after 3pm’ squeals the Torygraph today, delighted that they have managed to link their three favourite things in one story: (1) Having a pop at Nick Clegg (check); (2) Having a pop at the Coalition (check); and (3) Having a pop at ‘political correctness gawn mad’ (check).

If you read the story by the paper’s reliably on-right-wing-message Patrick Hennessy — and it’s almost worth it to see a political editor in full reactionary cry — a few facts become clear. First, that the 3pm deadline refers to the Whitehall practice of ‘closing’ …

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Posted in News | Tagged , and | 39 Comments
Stephen Tall

Labour reshuffle: Ed Miliband unveils Continuity Gordon Brown Party

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th January 2011 - 8:32 pm

The Lib Dem response to Ed Balls’ appointment as Labour’s shadow chancellor, replacing Alan Johnson, has been swift. Stephen Williams, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Treasury Committee, commented:

“I wish Alan Johnson good luck for the future.

“The decision to appoint Ed Balls as Shadow Chancellor shows that the Labour Party is now determined to carry on with the Gordon Brown economic plan that caused so much trouble for this country.

“Ed Balls isn’t just a deficit denier, he’s a deficit enthusiast.”

Alan Johnson resigned earlier today, citing “personal reasons to do with my family”. He had been under pressure in …

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , and | 36 Comments
Stephen Tall

Helen Duffett appointed Internal Communications Manager for Lib Dems

By Stephen Tall | Tue 18th January 2011 - 9:58 pm

Helen Duffett — Lib Dem blogger, tweeter, and much-loved member of Lib Dem Voice’s editorial collective — started today as the party’s new Internal Communications Manager. All of us at the Voice wish her the very best in this vital role.

We are delighted that Helen has agreed to continue to fulfil the role of contributing editor, and look forward to her remaining a full member of the team here at LDV Towers.

Posted in Site news | 18 Comments
Stephen Tall

LDV survey: Lib Dem members’ favourite Tory ministers revealed!

By Stephen Tall | Mon 17th January 2011 - 10:25 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. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

The Lib Dems have been in Coalition with the Conservatives for some eight months now — so we thought it would be interesting to find out who our sample of party members think is ‘hot or not’ among our Coalition partners.

LDV asked: Which of the following Conservative ministers have genuinely impressed you since the Coalition Government was formed? …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 32 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition and Nick Clegg now (Part 2 of 2)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th January 2011 - 5:35 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. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

To read Part 1 — What Lib Dem members think about the party and its leadership — click here.

What Lib Dem members think about the Coalition and its future

LDV asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the Coalition Government’s record to date? (Comparison with November’s figures.)

  • 60% (67%) – Approve

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 26 Comments
Stephen Tall

What Lib Dem members think of the Coalition and Nick Clegg now (Part 1 of 2)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th January 2011 - 2:25 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. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

What Lib Dem members think about the party and its leadership

LDV asked: 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% (65%) – The right course
  • 25% (23%) – The wrong

…

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 11 Comments
Stephen Tall

73% of Lib Dem members say gap between poorest and richest now unacceptably large

By Stephen Tall | Sun 16th January 2011 - 10:10 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. Over 660 party members have responded, and we’re currently publishing the full results.

LDV asked: Some people believe that the gap between the earnings of the richest and the poorest in Britain is now unacceptably large and unfair. Other people think this the natural and acceptable result of a free economy, and that very successful people should be allowed to get rich. Which of the following best reflects your view?

Here’s what …

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Posted in LDV Members poll | 12 Comments
Stephen Tall

After Oldham: what does the result mean for the party’s targeting strategy?

By Stephen Tall | Sat 15th January 2011 - 2:25 pm

After all the anticipation and build-up, yesterday’s Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election was a bit of a damp squib.

Labour retained the seat with a decent and improved majority, as would be expected of the only major opposition party. The Lib Dems held our own, Elwyn Watkins nudging up the share of the vote he received in May 2010, but not surprisingly proving unable to break the 30-year run of governing parties not gaining at by-elections. And the Conservative vote collapsed after a half-hearted campaign, provoking a few squeals from activists and a shrug of indifference from their party leader.

Looking …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged and | 86 Comments
Stephen Tall

Has Nick detected the emergence of ‘shy Cleggites’?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 13th January 2011 - 9:59 pm

‘Shy Tories’ — the term applied to those planning to vote Conservative, but too embarrassed to admit it publicly — was a phrase used to help explain the pollsters’ failure to predict John Major’s 1992 election victory. An anecdote told by Nick Clegg in his interview in today’s Sun suggests the Lib Dems might also have our own share of abashed admirers:

Mr Clegg said: “Of course some people come up to me and say, ‘Oh we don’t like the Government doing this and doing that’. But more people come up to me and say, ‘I think you are doing

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 7 Comments
Stephen Tall

Sorene appointed Nick Clegg’s new head of communications

By Stephen Tall | Thu 13th January 2011 - 9:35 pm

PR Week reports:

The Cabinet Office has appointed a senior Whitehall communicator to a newly-created role as Nick Clegg’s head of comms. James Sorene, currently the Department of Health’s head of news, will also act as the embattled Deputy Prime Minister’s spokesman. The role will involve working with Clegg’s political spokesman James McGrory and chief of staff Lena Pietsch. … The appointment follows a review of the support being provided to Clegg, conducted by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell, which found his office is underpowered in strategic comms.

Those worried about such a move at a time of austerity are assured …

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Posted in News | 3 Comments
Stephen Tall

Farron triggers PCC probe into Telegraph’s Lib Dem MPs undercover sting

By Stephen Tall | Thu 13th January 2011 - 9:20 pm

The BBC reports:

The press watchdog is investigating the Daily Telegraph’s use of undercover reporters to record Lib Dem ministers’ thoughts on the coalition government. It reported comments made by Business Secretary Vince Cable in a meeting with people he thought were constituents.

Lib Dem President Tim Farron asked the Press Complaints Commission to investigate. The PCC said 200 people contacted them over the story. The Telegraph said it was satisfied it acted within the PCC’s rules. …

A PCC spokesman said: “We have now received a letter from the Liberal Democrats asking us formally to investigate. We will do so under

…

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Posted in News | Tagged , , , and | 3 Comments
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