Category Archives: Op-eds

Hancock out, Javid in

By Andy Boddington | Sun 27th June 2021 - 5:55 am

Under relentless pressure after he was pictured in a romantic clinch in breach of coronavirus restrictions, Matt Hancock last night resigned as secretary of state for health. He told Boris Johnson:

The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis… We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance.

He is replaced by former home secretary and chancellor, Sajid Javid.

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Simon McGrath

New Leader at the Local Government Association Lib Dem Group

By Simon McGrath | Sat 26th June 2021 - 12:33 pm

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the elections in the Local Government Association and the results have now been declared. The biggest change is that Joe Harris , Leader of Cotswolds District Council has been elected Leader of the Lib Dem Group. It was a fascinating election, Howard Sykes the defeated incumbent standing on his record and a barrage of endorsements and Joe standing for change. The final emails from both candidates rather sum up the differences – for Howard it was from Heather Kidd asking for support for him and Bridget Smith for Deputy as “They have proved, time and time again, that they have the skills needed for the job”. In Joe’s email he set out three  priorities (turbocharging communications, listening and championing under represented groups) and promised fresh leadership and new energy.

The LGA Conference is online this year on 6-8 July and is free.

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Ferguson Evans

Lib Dem virtual think tank (VTT) debates liberty, Europe and globalization

By Ferguson Evans | Sat 26th June 2021 - 11:56 am

The VTT is a think tank established by the LibDem Party in France. Its aim is to deliberate on and make recommendations as it sees relevant to LibDem Party policy and options. Its goal is to contribute to bringing definition to the LibDem Party: what it is; what it stands for; what it is doing. Its modus operandi is to conduct and report on sessions each devoted to a single, predetermined theme. It is therefore concerned with issues as they pertain to LibDems regarding the UK and abroad including, for example, liberty and liberalism, international integration, climate change and inequality. Discussions on such topics are conducted on hour-long Zoom sessions. The first three sessions, commencing as of September 29 2020 were given over to attempting to define what were seen as the core elements confronting the LibDems at this moment in time: Liberty, Europe and Globalization.

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Hancock: Emergent class of rulebreakers are undermining government

By Andy Boddington | Sat 26th June 2021 - 10:16 am

Will he go or will he stay?

Can Hancock survive a sneaky snog and buttock fondle that took place at a time when he was telling us all to social distance?

Matt Hancock survived Dominic Cumming’s torpedoes and hell has no fury like a political adviser scorned. Hancock has the prime minister’s backing. Well, Johnson has had his own jolly japes.

But the media are howling for Hancock’s resignation. His behaviour and his future is bound to dominate tomorrow’s political circuit. As Ed Davey said yesterday, the real issue is Matt Hancock’s competence in his role as health secretary. Agreed. But there is growing anger among those told to obey pandemic isolation rules while ministers and advisers routinely ignore them.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: A Black Russian Sea

By Tom Arms | Sat 26th June 2021 - 8:22 am

The landlocked 420,000 square mile Black Sea straddling the Europe Asia divide is fast becoming a maritime hotspot to rival the manmade islands of the South China Sea.

That is why this week the Russians buzzed the British warship HMS Defender, shot missiles into its path and then summoned the British Ambassador to the foreign ministry.

The British Type 45 frigate, said the Russians, had invaded Russian territorial waters. Wrong, said the British. Their ship could not possibly have been in Russian waters because it was off the coast of Crimea which was unilaterally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. This annexation was not recognised by Britain or the rest of the world. Therefore, HMS Defender was in Ukrainian waters not Russian and was establishing its legitimate rights under international freedom of navigation law.

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Ollie Bradfield

Local Council By-Elections 24th June 2021: Another night of Lib Dem success

By Ollie Bradfield | Fri 25th June 2021 - 5:05 pm

Following on from the stunning by-election result last week in Chesham and Amersham, there’s been plenty for Lib Dems to celebrate in this week’s local government by-elections. An excellent gain in Chichester and a hold in Somerset West and Taunton has left us feeling very good for the second Friday in a row.

The headline result of the night has to be Chichester East, following on from their great performance at the County elections in May. The local team worked hard and it showed: a 24.7% increase and taking the seat off the Tories from third is seriously impressive. They were out knocking on doors rain or shine, and managed to get the fantastic candidate Bill Brisbane over the line. The win was down to a classic campaign fought well: lots of leaflets, a strong focus on squeeze, letters to postal voters, and a phenomenal Get Out The Vote effort. A cracking team, a superlative candidate, and a Fighting Fund grant from ALDC proved to be the winning formula. A huge congratulations to everyone involved.

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Newsmoggie

Conservative candidates to be tested for conformity

By Newsmoggie | Fri 25th June 2021 - 10:03 am

Newsmoggie does not usually stray into Conservative territory, except to dig up gardens for essential purposes of course.

But it seems that the Conservatives really don’t want another repeat of their glorious leader Boris Johnson. They have introduced psychometric testing for new candidates. While Newsmoggie is not an expert on such tests, they do seem aimed to introduce conformality and normality, treating potential MPs like dogs to be trained and not like us free roaming cats.

Would Boris Johnson pass a psychometric test? Michael Gove? Matt Hancock? Or even Daniel Kawczynski, who has had to apologise after imbibing alcohol before ranting at parliamentary officers.

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Simon Foster

Hitting the wrong note

By Simon Foster | Thu 24th June 2021 - 8:27 pm

I thought it was a joke at first, a spoof.

The project for a song for One Britain, One Nation has much wrong with it.  Innocently written by a class of primary school children (but with some help), this was an act of symbolic violence against them.   Exploited by the Government’s agenda, this song will be rammed down children’s throats on Friday who won’t understand the nationalistic political context behind this.  The British public saw through it and went for it on twitter – #hitleryouth even started trending as a result.   The jingoistic overtones of this music project contributes to the current debates on the concept of #whiteprivilege, and whether critical race theory should be taught. This is how this project is coming across.

Where was the diversity in this, and the tolerance which is an essential part of the UK’s character in the brief for this project?  Where was the recognition of diverse cultures in the UK – the Scottish pipes, the Welsh choir, the Gaelic folk music, the bagpipes, the tin drums and the wide range of music from immigrant communities such as the Windrush generation, who have made the UK better and richer place after World War II by contributing so much to our community and country?   You want to really engage children in the classroom?  A bit of rap, ska or grime – which excellent music teachers are teaching as part of a diverse range of music, would have been good here.

If I was Ofsted inspector, I would have no choice but to fail this project on the grounds of inclusivity.  Last time I checked, Northern Ireland was part of the United Kingdom.  Yet not content with one border for goods drawn down the middle of the Irish Sea, the Government is now promoting another: a cultural border running somewhere west of the Isle of Man and east of Belfast.  This shouldn’t have been a song just about Britain, it should have been a song about the UK and tolerance and diversity.

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Peter Ellis

A new framework: Ideology and Values

By Peter Ellis | Thu 24th June 2021 - 7:00 pm

A leading Lib Dem politician was kind enough to embrace ideas l advocate to use the existing housing stock to create affordable, social, market tenancies. As for societising the economy using new corporate form, quite correctly he pointed out that social enterprise exists already. Result, disappear into a cosy bunker and write about the politics of society and develop a coherent narrative of market societism, a free-market economy which operates for the common good. As l approach my final chapter l determined to keep my own counsel, until yesterday when l read an article by Daniel Finkelstein questioning the point of our party.

In his article, using at times inflammatory language, he accuses us of being an obstacle to the creation of a coherent alternative to the Conservative Party. I disagree profoundly with this assertion but he identifies a foundational issue, that to be successful a party has to “represent either a distinct ideology or a significant demographic group”.

We are a party of values but eschew ideology, understandably so and for good reasons; as the historian Thomas Bartlett wrote, our forbear party, the Liberal party was conceived in “gentler times”. Our ’gentle’, humane and considerate view of a fair and just society chimes with modern notions of well-being and an instinctive understanding of need and the common good.

The politics of society are those of collective well-being without sacrificing the significance of the individual. This is the ideology suited to our modernity, not driven by power and control.

As individuals, we may not be shareholders, we may not believe the state has all the answers but we are all members of society. This is our demographic, what is called the Centre ground of British politics. Our demographic is identifiable, everyone who values mutual interdependence and asserts collective rights,

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Katharine Pindar

Can we follow up the by-election by ‘showing steel’?

By Katharine Pindar | Thu 24th June 2021 - 5:37 pm

Leading Tory commentator and former MP Matthew Parris commented in his last Saturday’s Times column on our party’s appeal in the by-election to people he sees as decent, middle-of-the road Conservatives who have a ‘distaste’ for Boris Johnson. However, he complained that our party avoids hard choices, “wobbles off the highway into the ditch of localism, neighbourhood grumbles, government intervention and ‘whatever your gripe is (its) ours too”.

He even rudely accuses us of having “a big yellow streak” beyond our orange bird, and says that to have a fighting chance at the next election we will need to “learn to show steel, to say no to someone, something, anything …”

The choices of Mr Parris, who voted Lib Dem at the last election but only, he says, out of ‘repulsion’ at the alternatives, are not those of Centre-Left Liberal Democrats, but I suggest he makes good points. We do tend to assume that with our excellent principles and good policies, Middle England only needs to know about them to support them. Yet even to the educated middle-classes we can easily appear ‘Labour-lite’ or else too Conservative-friendly offending adherents of either big party, or else so indefinite that supporting the Greens who appear definitely right for these times is an easier choice for the politically homeless. The old slogan of being anti-Brexit and pro-Europe isn’t sufficient now.

Where do we stand on free trade, people could ask us? We can’t give the clear-cut answer which our nineteenth-century forbears could. So what can we be definite about?

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Catherine Royce

We need to shout about …….. Community choirs

By Catherine Royce | Thu 24th June 2021 - 2:58 pm


No sooner are we past the so-called freedom day than the Johnson government finally starts believing in the vaccine programme, having systematically undermined it for the last two months by pretending that vaccinated people pose a risk, should not socialise, travel  and must be treated in the same way as those who have not been vaccinated. This makes a complete nonsense of the vaccination programme and has sent the message to vaccine ‘hesitants’ that there is therefore no point in getting the jab and maybe even that there is something bad about vaccines we aren’t being told. Quite why Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance have allowed themselves to be part of this anti-science strategy is a subject for another time.

I’ve enjoyed watching all those mostly young, male, football fans hugging each other and shouting their heads off over the  last few days, but bearing in mind that very few if any will have been vaccinated, what exactly is going on? – is this a social experiment in herd immunity? Perhaps so, and why not, as most, if not all, of them are very unlikely to be ill enough to need hospital if they do get infected. We do need to test the herd immunity hypothesis; and although it’s unfashionable I still believe it has an important role to play. Many middle and low income countries, which are unable to hoard vaccines far in excess of any possible requirements (e.g. UK and USA) are relying on herd immunity, and are doing a lot better than we are – that’s interesting.

There have been several sporting event pilot studies in England over the last few months but we have not seen the results of any of them, I wonder why that is? Possibly because the results are clear-cut and don’t fit the muddled and contradictory messaging from Ministers? What is very clear is that the current messaging strategy has far more to do with saving the Prime Minister’s political skin than with science.

For context, currently ten times more people are dying every day from alcohol-related diseases than from Covid.

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Mike German

Money matters to our party

By Mike German | Thu 24th June 2021 - 11:54 am

It is impossible to run a political party or an election campaign without the necessary financial resources. Political parties have three major sources of income: member subscriptions, trade union contributions and donor support.

The alternative to such sources of revenue is for the state to provide tax payer support, or for campaigning spend to be very strictly curtailed, or a combination of both.   The first of these alternatives, particularly if substantial sums were involved, would certainly not be popular with the wider public.   The second would require a major reform of political expenditure, and currently does not have the support of Labour or the Conservatives.

Not everyone is comfortable with the idea of donor fundraising for a variety of reasons, including fears of undue donor influence by high net-worth donors, but we Liberal Democrats pride ourselves on the powerful protocols we have in place to protect the Party from any such risks.

It is imperative we encourage and value our individual donors for their support, both historically and going forward. The Party has a range of structures to enable that engagement, supported by a dedicated team in Party HQ.  The Fundraising Board, chaired by the current Party Treasurer and my successor, Tilly McAuliffe (in photo), drives this part of work, but we are supported by a range of networks to develop our relationships further including the Liberty Network, the Business & Entrepreneurs Network and the Legacy Society.

One of the most important and strategic examples of donor engagement in recent times was Andrew Dixon’s two-step initiative in the summer of 2019. With a General Election on the horizon, Andrew firstly undertook an extensive business outreach exercise – Project Phoenix – building key relationships around Party objectives, primarily our stance on Brexit, our deep engagement with business and our pursuit of a strong economy in which business can flourish.

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Caron Lindsay

Daisy Cooper slams “barmy brainwashing” One Britain event

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 9:59 pm

When I heard that some schoolchildren in the UK are going to be asked to sing a song saying how great Britain is on Friday, to be honest, I thought someone was just having a laugh. Surely nobody could be so crass?

I was wrong. As The Independent reports,

The Department for Education this week announced it would encourage schools to celebrate One Britain One Nation Day on 25 June.

Celebrations for the event include singing a song called the “OBON Day Anthem 2021”, which ends with the children repeatedly chanting, “Strong Britain, great nation”.

It also includes the chorus: “We are Britain and we have one dream, to unite all people in one great team.”

I find the whole thing nauseating.

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Merlene Emerson

Focus on Hong Kong

By Merlene Emerson | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 1:22 pm

This week’s news included an early “obituary” for Apple Daily, the eponymous newspaper founded by Jimmy Lai, a long-time critic of the Hong Kong and Beijing Governments.

The prediction of closure of the pro-democracy paper by the end of the week followed the arrests of the executives (including the editor-in-chief and the chief executive) and freezing of the assets of the parent company, Next Digital.  All the staff of the publication are expected to resign this week and the last issue may be the June 26 edition.

This news is remarkable to me in 2 respects: 

First, that the charges made against Apple Daily and its executives were based on breaches of the National Securities Legislation (NSL) for alleged “collusion with a foreign country” to endanger national security.  Which foreign country is implicated here?  The US, one assumes, rather than the UK, as there is a narrative that Hong Kong is a mere pawn in the US-China rivalry.  But do HKers who object to the imposition of the NSL have to collude with any external forces?  Or are they simply objecting because they do not like to see the rights and freedoms that they had grown accustomed to being taken away? 

This new crime of collusion with a foreign country or external forces (one of the 4 new crimes introduced by the NSL on 30 June 2020, the others being “secession” “subversion” and “terrorist activity”) should raise alarm bells for us in the UK too. It would suggest that the more vocal the Lib Dems are in criticising China and the NSL, the higher the risk to our members and supporters in Hong Kong.  

Secondly, the authorities have frozen the company’s core assets even before trial or any legal process, as the NSL operates outside of the HK legal system.  As the paper is unable to pay their staff and even their utility bills, they are forced to shut-down.   Here is a clear example of an attack on independent media and critics of the government in the name of national security, and attacking where it hurts, at its finances.   

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David Gray

Our public highways are under threat

By David Gray | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 11:53 am

As restrictions are gradually eased, it is heartening to see our public spaces once again being filled with shoppers, cafe-goers and those who just want to make the most of being able to socialise freely again. This should also prompt us to have a serious look at the value we place on our public spaces, for if we do not act soon, we could lose them without realising until it is too late.

A small but growing number of commentators and activists are drawing our attention to increased use of pseudo-public spaces – that is, those which to all intents and purposes appear to be public spaces but are in fact privately managed and owned. Vast swathes of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham (as well as many more) are under private ownership, but this is no longer an issue confined to big cities. Devastated by years of austerity, councils have been selling off land at alarming rates to private corporations and as a busker, this is more obvious to me than most. With the number of busking pitches available on genuinely public land reducing, it is now very difficult to make a living without busking on publicly accessible private land. It is not just in the large metropolises – I have faced attempts to move me on in Didcot, Stourbridge, Redditch and countless others. They will never try to argue that I am causing any genuine problems – simply that ‘management don’t allow it’.

I will almost always stand my ground, pointing out that, not only does a specific section of public highways law allow for privately owned land to act as a de jure public highway in many instances, but also that with trespass being a civil offence, there needs to be some evidence of harm being caused in order to compel me to leave. Where there is no material harm, I see no reason to leave. Usually, the security guards hired by these private corporations give up and let me continue. They’ve even, on one occasion, returned to buy a CD from me. But if they dig in, problems can occur, which has led to me being arrested for ‘breach of the peace’ in 3 different locations. In all of these instances, the police have admitted that I was not actually breaching the peace, nor did they have any evidence that I was likely to. But for a breach of the peace arrest, none of this is actually required. All that is required is for the police officer to believe that a breach of the peace may occur. Note that it is not legally relevant who will be causing that breach. The last time this happened, officers in Birmingham accepted my argument that they were effectively arresting me because, if I didn’t leave, the security guards might initiate a physical altercation.

Two new proposed laws threaten to escalate this to a worrying extent. One is Priti Patel’s much-publicised policing bill, which has rightly been the subject of mass protests. For me, it is almost laughable to see her argue that existing powers regarding Public Order are not strong enough, given my experiences of being arrested under the very laws that apparently do not give the police enough power.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: Liam McArthur talks about his Bill to legalise assisted dying

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 23rd June 2021 - 8:38 am

Orkney’s Lib Dem MSP this week lodged a bill in Holyrood which would enable assisted dying in Scotland. This would enable terminally ill, mentally competent adults to have an assisted death.

Here he is talking about it to the BBC.

This is a subject that is obviously emotive and needs to be handled with compassion and sensitivity. I can’t think of anyone better than Liam to do this.

He is very thoughtful and wise and will take concerns about the measure very seriously and try to address them as best he can.

I have been a supporter of assisted dying for a long time. I don’t feel that I can say to someone that they must endure unbearable suffering before their inevitable death if they don’t have to. I went to a Dignity in Dying event at the start of the Holyrood campaign where Prue Leith described how horrendous it was for her brother David who died in great pain because of a brain tumour. At that same event, sisters described the intolerable suffering which preceded their mum’s death from oesophageal cancer. I really think that people should be able to choose a more controlled, dignified death.

I do get, though, that we need to make sure that disabled people, who are already marginalised don’t feel even more so. Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy had this to say:

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Farron and Hobhouse condemn planning bill as Tories fail to vote

By Andy Boddington | Tue 22nd June 2021 - 8:57 am

The Tories aren’t revolting, at least over planning. Yesterday evening, they were told not to vote in the opposition debate over the planning bill. Yet it was clear from the debate that many remained unhappy with the proposals which contributed to the historic defeat in Chesham and Amersham.

The debate lasted for just over three hours and 17 members did not get the chance to speak. All twelve Lib Dems voted for the opposition motion. There were no votes against as the Tories went into hiding at the end of the debate. Many of them might not like the planning reforms but they are certainly not going to be brave enough to defy a whip and vote against them.

Wera Hobhouse and Tim Farron spoke for the Lib Dems.

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Simon McGrath

Why you should help our campaign in Batley and Spen

By Simon McGrath | Mon 21st June 2021 - 12:10 pm

Now that Chesham and Amersham is triumphantly over, attention will turn to the by-election in Batley and Spen on July 1st. There has been plenty of discussion about the Tory vs Labour battle but not much about the excellent candidate standing for the Lib Dems, Tom Gordon.

Tom is a local man, born and raised in West Yorkshire, who is a Councillor in the neighbouring Borough of Wakefield – the first Lib Dem councillor there in a decade. With a background in biochemistry and public health, and a stint working as a health economics research assistant, he is well placed to understand why local residents are so fed up with a Labour Council that doesn’t care and a Tory Government who see Northern Labour voters as people they can bamboozle with empty promises.

Tom spent a considerable amount of time in Chesham and Amersham and, as he says:

I had life long Labour voters in Chesham and Amersham who were voting for us because Sarah and the campaign had a strong message and they knew what we stood for, whereas in Batley and Spen they say they don’t know what Labour locally, or Keir Starmer nationally, stand for.

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The Progressive Alliance – A Fool’s Errand

By Ed Thornley | Mon 21st June 2021 - 8:43 am

In the few days since our remarkable victory in Chesham and Amersham, some are suggesting we shouldn’t campaign, or even stand, in Batley and Spen.

On the face of it, it makes sense. The Lib Dems are closer to Labour on most policies than we are to the Tories, so we could be taking votes from Labour and gift the seat to the blues.

However, that view relies on one massive assumption. One we consistently make internally, even though the evidence of our eyes and ears disproves it. We assume that with no Lib Dem, our voters are more likely to go Labour than Tory. This is categorically untrue. Our data shows us that our voters split almost perfectly in half when no Lib Dem candidate is available.

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Mary Reid

It’s a long game, revisited

By Mary Reid | Sun 20th June 2021 - 2:17 pm

Disappointment, even despair, was the general reaction by Lib Dems to the 2019 General Election results. But some of us saw a different picture. A week or so after that election I wrote a post for Lib Dem Voice under the headline “It’s a long game” in which I said:

I’m absolutely delighted to see the progress made in so many seats, and it fills me with such hope for the future. Do not give up. What you have done is to lay the foundations for future successes. Keep building your teams and keep targeting Council wards. Get all the advice you can on how to do that. Hold long term ambitions, and do not become dependent on external help.

Since Thursday the media have been speculating on which other blue wall constituencies are now fair game for the Lib Dems – exactly the ones I was addressing in that extract. It’s worth looking at the map in this article in The Guardian, which shows those seats in the southern half of the UK that could be vulnerable to the small but powerful orange mallet.

Too often we imagine that we win in general elections through smart national campaigning in the last few weeks, and that all seats will reflect the mood of the day. That is simply not true. Seats are won on the back of long campaigning, which itself is dependent on building the capacity of the local party. Given Thursday’s result we can safely assume that Boris Johnson will not be calling for a general election soon, even if the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act is rescinded, so we have the luxury of three years to build on the energy generated by Chesham and Amersham.

Speaking of which, back in 2019 I also wrote:

There is a good reason why by-election gains are often lost at the next general election. Hundreds of people piling into to help in a by-election can produce exhilarating results, but unless the infrastructure of the local party is seriously strengthened it will be struggling when it is left to its own resources.

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Jeremy Hargreaves

Federal Policy Committee: Regional powers, Universal Basic Income, natural environment and voters

By Jeremy Hargreaves | Sun 20th June 2021 - 12:06 pm

We held the second in our current programme of meetings focussed on finishing off policy papers for autumn conference, on 9 June 2021. We discussed the future of power structures at regional level within England, Universal Basic Income, the natural environment and how to influence voters. Work continues to finalise motions for the autumn conference.

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Tom Arms

World Review: Israel, cyber-attacks, Ethiopian elections and Trump trumping his book

By Tom Arms | Sun 20th June 2021 - 9:55 am

In today’s briefing from our foreign affairs correspondent, Tom Arms look at congestion, vaccination and schooling in Israel. The NATO summit allowed Joe Biden to stress that the Trump Era was over and “America is back”. And Biden is prepared to retaliate for any cyber attacks from Russia. Elections are due in Ethiopia on Monday – they are “worthless”. Finally, Tom talks of Donald Trump’s new book. Move over the Bible and the Koran, this will be “the greatest book ever.” Should this “great” book be called “Trump Through the Looking Glass”? Suggestions on a title are welcome.

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Adrian Sanders

Careful With That Progressive Alliance

By Adrian Sanders | Sun 20th June 2021 - 7:50 am

It has concerned me for some time that as Liberal Democrats we spend an inordinate amount of time discussing pacts and electoral arrangements, and then complain the media is rarely interested in what we stand for, only in whom we will work with in the event of a hung Parliament.

The fantastic Chesham and Amersham by-election result will probably fuel this debate further.

Before discussing arrangements over who should stand down where, should we not consider what is likely to happen politically were such an endeavour to be successfully undertaken? I have a major concern about the Party going down the pacts route.

It is not our ability to give ground and surrender future opportunity that worries me most, we’ve been there before with the Liberal/SDP Alliance, and in more recent times single seat arrangements with the Greens, although they were hardly convincing examples of pacts delivering the expected success. The problem will be the Labour Party.

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Chesham and Amersham defeat leads to unplanned Tory revolt on planning “reforms”

By Andy Boddington | Sat 19th June 2021 - 6:58 pm

The Tories are revolting. After Thursday’s dramatic loss to the Lib Dems in Chesham and Amersham, MPs are warning Boris Johnson that the proposed planning reforms will lose them seats. Many Conservatives didn’t like the proposals before Thursday but I suspect many MPs hadn’t paid attention amid the challenges of the pandemic and other excuses. Some in the South East had given voice to their concerns but there has been no open rebellion until now. And now that is mostly on WhatsApp according to the Times.

HS2 certainly came home to roost on Thursday. Protected areas in the Chilterns, north Bucks and Warwickshire lose out badly from this line that brings those areas no benefits. There is still time to cancel this madness and restore the landscape. But I don’t think it will happen.

The HS2 row has spilled over to into planning. The government’s proposed planning reforms strip powers from local councils. It is a Lego approach to planning. Standard blocks. No local sensitivity.

The Tories lost in Chesham and Amersham because they thought they would win against a great candidate and a great campaign. But planning is now the Tories Achille’s Heel. In many areas, it could help us win more seats.

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Lord William Wallace

Should Liberals still believe in ‘free trade’?

By Lord William Wallace | Sat 19th June 2021 - 12:22 pm

Commitment to free trade has been one of the core elements of British liberalism for nearly 200 years.  It went along with peace through open borders and shared prosperity, with opposition to aristocratic landowners and cheap food for the working man.  There’s a picture of John Bright (joint founder with Richard Cobden of the Anti-Corn Law League) in my living room, inherited from my wife’s Liberal forebears.

The economic liberals who left the Liberal Party in the late 1950s to set up the Institute of Economic Affairs still do believe.  For them it’s an article of faith as much as their commitment to a smaller state and a deregulated economy.  Liz Truss, a student liberal transformed into an ideological free marketeer, is celebrating the conclusion of the UK-Australia Trade Agreement and promising more deals to reduce tariffs and lower regulatory barriers. Our party press office has criticised her for neglecting the interests of British farmers – not something that Bright or Cobden would ever have said.

But trade isn’t as simple as it was.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Feed me, says Kim

By Tom Arms | Sat 19th June 2021 - 8:40 am

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un doesn’t often admit problems. How could the hermit kingdom/nuclear-armed rogue state admit failures or even difficulties? Such a thing is an oxymoron as North Koreans, by definition, live in a socialist paradise.

So, when the Great Leader goes before the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party, swallows his pride, puts his reputation on the line and basically says “the food situation is tense,” it is a political earthquake in North Korea. It also means that North Korea is in a famine situation or, at the very least, heading rapidly in that direction.

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Chesham & Amersham: Davey – it’s not a flash in the plan, we are demolishing the Blue Wall

By Andy Boddington | Fri 18th June 2021 - 1:56 pm

Everyone is tired. Everyone is ebullient. Except the Tories of course. Or Labour for that matter who came fourth in yesterday’s by-election in Chesham and Amersham.

Ed Davey has been doing the rounds of media today. He said he hadn’t expected such a huge swing. The Tory obsession with the Red Wall has meant they had ignored their own Blue Wall. “Last night we punched a hole in it.”

He talked of Chesham and Amersham voters being taken for granted by the Tories. Boris Johnson is not the decent Conservative they used to vote for. The Lib Dems are making progress in the south. Conservative MPs there should be worried.

This is not a flash in the plan by-election result. It is a trend that is demolishing the Blue Wall. Conservatives in the south should be worried.

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Chesham & Amersham: Tories blame loss on a kitchen sink, a dog and a cat

By Andy Boddington | Fri 18th June 2021 - 6:42 am

The result was in just before 2am this morning. What a result.

Readers should beware that this post includes allegations of a kitchen sink drama and cruelty to animals. Allegations from the Tories of course.

When you read Peter Fleet’s comments – he was the low profile Conservative candidate by the way – you can understand why he didn’t win. He blamed the result on the Lib Dems working hard. Yes. That’s what we do. He hadn’t expected the result. How broken is the Tory machine that it can’t read the writing on the wall? The posters in the windows. The talk on the doorsteps. The changing demographics in a constituency.

Very broken it seems and nothing to do with kitchen sinks.

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Caron Lindsay

Chesham & Amersham: a campaign we’ll be talking about for years

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 17th June 2021 - 11:04 pm

Every so often a by-election campaign comes along that will be remembered for generations. Orpington in the 60s, Edge Hill in the 70s, Hillhead in the 80s, Littleborough and Saddleworth in the 90s, Dunfermline in the 2000s, Eastleigh in the 2010s. Many of them came at critical moments for the party, maybe at times when we were a bit down in the dumps. And at those times the party comes together and runs a spirited and joyful campaign that everyone talks about for years afterwards.

Chesham and Amersham comes on top of, to be honest, unspectacular elections in Scotland, Wales and English Councils in May.  It would be a massive ask to win it. This is true blue territory, after all. A year and a half ago, we got less than half the Tory vote, finishing in second place. In 2017, just 4 years ago, we got 13%. We need the sorts of swings we were getting in the 90s to win.

But we’ve given it our best efforts. We’ve run a good old fashioned Liberal Democrat by-election campaign at full pelt in the middle of a pandemic. I’ve seen so many comments about how the warmth of the welcome was matched by the efficiency of despatch with leaflets or canvassing pack.

https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/1405630741262782475?s=20

From as far apart as Edinburgh and Cornwall, activists flocked in their thousands to help Sarah Green’s campaign. It was clear that this was a campaign everybody wanted to be a part of. My tiny contribution was to help host the nightly maraphones, where people from Orkney to Cornwall made thousands of calls.

 

I was very touched that Simon Foster from Southampton dedicated 50% of his sterling contribution putting up stakeboards to me as I couldn’t get there. But the loveliest gesture was friends of Erlend Watson, our campaigning legend who has been a key and beloved presence at so many by-elections, taking his place in this campaign. Natasha Chapman and Olly Craven from Lincoln were Team Erlend. Erlend himself is recovering well from major surgery and we hope to see him back at a by-election or Conference before too long.

The positive feedback from voters was incredible. Phoning voters and asking them to put up stakeboards is far from my favourite sort of campaigning activity, yet I couldn’t believe how easy a sell it was.

The Tories have been doing all sorts of expectation management.

Sometimes you can do every single thing right in a campaign and not get the result you deserve. Sarah Green and her campaign team richly deserve a victory. Let’s hope that they get it. She’s been a fantastic candidate – impressing voters on the doorsteps and motivating her army of helpers. One activist, bitten by a dog the other day, was very surprised that she took time out of her day to phone them and make sure they were ok.

In an email to members tonight, Ed Davey expressed his pride in the campaign we ran:

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Lord Roger Roberts

Lord Rogers Roberts: The Napier Barracks scandal

By Lord Roger Roberts | Thu 17th June 2021 - 4:07 pm

Embed from Getty Images

A couple of weeks ago, the BBC reported that the High Court had ruled that the Home Office’s decision to house cross-channel migrants in a “squalid” barracks in Folkestone was unlawful.

Six asylum seekers brought the case, claiming Napier Barracks was “unsafe” and dormitory use caused a Covid-19 outbreak earlier this year.

The ruling could see a damages claim against Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The Home Office said use of the barracks would continue, and it was considering its “next steps”.

This report is so different from the assurances  by the government.

In answer to a question that I asked on January 29 Baroness Williams, home office minister in the Lords, justified the use of Napier Barracks – built 1794 – for Asylum Seekers. She wrote:

Following a review of available government property, the Ministry of Defence agreed to temporarily hand over two of their sites: the Penally Training Camp in Pembrokeshire and the Napier Barracks in Kent.

These sites were both suitable and immediately available to be used to house asylum seekers.

The accommodation, which until recently was used by the MOD is safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped in line with existing asylum accommodation standards contractual requirements.

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