Author Archives: The Voice

Electoral Commission publishes first list of leadership campaign donations

In the light of the Labour Party’s trouble with candidates failing to report donations to the Electoral Commission, it is reassuring to see that the Electoral Commission has published the first list of donors to the Chris Huhne campaign (see here and select “Mr Chris Huhne MP” from the drop-down list) .

The Voice understands that the first tranche of Nick Clegg donations will also appear on their website in the next few days.

UPDATE (6 December): The first batch of Nick Clegg donations are indeed now up on the website.

Posted in Leadership Election | 1 Comment

Could HMRC CD fall into hands of pro-Labour identity thieves?

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse…

A man registered as a Labour donor in 2004 claims he never gave them a penny, and fears he is the victim of a Labour-supporting identity thief. If the Labour party *do* find the missing HMRC disc, could those on it be at even greater risk of identity theft?

Posted in News | 1 Comment

Clegg and Huhne on Today this morning

If you missed Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne on Radio 4’s Today program this morning, you can listen again on the BBC’s website: click the 07:50 link on the right-hand side of http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/

Blog reactions so far:

Let The Voice know about any other postings in the comments and we’ll update this list.

Posted in Leadership Election | Tagged , , and | 1 Comment

Sky News poll on Liberal Democrat leadership race: results

The key figures doing the rounds on the internet* are:

Nick Clegg: 56%
Chris Huhne: 44%
% members voted so far: 48%

 * Therefore either true, or not. Take your pick.

Posted in Leadership Election | 30 Comments

Mr Brown’s Holiday

Given the various scandals and failures he has presided over recently, the country might be better off if Gordon Brown took a vacation. Inspired by Vince Cable’s question at PMQs, we wonder if that might turn out to be a farce too.

Mr Brown’s Holiday

With apologies to Rowan Atkinson…

Posted in Humour | 2 Comments

Vince Cable shines at PMQs, again

Today Vince Cable pointed out how Gordon Brown had turned from “Stalin to Mr Bean” in a matter of weeks, bringing chaos where there had been order. Ouch!

Posted in News and PMQs | 12 Comments

Labour General Secretary quits over dodgy donation

Peter Watt has resigned because, as the BBC reports:

David Abrahams gave more than £400,000 through associates, claiming he wanted to avoid publicity. Mr Watt told a meeting of officers of Labour’s National Executive Committee that he had known about the arrangement. But he added that he had not known it might be illegal.

Posted in News | Tagged | 7 Comments

Tory PPC praises apartheid

David Cameron’s attempts to show the Tory party has really, really changed would be slightly more credible if it weren’t 100% clear the Tories are still just the same as they ever were.

Further evidence of the Tories’ unchanging attitudes emerges courtesy of Richard Willis, a Tory councillor in Reading and their parliamentary candidate for Sutton & Cheam in 2005. Commenting on the website PoliticalBetting.com on the recent death of Ian Smith and his white-minority-rule UDI government in Rhodesia, Mr Willis gives a ringing endorsement of Smith’s approach:

I am very sorry to hear of the death of Ian Smith (former

Posted in News | 59 Comments

Daily Telegraph publishes second leadership Q+A session

The Daily Telegraph has published a Q+A session with Chris Huhne, with matters ranging from Europe and referendums to fruit drops. The Telegraph’s news report also includes a link to watch Chris answering a different set of questions.

(The previous Q+A with Nick Clegg is here). 

Posted in Leadership Election | Leave a comment

Opinion: Why I’m supporting Nick Clegg

What is the point of the Liberal Democrats? It’s a question leveled at party supporters, in some form or another, time and time again, over and over; one almost always delivered with lashings of self-satisfaction and smugness.

It’s also an odd sort of question. Because in asking it, you are asking: What is the point in the only mainstream political party to oppose the Iraq war and Israels actions in the Middle East? What is the point in the only mainstream political party to oppose tuition fees? The only mainstream political party to propose plans to tackle inequality with radical and …

Posted in Leadership Election and Op-eds | Tagged , and | 20 Comments

How important is Liberal Democrat Voice in the leadership election?

Of course, the team here at The Voice would like to think we’re essential. But in the spirit of scientific enquiry, we’ve got out our slide rules and graph paper and been analysing various statistics.

There are several different routes to take, but they all end up with us estimating that around 10-15% of people who vote in the leadership election will be readers of this site.

But is that a large number of readers? Or is that a small number of readers? And how many of our readers will talk to other voters and possibly influence them?

P.S. If you think it’s …

Posted in Leadership Election and Online politics | 5 Comments

Brian Paddick selected to be London Mayor candidate

Congratulations to Brian Paddick for being selected as the Liberal Democrat London Mayor candidate, winning 73% of the first preference votes. The party’s website has the story as does the BBC.

PS: The Wimbledon Guardian reports the story under the intriguing headline, ‘Former Gay Copper Picked For Lib Dems’. We knew Brian had retired from the police, but…

Posted in News | Tagged | 24 Comments

Exclusive Vince Cable news

The Voice will be publishing an exclusive piece from acting party leader Vince Cable at 10:30am on Sunday. From the whispers we hear, it will contain some exciting news that will get many people debating…

Posted in News | 22 Comments

Huhne and Clegg set out their views on coalition politics

Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne have given interviews to ePolitix which, amongst other matters, covered their views on how to handle a hung Parliament:

Asked about what their ‘red lines’ would be on forming a coalition with either the Conservatives or Labour, they set out differing approaches.

Whilst Huhne said electoral reform was the key to “partnership politics”, Clegg said singling out any conditions would be “extremely ill-advised”.

Huhne said: “If other parties want to talk about partnership politics, about going into a longer-term relationship, then they have to be on the wavelength that allows that to happen.

“If you look

Posted in Leadership Election | 9 Comments

BBC Question Time – open thread

Acting Lib Dem leader Vince Cable is one of the panellists on tonight’s edition of Question Time (broadcast on BBC1 and online from 10.35 pm GMT).

He’ll be alongside Home Office minister Tony McNulty, former Tory deputy leader Lord Heseltine, the British-Egyptian novelist and political commentator Ahdaf Soueif, and the journalist and writer Douglas Murray.

If you’re watching, and want to sound-off, please feel free to use the comments thread.

Posted in Lib Dem TV | Tagged | 35 Comments

Online hustings with Chris Huhne: read the transcript

This morning PoliticalBetting.com held an online hustings with Chris Huhne, which you can read here.

(One with Nick Clegg is also scheduled).

Posted in Leadership Election | 7 Comments

Just thought we’d mention it

BBC’s Newsnight is running a poll asking (unscientifically) how the public might have voted had Gordon Brown made the decision to call a general election. Vote early, vote often…

Posted in News and Polls | 1 Comment

Next time Labour accuses the Lib Dems of…

… saying one thing in one place and another somewhere else, it might be worth referring to this:

“When people describe the nature of a place they are often describing the nature of its people and their behaviour as well as how it looks and feels. This gives us a real opportunity to develop a series of ‘local’ Labour brands and values. We can’t have a position where Labour has the same approaches everywhere. Greater devolution within government and the party is essential.”

– Steve Houghton, Labour leader of Barnsley Council, in a new publication, ‘Labour, Leadership and Locality: Distinctive Approaches to …

Posted in News | 8 Comments

Labour MP ‘unwise’ to alter news release

(Hat-tips to Jonathan Calder and Andy Mayer.)

As the BBC reports, Parliament’s standards watchdog has said an MP who inserted a quote from herself into an Electoral Commission press release had been “unwise”.

Sir Philip Mawer revealed in his annual report the unnamed MP then e-mailed the doctored press release on to the media as if it were an official release.

The MP in question is Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury. The case arose after she inserted a quote into an Electoral Commission press release; the Commission was urging voters to register …

Posted in News | Tagged | 1 Comment

Ouch! – red faces at Team Clegg

Many Lib Dem members – and The Voice was among them – might have been a tad surprised today to discover an email from ‘teamclegg’ signing them up to Nick Clegg’s e-mail list. Perhaps compulsory e-mail conscription is a first step towards moving the party out of its comfort zone, we might have thought.

The truth turns out to be much simpler, and a little more embarrassing. A red-faced and self-flagellating e-mail swiftly followed from Richard Allan, Nick’s leadership campaign director, and his predecessor as MP for Sheffield Hallam:

Sorry. I’m afraid that I have made something of a cock-up today

Posted in Leadership Election | Tagged and | 18 Comments

General election news: what the Lib Dem bloggers say

Posted in General Election and News | Tagged , , , and | 2 Comments

Michael Meadowcroft joins Lib Dems

Well-placed sources inform The Voice that Michael Meadowcroft, who (re-)founded the continuing Liberal Party in 1989 following the Liberal/SDP merger, has now joined the Liberal Democrats.

And it’s now on his Wikipedia entry, too, so it must be true.

Welcome aboard, Michael.

UPDATE: Nigel Ashton has the full story.

Posted in News | 37 Comments

Have you got a ‘bird of freedom’ tattoo?

For reasons as yet unclear to The Voice, it appears the Liberal Democrat party is keen to discover if any LDV reader has, or knows of anyone who has, a tattoo of the party logo, the ‘bird of liberty’, somewhere upon their personage. I’m not sure the location of the tattoo matters.

It may, of course, simply be the party’s latest cunning ploy to persuade The Grauniad to use the correct bloody logo.

If you can assist, please e-mail LDV at [email protected]

Wethankyou.

Posted in News | 9 Comments

What are Saatchi and Saatchi up to?

Voice is hearing on the grapevine from a friend of a friend of a friend, that the team who work on the Labour Party account at Saatchi And Saatchi have been pulling a whole load of all-nighters in a row this week. Apparently there is a new campaign about to be unleashed!

Posted in General Election | 1 Comment

Two Tory councillors switch to Liberal Democrats

Party news release:

As David Cameron prepares to speak at the party’s conference, father and daughter Councillors Gordon and Lynn Murray, who represent the neighbouring wards of Dalton South and Dalton North on Barrow Borough Council, are today leaving the Conservatives to become the first ever Liberal Democrat Councillors on Barrow Council.

Councillor Lynn Murray said:

“We are joining the Liberal Democrats because they are an open, modern and welcoming party where we will be encouraged to speak out for the residents of our area and where we can be fully involved in forming and deciding party policies at all levels. A growing team of Liberal Democrats are out there fighting for local issues, for local people and for local communities. We join that growing team.

Posted in News | 7 Comments

Brown to call 1st Nov election tomorrow

Well, that’s the top tip The Voice has just received from ‘sources in the know’.

Remember, you read it here first if it happens. (Just forget about it if it doesn’t.)

Posted in General Election and News | 27 Comments

Wild election rumour no.94: Zac Goldsmith defection

From UK Daily Pundit:

Rumours are rife that Tory toff, Zac Goldsmith, is about to defect to the Lib Dems.

Posted in News | 22 Comments

What did you do in the 40s, Mr Purnell?

The Voice had a good chuckle earlier at this story about an NHS Trust faking a photograph so that Culture Secretary James Purnell could appear with three other MPs after he turned up late for a photo op visit.

Mr Purnell has made it clear it wasn’t his fault:

“I didn’t think a faked photo would be produced and indeed I didn’t see this photo before it went out and if I had done it wouldn’t have agreed to it.”

We believe you, James, so fulsome are you in your denial. But hunting through our image archive, we notice you may …

Posted in News | Tagged | 3 Comments

Gordon – will he or won’t he?

News reaches The Voice from our network of spies at Labour conference that there are unusual levels of activity.

The big donors are very much in evidence and every effort is being driven towards manic fundraising.

All the usual suspects like agents, PPCs and sitting MPs are being whisked off for readiness training.

Printing companies are taking firm bookings on election material.

The frenzy of activity is such that some highups on the political journalist stage are humming and hahing about whether they should even bother making the journey to Blackpool for the Conservative conference when they should be hovering near the Palace waiting …

Posted in General Election | 7 Comments

LDV – the “establishment candidate”, apparently

The Guardian Backbencher has been distributing her Lib Dem conference awards, including:

Best Blog
Postings have been rather fewer than the Backbencher would have liked – though it may be down to a laudable reluctance to drink’n’blog. So the winner has to be the establishment candidate, Lib Dem Voice, for its interviews with Ming. Special commendations to James Graham of Quauequam Blog! for his firm treatment of mayoral contender Fiyaz Mughal, and Don Liberali for a nice dissection of the Huhne v Clegg saga.

Always nice to receive a plug (a link would be even nicer), but some mixed …

Posted in Conference and News | 2 Comments
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