Category Archives: Selection news

Mark Pack

Timetable for selecting London Mayor candidate published

By Mark Pack | Sun 29th May 2011 - 9:54 am

Readers of the week’s Liberal Democrat News will have seen the advert kicking off the party’s candidate selection for the Mayor of London. The planned timetable is:

June 17 Close of applications
July 3 Interviews and shortlisting
July 11 Deadline for appeals
July 11 Deadline for candidates to submit manifestos
July 12 Publication of shortlist
July 18 Postal ballot mailed out to members in London
July 25-29 Hustings meeting
August 10 Deadline for returning ballot papers
August 12 Count and declaration of result
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Helen Duffett

Dominic Carman withdraws from Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate race

By Helen Duffett | Mon 28th March 2011 - 8:12 am

In a comment on Lib Dem Voice this morning, Dominic Carman has said that he no longer intends to put his name forward as Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor.

Carman, who last week expressed an interest in standing, now plans to back Mike Tuffrey instead, whom members are lobbying to stand.

Dominic’s comment in fulll:

Given other commitments, I have reached the conclusion that I cannot financially afford to run an effective campaign as the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor. Regrettably, I will therefore not be putting my name forward when the selection procedure formally restarts in May. Having spoken

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Helen Duffett

Parmjit Singh Gill withdraws as Lib Dem candidate for Leicester South

By Helen Duffett | Wed 23rd March 2011 - 12:34 pm

Liberal Democrat candidate for the forthcoming Leicester South by-election, Parmjit Singh Gill, has announced he is to stand down. He will be replaced by Zuffar Haq.

Commenting, Parmjit Singh Gill said:

Given much reflection and after talking with my family, it is with regret that I have decided to stand down as a candidate for the by-election.

I remain committed to the people of Leicester and am proud to represent the Liberal Democrats, but I have a very young family and I fear the toll that fighting the by-election with all the commitment and dedication it deserves would be too much.

I

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Helen Duffett

Parmjit Singh Gill selected for Lib Dems in Leicester South

By Helen Duffett | Sat 19th March 2011 - 9:25 am

Leicester South Liberal Democrats last night selected Parmjit Singh Gill as their candidate for the Leicester South by-election, at a hustings in the constituency.

Gill was previously the MP for Leicester South from 2004 to 2005, having gained the seat from Labour in the 2004 by-election.

Current MP Sir Peter Soulsby (Labour) is resigning so that he can stand to be Leicester’s first elected mayor.

Commenting on his selection Parmjit Singh Gill said,

It’s an honour and privilege to be selected to fight Leicester South for the Liberal Democrats. Only last May the Labour MP convinced constituents that he was committed to

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Helen Duffett

Dominic Carman selected as Liberal Democrat candidate for Barnsley Central by-election

By Helen Duffett | Sat 12th February 2011 - 4:37 pm

Barnsley Liberal Democrats today selected Dominic Carman as their candidate for the March 3 Barnsley Central Parliamentary by-election, at a hustings in the constituency.

Carman, son of the late George Carman QC, and biographer of BNP leader Nick Griffin, previously stood for the Lib Dems in Barking, East London at the 2010 General Election.

The by-election was caused by the resignation of the constituency’s MP, Eric Illsley, who has now been jailed for 12 months for fraudulently claiming more than £14,000 in Parliamentary expenses.

Commenting, Dominic …

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Helen Duffett

London Liberal Democrats announce GLA shortlist for 2012

By Helen Duffett | Tue 19th October 2010 - 11:09 am

London Region Liberal Democrats have announced the candidates for the London Assembly top-up list for the 2012 election. The shortlist is now final and London members will now be issued with a ballot to place the candidates in order of preference.

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

Jeremy Ambache (M)
Steve Bradley (M)
Emily Davey (F)
Merlene Emerson (F)*
Bridget Fox (F)
Stephen Knight (M)
Ajmal Masroor (M)*
Caroline Pidgeon (F)
Marisha Ray (F)*
Nick Russell (M)
Shas Sheehan (F)*

Those marked with an asterisk are Black and Minority Ethnic for the purpose of the ethnic preference rule.

There will not be a ballot for the Mayoral candidate for the time being. …

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The Voice

Willie Rennie plans political comeback

By The Voice | Wed 29th September 2010 - 8:58 pm

One of the (many) disappointing moments from the general election was the defeat of Willie Rennie, the Lib Dem by-election victor in the famous 2006 Dunfermline contest. He was subsequently appointed a government special advisor in the Scottish Office.

Well now he’s back in the saddle of elected politics again. Here’s how the Dunfermline Press reports it:

Local members put Mr Rennie in prime position to win one of seven places as a list MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, which covers all of Fife and parts of Clackmannanshire, Perthshire and Stirling.

He secured first place ahead of Fife councillor Tim

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Mark Pack

Who will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor?

By Mark Pack | Mon 6th September 2010 - 10:26 am

Yesterday London Region chair Jonathan Fryer outlined the timetable for selecting the party’s London Assembly and Mayor candidates. But who will be in the running to be the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London?

As previously covered, Lembit Opik has publicly declared his intention to go for the selection. Regular readers of this site will have seen how controversial that is amongst many Liberal Democrat members (along with other commenters on this site). He has some keen fans along with many ardent critics. The number of fans of his Mayor selection bid page on Facebook has moved up only …

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Jonathan Fryer

Team London: selections open

By Jonathan Fryer | Sun 5th September 2010 - 5:27 pm

Applications are now invited from potential LibDem Mayoral and Assembly (GLA) list candidates for London, which will hold its next round of city-wide elections in 2012. Interested individuals can request an application pack from the Returning Office, Patrick Mitchell, at [email protected] or 6 Palfrey Place, London SW8 1PA. Completed applications must be received by 24 September.

London has benefited from a big influx of new members over recent months – by far the biggest growth of any UK region. Moreover, London Liberal Democrats have moved campaigning and capacity up several notches with the launch of Team London, a new approach to …

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Mark Pack

Lembit for London campaign watch

By Mark Pack | Mon 30th August 2010 - 12:28 pm

Contradictory news from Facebook about the state of Lembit Opik’s campaign to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for London Mayor. The number of fans of his campaign page is now up to 178. However, although his campaign says the page is “the main point of contact for those involved in the campaign to win the nomination”, the last update from the campaign team on the wall is now looking rather dated, having been posted on 18 July.

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Mark Pack

Lembit for London campaign watch

By Mark Pack | Mon 23rd August 2010 - 3:26 pm

Lembit Opik’s plans to run for London Mayor have been widely trailed for some time and the man himself has taken steps such as a lengthy interview on London’s LBC radio station with Conservative blogger Iain Dale. His campaign for the Liberal Democrat selection has provoked many negative responses from Liberal Democrat members (such as in previous coverage on this site). The most vocal are not always the most representative, however, so a relevant extra piece of evidence is how the Lembit Opik for London Mayor Facebook page does.

Lembit’s own campaign describes the page as “the main point of …

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Helen Duffett

Edinburgh Northern and Leith: Scottish Parliament candidate selection

By Helen Duffett | Thu 5th August 2010 - 5:20 pm

There’s still time to apply for selection as the prospective Scottish Parliamentary Candidate for the Edinburgh Northern and Leith constituency for the 2011 election.

From a party notice:

The Liberal Democrats won around 11,000 votes across the constituency area during the May 2010 Westminster elections. The constituency also includes part or all of four local government wards, each of which has an elected Lib Dem councillor.

The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate an ability to motivate a large and growing group of activists, and form and lead an effective campaign team, in a Local Party which has extensive

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Mark Pack

Female MPs: how’s the party doing?

By Mark Pack | Fri 12th March 2010 - 4:54 pm

We’ve twice covered the question of gender balance in (Westminster) politics in recent days with the challenge from the Fawcett Society What about women? and Dinti Batstone’s call to Make politics fit women’s lives, not vice-versa.

With party conference in Birmingham about to start, we now have the latest figures on how the party is doing at getting a less male-dominated Parliamentary party. The Campaign for Gender Balance reports:

  • Winnable seats: approximately 40% of our most winnable seats have women PPCs.
  • Held seats: 4 out of the 8 seats that have MPs standing down have selected women.

The last point is particularly important as, …

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Helen Duffett

Lib Dems select Nick Griffin’s biographer to fight BNP in Barking

By Helen Duffett | Tue 2nd March 2010 - 7:50 am

Dominic Carman, son of the late George Carman QC, and biographer of BNP leader Nick Griffin, is to stand as the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Barking, East London.

From The Times:

He intends to use information from his research into the biography to attack his opponent. It was never released because publishers were unwilling to associate their brand with the BNP leader.

“I will put it to good use in exposing Griffin beyond what’s already been in the public domain,” he said. “It’s very important to fight a strong campaign and it will be critical to challenge Nick Griffin every

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Mark Pack

Forthcoming Parliamentary selections

By Mark Pack | Mon 1st February 2010 - 10:10 pm

No listing this month as there are no selections currently planned to close during February (except for one which closed at 5pm today).

    But for further details on how you could become a Liberal Democrat prospective candidate see http://libdems4parliament.org.uk.

    2 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Two Conservative councillors switch; new Norfolk candidate selected

    By Mark Pack | Tue 19th January 2010 - 10:54 pm

    Welcome to Canncok Councillors Keith and Diane Bennett, who have switched from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats, and congratulations to Dan Roper who has been selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Broadland. Nich Starling says of him:

    I am so pleased that my local Lib Dem candidate is genuinely the sort of person I would be proud to go out and campaign for. I wish him luck and will do whatever I can to help him.

    Also posted in Local government | Tagged , , and | 3 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Congratulations to…

    By Mark Pack | Sun 17th January 2010 - 1:34 pm

    Daisy Benson – selected for Reading West

    Richard Gadsden – selected for Worsley and Eccles South

    Martin Land – selected for Hungtingdon

    Good luck one and all.

    Tagged , and | 7 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    Julian Huppert selected for Lib Dems in Cambridge

    By Helen Duffett | Sat 16th January 2010 - 12:51 am

    Julian Huppert, Lib Dem PPC for CambridgeCongratulations to Julian Huppert, newly-selected Liberal Democrat PPC for Cambridge.

    From a press release by Cambridge Liberal Democrats:

    “Julian was selected from a shortlist of six candidates who fought for the position at Hustings at The Michaelhouse Centre in Trinity Street, Cambridge last night (Friday).

    The ballot was called after MP David Howarth decided to stand down at the general election to return to his academic career at Clare College.

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    Helen Duffett

    Chris Nelson selected for Lib Dems in Kettering

    By Helen Duffett | Fri 8th January 2010 - 2:24 pm

    News from Kettering and Wellingborough Liberal Democrats:

    Local Liberal Democrat members have chosen local campaigner Chris Nelson to be the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for the Kettering constituency.

    Chris Nelson was born and brought up in Kettering – attending Millbrook Infant & Junior Schools as well as Ise Community College – and has a degree in law from Oxford Brookes University. He contested Ise Division in last June’s county council elections and works as an aide for Northampton Liberal Democrats and Bill Newton Dunn MEP.

    He takes over the role from Roger Aron – who contested the constituency in the 1997,

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    Mark Pack

    Forthcoming candidate selections

    By Mark Pack | Fri 1st January 2010 - 11:09 am

    Courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament website, here is the list of candidate selections closing this month:

    • Montgomeryshire – Prospective Welsh Assembly Candidate (02 Jan 2010)
    • High Peak – PPC (08 Jan 2010)
    • Battersea – PPC (18 Jan 2010)
    • Tooting – PPC (18 Jan 2010)
    • Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire – Prospective Scottish Parliamentary Candidate (22 Jan 2010)

    For further details on how you could become the Liberal Democrat prospective candidate in any of these constituencies see http://libdems4parliament.org.uk/events. The site also have further information and contact details if you’re interested in finding out more about how to become a candidate more generally.

    3 Comments
    Philip Young

    John Brigden selected for Dover

    By Philip Young | Sat 19th December 2009 - 2:24 pm

    Dover and Deal Liberal Democrat Association have selected John Brigden to be their PPC for the next election. John has been a Sevenoaks District councillor for some years, is an experienced campaigner, and has family connections with Deal. He is the Chief Executive of Bluesky Public Relations, and also organiser of classic-car events.

    While there is evidence that rather suggests this constituency is on the receiving end of Ashcroft money, the local Tories have not been polling anywhere near well enough in local by-elections to suggest that could take this seat off Labour. The local Conservatives have been pushing for the …

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    The Voice

    Cambridge Liberal Democrats publish shortlist

    By The Voice | Wed 16th December 2009 - 11:09 am

    The Cambridge shortlist has now been published and, contrary to some hopes and wild rumours, has neither a nationally known media star nor a BME candidate on it. But then no member of either group applied.

    The candidates are all councillors or former councillors in Cambridge but, as the Returning Officer said, “The shortlisting committee was chosen by the local party and I was happy that it was a balanced one. They drew up the selection criteria and marked the applications independently of each other. We only came together to total the scores, the result of which showed that the 6 shortlisted candidates were well clear of the rest”.

    This press release has gone to the local paper giving a mini biog of the six:

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    Mark Pack

    Who has too much influence in Liberal Democrat candidate selections?

    By Mark Pack | Tue 15th December 2009 - 11:50 am

    This is what female members of the party’s list of approved candidates for the Westminster Parliament thought in 2007:

    National leaders:
    Have too little / far too little influence over the selection process: 26%
    Have about the right influence: 58%
    Too great / far too great: 5%
    No view/ answer: 11%

    Regional officers:
    Too little / far too little: 21%
    About right: 56%
    Too great / far too great: 12%
    No view/ answer: 12%

    Local constituency officers:
    Too little / far too little: 8%
    About right: 62%
    Too great / far too great: 18%
    No view/ answer: 12%

    Local party members:
    Too little / far too little: 6%
    About right: 71%
    Too great / far too great: 13%
    No view/ answer: 10%

    Party agents:
    Too …

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    Also posted in News | 8 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    Peter Tyzack selected for Lib Dems in Filton and Bradley Stoke

    By Helen Duffett | Tue 8th December 2009 - 1:50 pm

    South Gloucestershire councillor Peter Tyzack has been selected as the Liberal Democrats’ Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the new constituency of Filton and Bradley Stoke.

    From the South Gloucestershire Gazette:

    At the next General Election, to be held in the spring, the existing Northavon constituency is to be divided into two new constituencies, Filton and Bradley Stoke, and Thornbury and Yate.

    Cllr Tyzack said: “I am honoured to have been chosen by the party to represent the people in this new constituency for the next General Election. I would like to say thank you for the support that I have

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    Helen Duffett

    This month’s Parliamentary selections

    By Helen Duffett | Tue 1st December 2009 - 2:50 pm

    Courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament Resource Centre, here is the list of PPC selections closing this month:

    • Broadland Norfolk – PPC (04 Dec 2009)
    • Huntingdon – PPC (04 Dec 2009)
    • Cambridge – PPC (05 Dec 2009)
    • Chelsea & Fulham – PPC (09 Dec 2009)
    • Chatham & Aylesford – PPC (11 Dec 2009)
    • Newcastle-under-Lyme (Staffs) – PPC (12 Dec 2009)

    …

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    2 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    Jonathan Fryer selected for Lib Dems in Poplar and Limehouse

    By Helen Duffett | Fri 27th November 2009 - 10:50 am

    Jonathan Fryer has been selected as PPC for the new seat of Poplar and Limehouse.

    Jonathan is an experienced candidate, having fought three General Elections (Chelsea 1983, Orpington 1987 and Leyton 1992) as well as several European Parliamentary elections. He was number 2 in the Liberal Democrat London list this year, but narrowly missed being elected.

    Jonathan writes about Poplar and Limehouse on his blog:

    It’s an extraodinary seat, illustrating both the huge diversity of London and also the yawning gap between rich and poor.

    It also looks like being a right royal battleground at the forthcoming general election, not only

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    The Voice

    Cambridge MP David Howarth to stand down

    By The Voice | Thu 5th November 2009 - 5:11 pm

    The party has just issued the following press release …

    Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth today announced that he would be standing down from Parliament at the next election to concentrate on his career as an academic.

    David Howarth said:

    “After nearly 22 years of elected public office, the time has come for me to concentrate on my other life, as an academic. It has been a privilege to serve the people of Cambridge over that time, both in local government and in Parliament.

    “I would like to thank the very large number of people who have helped me in politics over the past

    …

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    Mark Pack

    Forthcoming Parliamentary selections

    By Mark Pack | Sun 1st November 2009 - 12:50 pm

    Courtesy of the LibDems4Parliament website, here is the list of PPC selections closing this month:

    • Ealing North – PPC  (07 Nov 2009)
    • Doncaster Central – PPC, Doncaster North – PPC, Don Valley – PPC (13 Nov 2009)
    • Central Devon – PPC (13 Nov 2009)

    For further details on how you could become the Liberal Democrat prospective candidate in any of these constituencies see http://libdems4parliament.org.uk/events.

    3 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Mike Crockart selected for Edinburgh West

    By Mark Pack | Sat 31st October 2009 - 7:51 pm

    Ex-policeman Mike Crockart has been selected for Edinburgh West, the constituency currently held by Lib Dem John Barrett who is retiring at the next general election. The Press Association reports Mike Crockart as saying, “I’m over the moon to be elected, but I’m taking nothing for granted.”

    Best of luck with the campaign Mike.

    Tagged and | 4 Comments
    The Voice

    Neil Matthews quits as Folkestone’s Lib Dem candidate

    By The Voice | Tue 27th October 2009 - 11:25 pm

    It’s deja vu all over again in Folkestone & Hythe … 18 months after Toby Philpott resigned as prospective parliamentary candidate, his successor, Neil Matthews, has also quit:

    Shepway Liberal Democrats are sorry to announce that Neil Matthews has stepped down as Parliamentary Candidate for Folkestone & Hythe due to personal pressures. Neil remains an active part of the Shepway Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrat Councillor for Hythe West.

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