Category Archives: Conference

Anything relating to the spring or autumn conferences

Mark Pack

Live blogging: Reports of the Federal Executive and the Federal Finance and Administration Committee

By Mark Pack | Sat 13th March 2010 - 5:43 pm

Federal Executive (FE) report moved by Ros Scott – “I hope it is a sign that you are all fairly happy with the party that the room is emptying so rapidly.” Explains FE meetings always start with a session with Nick Clegg and also gets regular updates on the general and local election campaigns.

Explains how FE has changed more to a scrutiny model (cf House of Commons select committees) and has paid particular attention to party membership/recruitment and to IT.

Update on the Bones Commission report – those within the FE’s remit have now mostly been carried out. Creation of the …

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Mark Pack

Parliamentary Parties report back to conference

By Mark Pack | Sat 13th March 2010 - 2:47 pm

Party business sessions are usually fairly thinly attended at party conference, except back in the days of disaster and near bankrupcy immiediately after the merger which formed the Liberal Democrats.

They can however play an important role, particularly where well chosen questions tease out information or get commitments on the record. James Graham’s question this morning about the Digital Economy Bill was a good example of this (and would have been even more cruicial has the emergency motions ballot not decided to debate the topic on Sunday morning).

And so, here I am back in the conference hall for part two of …

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Iain Roberts

No ring-fencing for cuts as Vince feels the love

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th March 2010 - 1:16 pm

When the main hall is packed at a Spring Conference, you can be sure it isn’t because everyone wants to debate the third clause of the Federal Conference Committee’s report, or even (as we heard this morning) discuss the rights and wrongs of holding a conference that clashes with Mothers’ Day.

No, it’s because St. Vince of Twickenham is taking to the stage. The halo may have slipped slightly on occasion, most notably the hastily-revised Mansion Tax proposals made at Bournemouth last September, but for the party faithful it’s still Vince who can heal the sick and, if weather conditions …

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Alex Foster

PODCAST: Authoritarianism fringe

By Alex Foster | Sat 13th March 2010 - 12:48 pm

Last night a good crowd turned out to hear Paul Burstow MP, Mark Pack, Alex Wilcock and Bridget Fox talk about our new online project, Authoritarianism vs Liberalism and to talk more generally about their work and current campaigns.

Lib Dem Voice fringe meeting: Make authoritarian MPs pay at the ballot box

As ever, I was there with my trusty Zoom H2 so that we can share the fringe meeting with our listeners at home. …

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Also posted in Podcasts | Tagged | 1 Comment
Iain Roberts

The Clegg coalition line emerges

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th March 2010 - 11:52 am

Very sneakily, Clegg’s team have found a neat way to turn questions about hung parliaments into a positive message about Lib Dem policy. We saw it on the news today, and I’m sure we’ll see it wheeled out again – and again, and again, probably until journalists get bored of asking the question.

When asked what the Lib Dems would do in the event of a hung parliament, Nick’s strategy is to say what the Lib Dems would want to get from any sort of deal, which mysteriously matches closely with the four key themes. Nick says we would …

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Also posted in General Election | Tagged and | 4 Comments
Mark Pack

“If you want change, vote for the only party that will bring about change”

By Mark Pack | Sat 13th March 2010 - 11:24 am

That was the message of Danny Alexander’s speech to the Liberal Democrat spring conference this morning. Change – but not just any sort of change:

Two ideas will dominate this election campaign: change and fairness. Only one party is arguing at this election for both fairness and change: the Liberal Democrats.

Change: because business as usual is not the answer to the economic, political, and environmental crises that we face.

Fairness: because too many people in our society are still held back because of the circumstances of their birth, their sex or their parent’s bank balance.

He repeated a now often said promise to …

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Iain Roberts

+++ BREAKING: Lib Dems to debate Freedom, Creativity and the Internet tomorrow

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th March 2010 - 11:17 am

In a close vote in the conference hall, Lib Dem conference delegates decided to debate “Freedom, Creativity and the Internet” as the single emergency motion to be considered tomorrow.

The alternative NHS motion was narrowly edged out.

Promoters of the Freedom, Creativity and the Internet motion hope that it will send a clear signal of the Lib Dems both understanding and supporting a liberal position on enforcement of copyright laws online.

Also posted in News | Tagged | 4 Comments
Iain Roberts

Paddy Ashdown in existential shock at rally

By Iain Roberts | Sat 13th March 2010 - 10:47 am

A good conference rally is fun to attend and tricky to report on, simply because there should be nothing new. The audience ideally leaves reminded of the key messages and enthused to fight the good fight – there’s plenty of time for controversy over the rest of the weekend.

As in Bournemouth, the rally took on a glitzy feel: dry ice, bright lights, (relatively) slick presentation.

Lorely Burt opened procedings with a few jokes, and promise of holding her seat in Solihull, where the Lib Dems overturned a 9,400 Tory majority last time round.

Then a selection of …

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Mark Pack

Danny Alexander commits party to seeking further changes to Digital Economy Bill

By Mark Pack | Sat 13th March 2010 - 9:34 am

Speaking at the Liberal Democrat spring conference this morning, Danny Alexander MP (Vice Chair of the Federal Policy Committee and chair of the party’s General Election Manifesto Group) said the party will seek to make further changes to the Digital Economy Bill when it comes to the Commons.

The Bill, currently passing through the Lords, has been the subject of much debate (such as here and here) and yesterday Liberal Democrat peers announced plans to table further amendments to the bill.

This morning Danny Alexander committed the party to supporting further changes to the Digital Economy Bill, saying:

There is

…

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Also posted in Party policy and internal matters | Tagged and | 18 Comments
Mark Pack

Nick Clegg’s conference speech: what does it need to do? #ldconf

By Mark Pack | Fri 12th March 2010 - 10:20 am

With the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Birmingham this weekend, Nick Clegg is giving his last conference speech before the general election. Who knows, there may even be two general elections before he gets to give his autumn conference speech…

So what does Nick need to achieve with his Sunday speech?

Conference speeches have two audiences: the external and the internal. For the external one, the job is in the main fairly straightforward: give a speech that has at least one eye-catching section which means it gets more than a nano second of passing media coverage.

The party’s overall messages for the general election …

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Mark Pack

Nick Clegg’s Lib Dem conference Q+A #ldconf

By Mark Pack | Thu 11th March 2010 - 4:50 pm

In addition to his speech on Sunday, Nick Clegg is doing a Q+A session on Saturday at the Liberal Democrat spring conference in Birmingham – and this time with an added online twist:

Straight after he comes off stage, he’s keen to answer questions sent in from people who are unable to attend the conference.

When: 13 March at 15.25

Where: Online, answers will be posted on his website, Facebook and Tweeted shortly after.

How to take part: Post your …

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Mark Pack

Make authoritarian MPs pay at the ballot box

By Mark Pack | Wed 10th March 2010 - 10:03 pm

There’s only one place to be at 8pm on Friday. It’s in Hall 8b at the Birmingham ICC for the latest in the legendary series of Lib Dem Voice fringe meetings*:

Many MPs have a record of repeatedly voting for authoritarian measures in Parliament. But will they suffer for that at the ballot box?

Come and hear how we can make authoritarian votes in Parliament a vote loser for MPs on general election day – and see the new Liberal Democrat Voice website which will help do just that.

Speakers:
Paul Burstow MP (Chief Whip)
Bridget Fox (PPC Islington South and Finsbury)
Mark Pack (Co-editor, Lib Dem Voice)
Alex Wilcock (Former Vice-Chair, Federal Policy Committee)

Chair: Helen Duffett (PPC Romford, Lib Dem Voice Contributing Editor)

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Alex Foster

Conference – not just for conference delegates

By Alex Foster | Mon 1st March 2010 - 12:20 pm

Two weeks from now, the Lib Dems’ spring conference will all be over and delegates will be back home on the ground in their constituencies.

The new location of Birmingham for our conference brings a whole host of opportunities to Lib Dem members who live in parts of the country previously untouched by conference season.

Training

The most important of these is that you do not need to be a delegate to benefit from party training and fringe sessions held away from the main venue.  The party is running a full day of  training in Birmingham on Saturday, 13th March – and these …

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Alex Foster

Conference deadlines approaching

By Alex Foster | Mon 11th January 2010 - 5:10 pm

The calendar and the clock are marching ever on, and whilst it might feel like you’ve barely blinked since Christmas, important deadlines in the Conference office are fast approaching.

LDV have booked a big room for a conference fringe event on the Friday night and we have until the 15th to decide how much information to put in the conference pack about the Exciting Secret Project our boffins and wonks are collaborating on late into the night. We’re of course stuck between a pillar and post – will the event be so massively oversubscribed we might need to remove walls, like …

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Thomas Hemsley

My first Liberal Youth Conference

By Thomas Hemsley | Fri 20th November 2009 - 11:51 am

When I first learned of the location of the 2009 Liberal Youth Autumn Conference, I immediately paid my £15 to register. I had only been to one party conference before – the 2007 South West regional, which included the leadership hustings – so I was unsure of what to expect.

I only knew one person who was going, and I was tired and annoyed at the rain, not to mention the parlous state of the trains that evening. But when I arrived in Portsmouth, there were helpful signs pointing to Conference. This was an excellent omen of what was to …

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Opinion: Après les conférences

By David Lawson | Fri 16th October 2009 - 10:55 am

I doubt if the conference season has changed the political landscape. The Liberal Democrats were ill-disciplined; Labour was defiant in face of expectations of defeat; and the Conservatives were trying not to be overconfident — with only partial success.

Peter Riddell, The Times, 9 October 2009

It is easier to write from a position of ignorance rather than knowledge. Unlike Riddell this was the first time I have been to a party conference but that may leave the view clearer. The general opinion is that Lib Dems and Tories missed a chance and Labour avoided disaster by ignoring reality.

The Liberal Democrat and Conservative leadership made the same strategic judgment to tackle head-on the problems raised by the blooming budget deficit and both offered at least some practical indications of where the pain might be felt.

Why was the Liberal Democrat conference perceived to be worse? Partly, because the Lib Dems do not have the same practical need to face up to the budget crisis, but was it “ill-discipline”?

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 6 Comments
Iain Roberts

Bournemouth was a hit, no shambolic disaster

By Iain Roberts | Tue 29th September 2009 - 11:04 am

“What’s the name of your leader?” a constituent asked me the day after the Lib Dem conference closed. Luckily, it was a question I could answer with some confidence.  “Nick Clegg”.  “Oh yes, that’s right.  Saw him on the news last night.  Good speech.”

That seemed  a perfectly reasonable, and probably typical, comment from someone with no particular interest in politics who’ll still most likely be casting their vote in the General Election; not to mention the sort of person every political party is looking to engage with.

So how does that fit with William Le Breton’s claim that Bournemouth was …

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Stephen Tall

LDV readers split on Nick’s talk of need for “savage” cuts

By Stephen Tall | Mon 28th September 2009 - 7:25 pm

A week ago, Lib Dem Voice asked our readers the question on everyone’s lips at conference: Do you think Nick Clegg was right to say that the Lib Dems need to be “quite bold, or even savage, on current spending”?

I was clear on my view:

I cannot see how the talk of “savage” cuts is helpful – quite simply, it’s not the language of Lib Dems. Just as importantly, it’s not backed up by policy proposals. Even Vince Cable has so far come up with some £14 billion of potential savings, while estimating that a total of £112 billion will

…

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Also posted in Voice polls | Tagged , and | 2 Comments
Alex Foster

#ldconf feedback questionnaire

By Alex Foster | Mon 28th September 2009 - 12:57 pm

A message arrives from the Conference people asking for our feedback on all matters Conference.

Conference is important to the Liberal Democrats. Your input, debates and votes are vital in shaping the Party’s policies and campaigns, and ensuring that we remain the only truly democratic party in British politics.

So we want to make sure you come back! Your views are important to us, as they help us improve conference year after year. If you attended autumn conference this year, please take the time to give us your feedback. By clicking on the link below and filling out our online questionnaire, you’ll

…

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Bill le Breton

Opinion: The disaster of Bournemouth was avoidable

By Bill le Breton | Sat 26th September 2009 - 10:25 am

This was always going to be a disastrous conference. We have spent our annual opportunity to reach out to people by communicating a confused image. When the country needed hope, vision and leadership we offered it the ‘straight talk of progressive austerity’.

This disaster was foreseeable.

It was made from a dangerous mixture of a wrong political strategy (based on a wrong economic strategy) added to a leadership and a communications team which had very, very little political experience.

Ming Campbell and Vince Cable when they came to conference as leaders had to be stabilisers with a reassuring …

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Also posted in Op-eds | Tagged | 26 Comments
Stephen Tall

Lib Dem shadow cabinet media tarts, #ldconf special

By Stephen Tall | Fri 25th September 2009 - 3:45 pm

Donning the hat of his day-job, LDV’s Dr Mark Pack has been busy number-crunching to discover which of the Lib Dem shadow cabinet attracted most media coverage, in print and online. (Of course, column inches is no guarantee that the coverage will have been altogether positive).

Here’s the top 10:

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Stephen Tall

YouTube ‘cos we want to: bumper conference catch-up special edition

By Stephen Tall | Thu 24th September 2009 - 6:40 pm

Welcome to this very special bumper conference edition of our occasional LDV feature, YouTube ‘cos we want to, featuring some of the most memorable moments from the past week. For those Lib Dems who’ve been isolated inside the ‘Bournemouth bubble’, missing out on all the media coverage I hope this selection of clips gives you a sense of what you missed while you were, erm, there.

From Nick’s leader’s speech to Vince’s dust-up with Paxman on Newsnight, Chris Davies’s rant to the Huhne ‘n’ Pickles show on Radio 4 – it’s all collected here for your viewing/listening pleasure. Enjoy …

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Stephen Tall

The Lib Dems: ahead of the curve or missing the moment? #ldconf

By Stephen Tall | Thu 24th September 2009 - 10:25 am

The editorials of two newspapers today sum up the alternative ways in which this past week’s Lib Dem conference in Bournemouth has been regarded – both internally by party activists and externally by the media. (Who knows what those members of the non-politically obsessed public thought, if anything, of the whole thing?)

The Times is pretty scathing of the party’s week in its leader column, Missing the Liberal Moment:

This week has been an opportunity lost for the Liberal Democrats. As the week unfolded, the excitement dissipated. With an election on the near horizon, with the Labour Government’s lease on power coming to an end and the Tories not yet commanding enthusiasm, this week has been an object lesson in how not to seize the day. …

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Alex Foster

#ldconf podcast: Beyond Twitter

By Alex Foster | Thu 24th September 2009 - 10:07 am

Below, you will find our final fringe event at conference, Beyond Twitter. MP Jo Swinson joined LDV regular Mark Pack and MySociety’s Richard Pope to debate the future of public online engagement with politics.

We still have one more fringe event in the cans ready for sound processing, but I won’t be able to bring that to you just yet.

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Alex Foster

#ldconf podcast: IPPR fringe

By Alex Foster | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 8:01 pm

We were taping ippr‘s fringe with our own Editor at Large Stephen Tall along with some relative political unknowns – Shirley Williams, Menzies Campbell and Charles Clarke.

The ippr did say they were recording the event themselves, and their recording is probably better than ours, but I can’t immediately find it on their website.

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Stephen Tall

Event: Party conferences – who needs them?

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 6:50 pm

I’m speaking tomorrow, Thursday, at a lunchtime lecture at the RSA with the timely title, Party conferences – who needs them?, alongside Stephen Pound MP, Iain Dale and Michael White. Here’s the blurb:

The annual party conferences attract hordes of the party faithful and mark the start of the political calendar for the Whitehall establishment. The news teams and cameras will be there poised to cover events. But what impact do the party conferences really have in Britain, or indeed the wider world?

Policy is no longer made here – arguably the party conference has become a triumph of stage management over

…

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Stephen Tall

Nick Clegg’s conference speech, the live-blog #ldconf

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 2:25 pm

Update: the full text of Nick’s speech is available on the party’s website here.

There’s a lot of expectation heaped on Nick Clegg’s shoulders ahead of his speech to the Lib Dem autumn conference in Bournemouth this afternoon. The media coverage has been less-than-glowing, fuelled by murmurs of discontent among party activists following Nick’s talk of the need for “savage” cuts, the row over the de-prioritising of the abolition of tuition fees, and Vince’s surprise announcment of a ‘mansion tax’.

So Nick will be looking to unite the conference hall this afternoon with a passionate statement explaining why the Lib Dems deserve the votes of the British public at the next election. Nick is, of course, an accomplished – seemingly nerve-less – public speaker, always at ease on the conference podium, and I don’t expect this afternoon to be any different. I’ll be live-blogging the speech as it proceeds, as well as keeping an eye on any Twitter reactions at libdemvoice.org/tweets. Join me at 3pm …

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Mark Thompson

Behind the Fringe: Richard Dawkins at the Lib Dem conference #ldconf

By Mark Thompson | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 1:10 pm

For some fringe events at this year’s conference I have been OK to pitch up with a couple of minutes to spare and still expect to get a seat. However for the ‘Reason under threat – the war on irrationality’ event with Richard ‘God Delusion’ Dawkins, I wisely plumped for getting there about 20 minutes early. Even then I ended up fairly near the back!

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Stephen Tall

Your LDV #ldconf reader (reading the papers so you don’t have to)

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 11:45 am

Coverage-a-plenty in today’s press – but not all of it will bring a smile to the face …

Conference row between Nick/Vince and MPs/activists
Vince Cable faces tax policy mutiny at Lib Dem Conference (Times)
Huhne backs Cable after attack (BBC)
MPs’ anger at Cable ‘mansion tax’ (BBC)
Lib Dems round on Nick Clegg and Vince Cable over ‘codswallop’ policy (Times)
Delegates lash out at leader over policy shifts (Independent)
Clegg faces frontbench dissent on cuts (Independent)
Clegg under fire from Lib Dems over move to downgrade spending commitments (Guardian)
Clegg faces mutinous party (Financial Times)
Ming Campbell rebukes Evan Harris …

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Stephen Tall

Leadership v. Activists – a personal reflection on Bournemouth ’09 #ldconf

By Stephen Tall | Wed 23rd September 2009 - 10:55 am

I’m not, by any means, a party conference veteran – Bournemouth ’09 was in fact only my fourth. But it has been distinctive for one thing in particular: it’s been the first year when the media coverage of conference has genuinely reflected what folk (at least those I’ve met) have been talking about at conference.

In previous years, we have been continually told that Lib Dem delegates were chattering about the fate of our leaders – when actually we were quite contentedly chewing the fat of meaty policy issues. This year, there has, as ever at a Lib Dem conference, been plenty of meaty policy debate, but there’s also been more than a little discussion, and not a little grumbling, about the style of the party leadership, both Nick and Vince. And it seems to me – as I blogged here yesterday – that these grumblings are fair.

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