As the leadership contest gets underway, Tim Farron and Norman Lamb will clock up thousands of miles travelling up and down the country meeting members. The party has organised a series of hustings meetings, the most recent being in Cambridge yesterday. The Cambridge News has a neutral account of what went on.
Unsurprisingly it was a bit of a Julian Huppert love-in. Tim Farron said:
Everybody knows we’re competitive in Cambridge, everybody knows that if you want a strong, liberal, progressive voice in Cambridge, then it needs to be the Liberal Democrat,” Mr Farron said.
I very much hope it will be Julian Huppert, but it’s up to him to make his own choice for his own future if he wishes to stand here again.
But David Howarth, who represented the city so well beforehand, proves there is a lot of talent here and we know this will be a close-run fight in local elections and in the general election in five years’ time.
I am absolutely determined that this is top of the list to bring back into the Liberal Democrat fold.
These sentiments were echoed by Norman Lamb:
Julian did remarkably well here, he very nearly pulled it off and given what we went through as a party in government, and particularly because this city, with its student population, would have been in many ways concerned about a coalition between us and the Conservatives, Julian came very close to winning this seat.
That was a remarkable result for him and I very much hope he stands again. I think he was a brilliant MP, he was a campaigning MP, but he was also challenging of the commonly held views around issues like drug policy and mental health.
I’ve got great admiration for Julian and if he does go for it again I would be very confident he could prevail.
And for their main pitches:
Tim Farron:
People in this city care about fighting climate change, they care about tackling the appalling housing crisis, they care about fighting the abolition of the human rights act.
Norman Lamb:
In a way I want us to see ourselves as a start-up with a massive potential market out there, because this is fundamentally the liberal age.
There was much more to it than that, and you can read the whole report here.
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11 Comments
“they care about tackling the appalling housing crisis”
Absolutely correct. But what is Farron actually proposing to do about it? What are his policies? I see so much rhetoric, but nothing we can actually take to the electorate.
Thanks for this. Great news as well that Julian Huppert is backing Norman.
I’m more excited by Lamb’s vision of seeing “ourselves as a start up with a massive potential market out there”, but in some ways the world is less liberal than ever, so I really question this idea that we are living in a “liberal age”.
On the liberal pro side you have gay marriage and arguably free market economics, but on the liberal negative side you have attitudes towards immigration and the rise of ISIS and Islamic fundamentalism. We are dealing with a problem as big as the Soviet Union and we need to recognise this and start taking it very seriously.
I struggle to see how any proper analysis can call the current situation a “liberal age”. I also think Farron is just avoiding these problems by banging on about nice topics.
@Sammy O’Neill
Tim has talked about housing specifically in terms of policy (which Lamb hasn’t done yet at all):
https://www.libdemvoice.org/video-tim-farron-talks-about-housing-46173.html
Farrons pitch is far better than Normans…no matter how much his camapign team spin
That’s not news, Simon – Julian was one of Norman’s earliest supporters.
You only have to look at Tim’s own LD Council in South Lakeland to see his record, view and policy on Housing…they have built 1000 new affordable/ social housing.
Tim was far better on detail, policy and expanding his passion. He electrifies an audience.
Caron – well it was news to me when i heard it yesterday !
“In a way I want us to see ourselves as a start-up with a massive potential market out there, because this is fundamentally the liberal age.”
It’s not really accurate to think of the Party as a start-up though is it? It’s been around for yonks. Surely the more appropriate analogy is with a company facing bankruptcy which is now under administration.
What depresses me is the reluctance in the Party to discuss foreign policy, internationalism, human rights abroad etc. These are issues where we have traditionally had strong views and which seem to have been drawing new members into the Party. At last year’s autumn conference there was no foreign policy motion on the agenda and one just scraped on as an emergency motion by popular vote. I heard a strong complaint after the Southampton hustings that the Chair had exercised his prerogative not to take any foreign policy questions. It sounds as if the same might have happened in Cambridge. Personally I won’t vote for either candidate until I see where they stand on recognition of Palestine and serious pressure on Israel to stop settlement building and blockading Gaza. Neither candidate voted for the motion on Palestinian recognition in the Commons last September – overwhelmingly supported by our MP’s and across all Parties. Norman had the excuse of being a Minister but they both need to declare themselves. A view also on their attitude to our uncomfortably close relationships with regimes in Arab countries with appalling human rights records would be welcome
@Phyllis ” Surely the more appropriate analogy is with a company facing bankruptcy which is now under administration.”
Which is precisely why Norman has pitched this as a start-up opportunity – to get rid of the negative thinking and dead-wood attitudes encapsulated in the comment you’ve just made.