Philip Davies MP recently wrote to Ed Davey enquiring about the Liberal Democrats’ internal selection procedures.
Ed’s reply is a joy to behold! It is worth reading the correspondence in full.
Surprised that @philipdaviesuk is taking such an interest in the @LibDems' commitment to an equal parliament.
Perhaps he has decided to turn his back on his sexist views, or perhaps he has a different motive. pic.twitter.com/bBf11NteV2
— Ed Davey (@EdwardJDavey) October 22, 2021
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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8 Comments
it is an excellent reply and Ed should be more tough with all replies to Conservatives.It will show that he cannot be pushed around and shows Leadership qualities
You didn’t publish my ‘comment’ on the original piece. So why publish it again?
Strictly speaking, weren’t the Greens the “first majority-woman Parliamentary Party at Westminster”?
@Peter Watson
Actually, if a single MP counts as a parliamentary party, the first majority-women parliamentary party was the SNP. Winnie Ewing was elected in a by-election in 1967 becoming the first SNP MP to be elected since Robert McIntyre won a by-election for the SNP in 1945. Winnie Ewing lost her seat in 1970 when the SNP won its first MP at a General Election…but he was a man so the parliamentary party became 100% male.
Since the parliamentary party of the Lib Dems is already two-thirds female, there seems to no longer be a need to automatically replace a retiring male MP with a candidate from an all-female shortlist. Once a seat is lost, though, it is presumably open to any candidate, so the criticism from Phillip Davies is invalid anyway. It would be good to have it confirmed whether the party’s policy about all-female shortlists in the event of a retiring male MP has officially changed.
John Bicknell is making a valid point.
Davies is a notorious wind up merchant, with some very unpleasant views about ethnic minorities and the disabled. Best to ignore him.
Paul,
Have you not seen this https://www.libdemvoice.org/ed-davey-takes-on-sexist-dinosaur-philip-davies-with-humour-68927.html by Caron on 22nd October?