Author Archives: The Voice

Question: when was the last time the BBC felt able feature a headline, Lib Dems on inflation rise, and know it would be taken seriously? Thanks to the party’s shadow chancellor, Vince Cable, the BBC News Politics site has been prominently featuring a talking head from Vince for the last day. And well worth watching it is, too.

Benjamin Redsell, a Suffolk Conservative county councillor (who left the party after being charged), has admitted 11 sex offences (more on the BBC).

Wear Valley’s Liberal Democrat leader Tommy Taylor has resigned:

A council leader who refused to apologise after describing three women officers as “nice bits of stuff” has resigned due to “ill health.”

Wear Valley Council’s Lib Dem leader Tommy Taylor, 67, made the remark at an awards event in March.

Opposition members said the comment was inappropriate, although the women did not make a complaint.

Mr Taylor said he was quitting for health reasons and that he did not regret “complementing”

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If you haven’t caught up with it, yet there’s a must-read interview with Nick Clegg by Dominic Lawson in today’s Independent. Here’s an extract to whet your appetites:

In the half year since Clegg became Lib Dem leader, Gordon Brown has gone from hero to zero. Yet, I asked him, why is it that, at least so far as the opinion polls indicate to us, the Conservatives have gained enormously as a result, but the Lib Dems scarcely at all?

“You are inviting me to say that the glass is half-empty when I think it’s half full. I’m not innumerate. I

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Cllr Christine Wakefield, the Chairman of Ashfield Labour Council Group, has joined the Liberal Democrats. This local coup follows a number of recent election successes that have led to the Liberal Democrats taking minority control of Ashfield District Council.

From their news story:

Cllr Wakefield said “I joined Labour because I thought they were the party that stood up for ordinary hard-working families.

“It is now clear that their policies, like scrapping the 10p tax rate, are really hurting people. With food and fuel bills going up too, many people in Ashfield are really struggling to make ends meet. Most people I

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Charles Clarke speaking into mobile phone, central London, today:

I trust him, but I am not sure about her

Who could he have been talking about?

Here’s a round-up of some of the tributes paid to Ray Michie (Baroness Michie of Gallanach), the Lib Dem peer, and former Argyll & Bute MP, who died yesterday. Please use the comments thread to let us know of any we’ve missed or to pay your own respects.

> Obituary – The Herald;
> Obituary – The Daily Telegraph;
> Tributes as peer loses battle with cancer – The Scotsman;
> ‘Tireless’ Lib Dem stalwart dies – BBC.co.uk;
> Liberal Baroness Michie dies, 74 – The Times;
> Sad news – Fraser Macpherson’s blog.