Many of our readers will be very sad to see that Christine Jardine MP will not fight the next election.
In a statement tongiht she said:
“I have written to my local party to let them know I shall not be standing as the Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West at the next election, following the recent decision by some of the local party.
I have informed them that although I am able to request a ballot of the membership, it is with a heavy heart I have decided not to pursue this. I do not wish to expose anyone to more tension and division.
I shall continue to represent my constituents with the care I have always sought to bring over the last nine years.
It has been, and remains, an honour and a privilege to represent this part of the city, and to work with our fantastic communities.”
Ed Davey said:
“Christine is a fantastic champion for Liberalism, Scotland and the people of Edinburgh.
For me, her work on the Domestic Abuse Act stands out. She has improved things for survivors and children in ways many will never know. I know there’s a lot more to come in this parliament too.”
Alex Cole-Hamilton said:
I would like to thank Christine for all her hard work as an MP.
“She has been excellent to work alongside, representing the west of Edinburgh together for the past nine years.
“Her work on childhood bereavement, in supporting Ukrainian refugees and in supporting our constituents in the capital means she will have a long legacy too.
Here are some links to some press coverage:
Donna Harris, Chair of Lib Dem Women, the official organisation representing women in the party, paid tribute to Christine and said she would be writing to the local party.
I am beyond saddened and deeply shocked to have seen this article regarding our beloved LDW President, Christine Jardine, and the news that she has not been reselected by her local party.
The dismay and shock are profound. Christine has been a true stalwart of our party and so much more than an ally to so many of us.
She has also been a steadfast supporter of our Diversity AOs, including LDCRE and Plus.
Christine’s generosity of spirit, kindness and sheer commitment to others are qualities that have touched so many of us. She is someone who gives so much of herself to our movement and to the people she represents.
If the account in this article is accurate, I find this especially galling given that only last week I stood on the Conference podium speaking passionately about the need for greater gender balance and much stronger support for women candidates.
We cannot tell women that we want them to stand, that their voices matter and that we need more women in elected office, while at the same time seeing an experienced, serving woman MP of Christine’s calibre lose the opportunity to continue representing her community.
That does not encourage women to put themselves forward.
Quite the opposite.
Christine has already won her seat three times and has made an enormous contribution to her constituents and to our party. So, honestly, I have to ask: what is going on in Edinburgh West?
I will be writing to the local party to ask for an explanation of the decision and the process behind it.
Christine, please know how loved, valued and cherished you are by so many of us. 🧡
Speaking on Times Radio this morning, Christine talked about her decision and the reselection to come:
What prompted it was that the parties are preparing for the possibility of a snap general election. If you are going to win a seat in a GE even with a stonking majority like mine, you have to put in the owrk. You have to get to know the seat and know the people and you can’t do tht in six weeks.
What happens next, she was asked:
There will be a selection process which I will be part of. We’ve got lots of good people, local people who will potentially make excellent MPs, some young councillors coming through who have shown an astonishing amount of takent in the past four years. The seat is in good hands, I htink and if we win it again, which I hope we will, we will continue to do a good job for the people of Edinburgh West which is the most important thing. That they get representaiton that is about them. One of things I dislike about modern politics is that too many people are in it for personal ambition and it’s about positioning not principles and it is improtant to me that the next MP for Edinburgh West is someone who puts people and principles ahead of political positioning.
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32 Comments
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Sad news. I have no idea what has happened in her constituency but I have always had a great respect for Christine. Her voice for equality will be missed in Parliament
I have no idea as to what has been happening locally, but very sorry to hear this.
Well, that’s a damned shame. She’ll be remembered as someone who stood up for people who needed it. Sadly, that’s more than you can say for many MP’s. Whoever succeeds her will have big shoes to step into and a lot to live up to.
Christine Jardine MP is one of our most formidable MP’s . She can debate you in depth on most subjects. One of MP’s that kept the party relevant when wipe out loomed.
Christine is the LDCRE Honorary President. She gets the Equality & Diversity struggle. She will be a loss to the constituent’s of Edinburgh West and the wider party and the UK. Could be wrong skullduggery is at play here.
If we are genuinely sad to see her go, offer her a place in the House of Lords. Let’s have deeds not words.
Surely the wider party membership and Liberal Democrats voters in Edinburgh West are entitled to know what has been going on in the local party. All we know is that she is being forced out by, presumably, a majority on the local executive and/selection committee, but we don’t know the reason or grounds for her deselection.
This is devastating. Christine Jardine is my kind of Lib Dem. There’s a left-right element to that comment, but it’s not just that. I worry about a liberal party that for whatever reason does not have space for someone like her. She is courageous, principled and effective. We will be poorer without her.
Every time I heard her speak I felt she was an authentic voice of Liberalism and I identified with her strongly. I find her resignation both sad and disturbing. The Party as a whole should know what is behind this. Yes give her a peerage but I would prefer she was on our front bench in the Commons.
This is terrible news. Christine is one of the best Liberal Democrat MPs. You always know that when she appears on TV or radio she will be sensible and you’ll be proud of her. She should have becoime Leader after the last election.
Wow, this is a surprise. I would like her local party to confirm whether she has been selected and their reasons. I’ve always had the greatest respect for Christine so she will be sorely missed. Is there another seat close by in which she could stand? Ultimately, if she cannot or does not want to stand, house of lords please. Assuming she wants to go there.
I share everyone’s shock and disbelief about the way in which Christine has been treated by some of her local party. I moved up to Scotland, with my family four years ago after retiring from 30 years of teaching. CJ took time out from her busy schedule to come and meet me and talk about my political ambitions. As a new member of the Scottish Liberal Democrats this meant so much. She also encouraged and supported me to summate her motion on Child Bereavement at SLD Conference. It’s not just the fact she stands for some of the most marginalised in our society but those unnoticed soft skills, notably encouraging women to stand, that will be a huge miss.
As people have said, there seems to have been something behind the scenes to which we are not privy. It’s very worrying to think that the party has decided that someone of Christine’s calibre is not needed and can be shuffled to one side. I don’t like what this says about the party’s priorities and the optics of a woman as well-respected and successful as she is being apparently pushed out are terrible.
Very sorry about this news – I always had high regard for Christine
As an office-bearer of SLDW, I am appalled by the way our President, Christine Jardine MP, has been treated. The whole matter is extremely distasteful and at the moment I am ashamed and embarrassed to be a member of a Party that treats such an outstanding MP in this disgraceful fashion. Alex Cole-Hamilton and his cronies have plummeted in my estimation because of this.
I agree with everything in the first 12 comments.
Can I suggest a couple of things that would help The Party ?
First can we have a statement from The Local Party Executive explaining what they have done & why.
Second can The Scottish Leader put out a statement actually regretting Christines decision & saying plainly that The Independents story is nonsense & that He, personally would like The Edinburgh West Executive to change their minds. He can’t order them obviously but He could make it plain that he disagrees.
A very sad decision by an exceptional MP. I would like to be reminded of the reason she was required to leave the LD front bench over some minor occurrence some time ago.
Here we go again. Some years ago Alison McInnes, one of the best MSPs we ever had, was ousted by her constituency party after a male candidate waged a successful campaign among members while she was doing her job at Holyrood. He went on to become an unmemorable MSP and the seat was then lost. Our then Scottish Leader, who had frequently talked of the need to elect more female MSPs, looked the other way and did nothing to protect Alison.
Now Christine Jardine is suffering from the same sort of carpet-bagging. She won her seat, has been an outstanding MP, and has kept increasing the LibDem majority. An ambitious man fancies the safe seat she has built up, so has captured the decision-makers and ousted Christine as candidate. Once again the Scottish Leader, now Alex Cole-Hamilton, has looked the other way despite his many protestations that he wants to see more women elected.
If the role of women in the Scottish Party is to build up safe seats that can then be taken from them by ambitious men who can’t win a seat for themselves, then we need to think further about how our selection processes work.
Was there no inkling of this among those running the latest Conference? It’s very suspicious that, just days after conference ended, this ‘bombshell’ announcement was made public..
Posters have mentioned ‘behind the scenes’.. The fact that one of our most respected MP’s has apparently been forced out of parliament should warrant more than just an ambiguous ten word headline..
The truth will out and I suspect it will be a lang story all said and done!
In the meanwhile I have answered my own request.
Part of Christine Jardine’s letter to Ed Davey after being sacked as the spokesperson for Women, Equalities and Scotland after 3 years in the role. (from Edinburgh News 2025)
“As you know, my late husband Calum, was bipolar. Several people around me have mental health conditions the amendment dismissed as ‘minor’, and not worthy of support. I could not in good conscience do anything other than vote against another Conservative attempt to remove help from those who need it the most.
“Regardless of my personal circumstances, as Equalities Spokesperson, this is an equalities issue and I could not let down those who are relying on people in power to speak on their behalf. The expressions of support I have had from members of the public, the membership and members across the House, have reassured me the choice I made was right, and I am content with that.”
I am sure that was the trigger that made her decide to stand down from Parliament. Remember the 7 Labour MPs who were suspended for supporting the removal of the 2-child benefits cap, and the Labour Party subsequently agreeing to do it themselves!
I am gutted by this news and agree with David above. In fact I touted Christine as leader on another thread. She has all the right qualities and was hoping she would put her name forward. I will definitely complain to her local Edinburgh West party, if as implied, Christine has been deselected. I just hope there has been no foul play from the party leadership either.
I was another member who wanted Christine to stand for leader in 2015 and 2018/9. Indeed, wrote to her to that effect. Her qualities are undeniable.
The many remarks on this chat regarding the supppsedly conspiratorial reasons for her de-selection miss the mark entirely.
Christine Jardine is a highly respected MP of national stature so this concerns Lib Dems far outside the boundaries of Edinburgh West. Furthermore, if other Scottish regions must sacrifice their autonomy over selections in the name of gender balance, how can we accept a female MP with an impeccable track record being elbowed aside in Edinburgh West?
If Alex Cole-Hamilton has anything to do with this he should resign.
Please clarify specifically how they miss the mark?
Christine is a very popular and highly capable Lib Dem MP, if not one of the most popular. If she is ousted or deselected then there must something amiss in the party structurally – both locally and nationally.
There have been too few facts and far too much speculation. I do think we should be told exactly what has happened and why. Attempts to cast aspersions on individuals really must be avoided in the absence of facts.
For myself, I think it is absolutely disgraceful that CJ has been forced out. Maybe those of us who share that view should be starting a petition to have her reinstated as candidate?
While I feel Mick Taylor’s suggestion is perhaps a good one to vent the frustration of those of us who are unhappy about the treatment of Christine, her own statement makes me question if she would welcome such a move. Sadly she seems to have accepted this fate. I still think Party members really need to be told what is behind all this.
Mick Taylor is right to point out that speculation in the absence of facts is not helpful. In any case either you believe in localism or you don’t. If a local party is free to choose it’s candidate then the decision should be respected; unless there is evidence of some irregularity
Well said Nigel Lindsay. You have got it absolutely right, once again.
Andrew it is perfectly legitimate to respect the properness of process while disagreeing or expressing sorrow or anger at its outcome. It is also perfectly proper to be prepared to accept the legitimacy of a local process while waiting for confirmation of it’s technical and moral proprietary. Indeed for a liberal it’s often the ethical and philosophical space in which we live.
From what I am hearing and reading the way the local party is behaving is totally unacceptable. It reminds me of how the local Labour party and leadership tried to replace Diane Abbott with their own favoured candidate. Of course they failed. A ballot of the membership would’ve vindicated her position. Rather than excusing the process and coercion, more Lib Dem members should write in supporting of Christine and complain to the local and national party. There’s more to this than meets the eye
The age issue is a complete red herring. When I was the election agent in Edinburgh West when we won the seat, after it being a Conservative stronghold for over 20 years, Donald Gorrie became the new MP age 64. He then decided to stand for and get elected to the new Scottish Parliament at the age of 66 and was twice awarded at the Scottish Politician of the Year as the best backbencher in that Parliament and re-elected for a second term age 70. I was then elected as the Edinburgh West MP after Donald stood down undefeated in 2010 and knowing what the job involves I feel quite capable of still doing it in my 70s. What matters is not biological age, but other factors such as ability, commitment, energy, compassion, empathy and much more. As someone who is enjoying a busy and productive life after Westminster as much, if not more, than life as an MP, when I spoke to Christine after her announcement I assured her that there is life after being elected to Parliament and to wish her all the best for the future.