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
These are still very early days. The coalition has to get through difficult votes on AV and negotiate the most difficult spending round in a generation. The economy may tank. Yet in these first weeks even opponents should concede that Cameron has played a blinder. He is showing himself as potentially the best all-round prime minister of the modern era. Labour’s hopefuls should learn from him. No doubt about it, Cameron wins this season’s political golden boot.
Wildly OTT? Yes. But it’s not completely without its justification. For example, Mr Kettle points …
The blunder in the education department which led to the publication of a list of axed school building schemes containing 25 errors continues to rumble on. Conservative education secretary Michael Gove has apologised and taken the rap for his officials’ mistakes.
The Lib Dems’ Michael Moore was sympathetic to Mr Gove’s plight on the BBC’s Question Time last night, commending the quick and full apology:
I think he did that with grace. I think he did it appropriately and he’s determined that that doesn’t happen again. Nobody would wish that had happened. It was a major mistake, it has been
With the Labour party claiming an influx of new recruits, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for Reading East at the last election, Gareth Epps, has written to The Guardian pointing out the Lib Dems too have seen a significant increase in new members:
Your report (7 July) of a “surge” in Labour membership makes claims about recruits from the Liberal Democrats. Labour’s claims are Walter Mittyish. My local Lib Dem party has had its most sustained membership boost since the 1988 merger. Since the election, we have had 10 members joining for each departure. As Labour’s crocodile tears continue over cuts
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results of our survey this week.
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.
LDV asked: How would you rate the performances of the …
Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling that two gay men who said they faced persecution in their home countries of Cameron and Iran have the right to asylum in the UK.
I am delighted this ruling recognises the rights of gay asylum seekers, ensuring their freedom from persecution around the world.
“This plight is one that my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have campaigned on for years. It is an issue that the Coalition Government is committed to addressing as we seek to restore Britain’s reputation around the world as a leader in the
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’ve been publishing the full results of our survey this week.
In the penultimate part of the survey today, we take a look at the performance of the Lib Dems and our leader. First we asked: Do you think, as a whole, the Liberal Democrats are on the right course or on the wrong track?
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results of our survey this week.
First, we thought we should take the temperature of the party membership regarding their view of the Lib-Con Coalition agreement, now some two months old. We asked: Do you support or oppose the Lib Dems being in the Coalition Government with the Conservatives?
Yesterday Nick Clegg stood up as Deputy Prime Minister in the House of Commons and announced there would be a referendum to reform the voting system within the next year.
If I’d suggested just a few weeks ago that I would be able to type that sentence with a straight face I imagine most folk would think I’d lost any grasp on reality. Yet it’s what happened.
True, the route to Nick becoming Deputy Prime Minister is not proving easy: coalition with the Tories is forcing uncomfortable compromises on the Lib Dems. And true, the alternative vote is not a proportional …
Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Over 350 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results of our survey this week.
First, LDV asked: The balance of spending cuts to tax rises announced by the coalition government in its measures to reduce the budget deficit is 77% spending cuts to 23% tax rises. What do you think of this balance?
Lib Dem Voice has been polling our members-only forum this past weekend to discover what Lib Dem members think of the Coalition Government’s budget, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Almost 350 party members responded, and we’ll be publishing the full results of our survey this week.
First, we asked what Lib Dem members: Do you support or oppose the following budget changes announced by the coalition government?
Here’s what you told us:
Increasing VAT from 17.5% to 20% from January 4, 2011
Strongly Support: 6%
Support: 42% Total support = 48%
Oppose: 28%
Strongly Oppose: 14% Total …
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 176th 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 (27th June – 3rd July, 2010), 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:
As with all polls, what follows comes with caveats. Only two polling companies – YouGov and Mori – this past month asked questions specifically to find out the public’s views of the Lib Dem and Tory party leaders. (Harriet Harman’s performance as Labour leader is not being measured). 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. But, still, we don’t indulge in polls that often, so here goes …
Here, in chronological order, are the results of the five polls published in June asking for the public to rate the two governing party leaders:
Here’s Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne and former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris examining the floods that hit Oxford a few summers ago – but what do you think they might be saying to / thinking about each other?
Here’s your starter for ten as we continue our Saturday slot posing a view for debate:
Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies has recently written to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg renewing his call for British troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan:
It is very difficult to justify our continued engagement when the reasons for it so often appear contradictory and open to challenge. I suspect one reason why 77% of people in this country tell pollsters that they want our troops out of Afghanistan is because they either do not know what are the objectives for their presence or do not
The new LDV members’ survey is now live. So if you are one of the 1,000+ 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 are asking your opinion on include:
which measures in the Budget you support or oppose;
what you think of the VAT increase;
whether you’d have preferred to see fewer spending cuts and more tax rises;
your overall view of the Budget’s effectiveness and fairness;
Over at The Guardian’s Comment Is Free website, Lib Dem blogger James Graham – who works for Unlock Democracy, incorporating Charter 88 – argues that, whatever reservations electoral reformers may have about the non-proprotionality of the alternative vote system, it is quite simply the only show in town. Here’s an excerpt:
We could debate what system is best until the cows come home, but to seriously suggest that there is a viable alternative to AV at this stage is simply politically naive. AV is on the table because of a classic British compromise: it is a Labour policy being
In 2008 – when the general assumption was that the Tories would win an overall majority – the Hansard Society published a collection of essays on the impact of a balanced parliament on British politics, titled No Overall Control.
One of its contributors was Simon Hughes, then the Lib Dems’ shadow leader of the House, now our deputy leader. So how does what Simon said over two years ago about a hypothetical future measure up to what’s happening in the current reality?
Pretty well in most respects is the answer. While arguing that a balanced parliament was a less-than-likely eventuality, …
With Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg set to announce 5th May, 2011, as the date of the referendum on electoral reform, David Miliband – currently the leading contender to become the next Labour leader – was this morning asked the direct question whether he would back the move to the Alternative Vote. His answer was unequivocal: yes, and he would be infavour of Labour members campaigning for it during the referendum campaign:
I think that it’s important that we move to a system where every Member of Parliament has at least 50 per cent of the vote of their constituents.”
… We’d say a big thank you to the 49,916 ‘absolute unique visitors’* who read Liberal Democrat Voice in June.
Though that’s way down on our May 2010 figure of c.136,000, that was an exceptional month – with a general election plus the formation of the new coalition government. In fact, compared with June 2009, Lib Dem Voice’s readership is up by one-third.
This brings our absolute unique visitor readership for the last year to date (1 July 2009 – 30 June 2010) to 582,154, over 80% higher than the equivalent figure for 2008-09 of 322,654.
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 175th 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 (20th – 26th June, 2010), 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:
Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 173rd 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 (6th – 12th June, 2010), 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:
There’s a new YouGov poll in The Sunday Times, just published, and it shows:
CON 40%(+1), LAB 32%(nc), LIB DEM 18%(-3)
A bit of a dip for the Lib Dems, with the party below 20% for the first time since ‘Cleggmania’ following the first televised leaders’ debate. Though before we grow too gloomy, the drop is within the margin of error.
Nick Clegg’s ratings remain high, with 59% saying he’s doing well as Lib Dem leader, and just 21% badly – a net approval rating of +38% (just behind David Cameron’s +41%). Interestingly, Nick performs marginally better among Tory voters (+83%) than …
The Liverpool Daily Post reports on the latest incident of a councillor landing themselves in hot water as a result of a posting on social networking site Facebook. Lib Dem councillor Sharon Green is alleged to have posted a photo of disabled people “with text comparing them with the city’s Labour group”:
Cllr Sharon Green, who represents St Michael’s ward, will face an inquiry despite city Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Warren Bradley deciding against launching a probe.
The national Lib-Dems have now intervened and asked their regional standards chiefs to get to the bottom of the affair, which caused widespread outrage
Part of the coalition deal between the Lib Dems and Conservatives allowed for Nick Clegg and colleagues to abstain on three key issues which divide the parties – raising student tuition fees, the Tories’ marriage tax allowance, and nuclear power.
However, written into the agreement, too, was the pledge that no new nuclear power station will receive a public subsidy – which, as Mark Pack has previously noted, means that if the figures don’t stack up, they won’t happen.
It’s a point Cheltenham Lib Dem MP Martin Horwood re-inforces today in an article on politics.co.uk, Lib Dem hopes for ‘win-win’ …
Simon Hughes was not the only Deputy Leader elected last night …
While Simon was elected deputy of the parliamentary party in the House of Commons (though in reality he’ll be known as the deputy leader of the party), Lord (Navnit) Dholakia was re-elected unopposed as deputy leader of the parliamentary party in the House of Lords.
Lord Dholakia, who will continue to support Lord (Tom) McNally in his role as Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, commented:
There was an overwhelming turnout in support of the new structure for the Liberal Democrat Paliamentary
Before the election, Lib Dem Voice launched How Authoritarian is your MP?, a website which ranked how authoritarian – or liberal – were MPs in the 2005-10 parliament based on their voting record on 10 key issues. These ranged from ID cards to detention without trial to freedom of speech.
The five candidates for the Labour leadership are now official – so we can now see how their voting record compares, and name the contender who is, officially, the most liberal potential Labour leader …
(NB: if you click on their name you can see how their voting record stacks up).
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has published today figures showing how much money was paid to MPs who departed the House of Commons, either voluntarily or through defeat, at the general election a month ago.
As its report notes, departing MPs are entitled to a one-off Resettlement Grant of 50-100 percent of their annual salary, dependent on their age and length of service, the first £30,000 of which is tax-free and is in addition to their parliamentary pension.
It’s something of a relic of a system. For a start I would have thought any form of payment based on age is verging on the illegal under equalities legislation – especially with some younger MPs receiving less money than older colleagues despite having served as MPs for longer.
Nor does there seem any justification for paying MPs who choose voluntarily to stand down from Parliament: that is their choice, and it is hard to see why the taxpayer should pick up the tab, especially as many will have lined up new (and in many cases more lucrative) work in readiness for their retirement.
I can understand and support the principle that MPs who are defeated should receive a payment in order to help them plan what they do next – the equivalent of a redundancy payment paid in both public and private sectors to individuals who finish their employment unexpectedly.
Unsurprisingly, given its world-view, the Taxpayers’ Alliance regards this as a rip-off:
When a MP wins an election, he or she enters a contract with a term of up to five years. If they then go on to lose the election this is not the equivalent of redundancy – it is the end of their contract.
The practical effect of such a decision, however, would be MPs in marginal seats spending their (potentially) last year focused almost as much on lining up a new job as on focusing on their parliamantary work. And I don’t see how that helps deliver value-for-money. As so often, the Taxpayers’ Alliance sees only numbers when other people see humans.
Sixteen Lib Dem MPs left the Commons on 7th May – here’s the list, together with the resettlement grants they were awarded, compiled from the Taxpayers’ Alliance figures. You can view the spreadsheet by clicking here, and read it below:
Andy highlights the mangled reporting of the BBC in claiming that Nick Clegg is back-tracking on the coalition government’s commitment to fixed-term parliaments by fleshing out further details on the proposed 55% dissolution rule – as he points out, Nick was simply repeating what the Lib Dems’ deputy leader of the house David Heath had said a fortnight ago in the House of Commons. This chimes with the general media reporting standard that unless something is said …
Nick Clegg debuted in front of the House of Commons today in his new role (yes, it is still new: it’s only a month since the election) as deputy prime minister. And he used the occasion to set out how the new coalition government will make good the political reforms radical political reform plans that languished neglected during Labour’s 13 years in government. The government’s plans include:
* A referendum on the Alternative Vote
* The right to recall MPs who break the rules
* Fewer, more equal-sized constituencies
George Thomas I think this article is well written, thank you. This past week has seen a reminder in two different ways of when the LGBTQ+ community supported the miners and ...
Nick Baird Ajax should of course have been cancelled years ago. Unfortunately due to the sunk costs the MOD and Government seem to be converging on a plan to spend another...
Peter Chambers > The standout project is Ajax, which should be immediately cancelled.
Oh if only! Ben Wallace confided that "the money is spent" and that if the programme...
Tristan Ward It has been perfectly obvious since the start of trump's second term that UK defence spending must rise. The political difficulty is equally obvious given th...
cim @Nick Baird - Even taking a quarter off the UK's budget would still keep us comfortably in the top 10 for all countries and ahead of the (also nuclear-armed) Fr...
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
District council backs a parish council for Market Harborough
New by-election poll gives Burnham 5 point lead
Pope Leo speaks for all liberals when he condemns racism, supports migration, and supports Ukraine
Growing Asylum backlog undermines Government's case
George Thomas 
Nick Baird 
Peter Chambers 
Tristan Ward 
cim 